Utah Historical Quarterly Volume 23, Number 1-4, 1955

Page 1

UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY A. R. MORTENSEN EDITOR

Vol. XXIII 1955

UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 337 STATE CAPITOL SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

1955


COPYRIGHT 1955 Utah State Historical Society


CONTENTS ARTICLES

The Reminiscences of James Holt; A Narrative of the Emmett Company, edited by Dale L. Morgan 1, 151 Utah's Coal Road in the Age of Unregulated Competition, by Leonard J. Arrington 35 W h a t Are W e Doing? by Clifford L. Lord 65 The President's Report, by Joel E. Ricks 75 Utah, The Mormons, and the W e s t : A Bibliography. A Check List of Theses at the University of Utah 79 Western Justice: The Court at Fort Bridger, Utah Territory, by W . N. Davis, Jr 99 Medicine of the Pioneer Period in Utah, by Joseph R. Morrell 127 Byron Cummings, Classic Scholar and Father of University Athletics, by Walter A. Kerr 145 A Journal of John A. Widtsoe; Colorado River Party, September 3-19, 1922, edited by A. R. Mortensen 195 Utah's Ugly Ducklings: A Profile of the Scandinavian Immigrant, by William Mulder 233 The Evolution of County Boundaries in Utah, by James B. Allen 261 Utah, The Mormons, and the W e s t : A Bibliography. A Check List of Theses at the Brigham Young University 279 The Utah State Hospital: A Study in the Care of the Mentally 111, by Charles R. McKell 297 Report of an Expedition to Locate Utah's First Capitol, by Everett L. Cooley 329 The Infamous Emma Mine: A British Interest in the Little Cottonwood District, Utah Territory, by W . Turrentine Jackson 339 Thirty-Six Miles of History, by W a y n e Wilcox REVIEWS AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS HISTORICAL NOTES INDEX

363

87, 181, 285, 3 6 9 189, 375 378


ILLUSTRATIONS James Holt and Wife, Parthenia Overton Holt

" JD

Area of Utah's Early Railroads

14

Byron Cummings, 1940 Future Home, Utah State Historical Society

-

'

189

Colorado River Maps Compiled from the Journal of John A. Widtsoe Key Map of Colorado River Party

198

Northeasterly Section, September 8-13, 1922

208

Southwesterly Section, September 13-16, 1922

209

Evolution of Utah County Boundaries First Counties—1850, and Reduction of Territorial Boundaries of Utah, 1861-1868

263

1852 Boundaries

263

_

1860 and 1862 Boundaries

269

1879 and 1896 Boundaries

275

Territorial Insane Asylum

_

305

Utah State Hospital

_ 305

Fillmore State House

330

Expense Account of Committee for Locating Site of Capitol Bill of Particulars _ 337 Summary of Expenses

338


T H E REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T A N A R R A T I V E OF T H E E M M E T T

COMPANY

EDITED BY D A L E L. MORGAN*

INTRODUCTION

F

the early Mormons whose lives did not compose a drama. Caught up voluntarily or involuntarily in the sweep of turbulent events, they were actors in some of the most stirring and striking scenes of the American pioneer experience, and even the simplest chronicle of their lives, written without embellishment or effort at literary grace, becomes a narrative of impelling interest. EW INDEED WERE

James Holt has been practically unknown in Utah historiography. His name ocurrs in none of the standard biographical reference works, and though he and his sons played a prominent part in the early history of several towns and villages in Washington County, in the southwest corner of the state, the striking events in which he participated in the Mississippi Valley before coming to Utah in 1852 have scarcely summoned his name to mind. This will now be changed. Born in North Carolina in 1804, James Holt moved to Tennessee with his parents when an infant, and grew to manhood there. In 1833, having meanwhile married, he moved with his father-inlaw to Illinois, a point on die Ohio River some 20 miles above its mouth, and took up a farm. Here, apparently in 1839, he was converted by a Mormon missionary and in due course, like so many other Saints, removed to Nauvoo, arriving in the fall of *Dale L. Morgan is a distinguished scholar and prolific writer on Utah, Mormon, and Western history. H e is the definitive biographer of Jedediah S. Smith. His latest work, in collaboration with Carl I. Wheat, is Jedediah Smith and his Maps of the American West, published late in 1954 by the California Historical Society. He is a long-time friend and member of the Utah Historical Society and a frequent contributor to this Quarterly. H e is now a prominent member of the Bancroft Library staff at Berkeley.


2

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

1841. For two years he did day labor in the Mormon city, chiefly on the public works, but in the spring of 1844 was sent back to Tennessee for the dual purpose of preaching the Gospel and pressing the Presidential candidacy of Joseph Smith. R e t u r n ^ 9 *° Nauvoo after the death of the Mormon prophet in June, 1844, he was caught up in the fortunes of the Emmett Company, that singular channel found by one of the many boiling undercurrents of Joseph Smith's last year, and with James Emmett he set out into the Iowa wilderness. To Emmett and his company we shall return; it is enough to say now that for nearly two years Holt, as a member of that company, underwent the greatest privation and hardship while wandering in northwestern Iowa and southeastern South Dakota. He then descended the Missouri to the Council Bluffs area only to be swept up in new and arresting pioneer experiences as a member of Bishop George Miller's party, the company which of all the main Camp of Israel got farthest W e s t overland in 1846. Widi that company he finally turned back to the Missouri River, wintering at the mouth of the Ponca River. Coming down the Missouri to Council Bluffs a second time, in the spring of 1847, Holt was too impoverished to go west with the first Mormon companies bound for the Great Salt Lake, and took up land along Waubonsie Creek in Fremont County, Iowa. Here he remained with his family until 1852, when he set out for Salt Lake Valley. On arrival he settled in W e b e r County. But James Holt had his full share of that restlessness which in the American people has been eloquently summed up by Thomas Wolfe's mother: "Lord God, a race of movers!" In 1862 he volunteered for the Cotton Mission in Utah's Dixie country. First locating at Washington, after two years he moved to Long Valley as one of the earliest settlers on the upper Virgin River. Indian hostilities presently forced him back to the Dixie country, and temporarily he settled at Virgin City. In 1867 he moved again, this time to the Mountain Meadows as a neighbor of Simpson Emmett, son of James Emmett and himself a participant in the well-remembered adventures of 1844-46. The Mountain Meadows had been a celebrated recruiting place on the Spanish Trail, but since the even more celebrated massacre of 1857 over-


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

3

grazing had begun a grave process of erosion. Foreseeing the consequences of that erosion, Holt moved a last time, a few miles north, down to the mouth of a canyon which has since borne his name. Here he established Holt's Ranch, on which he spent the rest of his days, dying in his ninetieth year, on January 24, 1894. James Holt's own narrative is the principal source for all these facts. He began to write it apparently in January, 1881; according to his family, it was dictated to his son William. The first-person narrative was broken off when it reached the year 1867 and was never completed, but a granddaughter, Mary Ann C. Miller, has written an account of the later years which is printed at the close of the narrative. The original manuscript of the reminiscences, as set down by William Holt, has disappeared, and what is now printed is a composite of two different typewritten copies. These vary somewhat in spelling and punctuation, and it has seemed best to edit the text in this respect, bringing it into conformance with present usage. The Utah State Historical Society is indebted to the Holt family for permission to print the narrative, and especially to Mrs. Charles B. Petty, Salt Lake City, and Mrs. LaVerna Hyatt, Monroe, Utah, for information and advice. The portrait we reproduce was made available to the Society by Mrs. Petty. The most striking contribution to history made by James Holt is his account of the Emmett Company. Little of the source material pertaining to that company has been published, and even among the Mormons its story has not been well known or understood. The Holt narrative as now printed has been made a vehicle to record much of the presently available information about the Emmett episode. Before proceeding to the narrative, however, it is desirable to sketch in some of the background. James Emmett was born, it is said, on February 22, 1803, in Boone County, Kentucky. 1 He was one of the earliest Mormon converts, having become a member by 1832.2 For some years he a Brigham H. Roberts, ed., History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (7 vols., Salt Lake City, 1902-32), VII, 270n. z JournaI History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, manuscript compilation in the Church Historian's Office in Salt Lake City, entries for September 15, 27, 1832.


4

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

appears to have lived at Kirtland, Ohio, his presence there being recorded in December, 1835,3 but early in 1836 he went on to Missouri. H e was sufficiently prominent in the Mormon community that on July 1, 1836, he was named one of a committee of twelve to report a preamble and resolutions expressive of Mormon sentiment concerning proposals that they leave Clay County. 4 He is next mentioned in Mormon annals on the occasion of a visit to Kirtland in April, 1837, as the climax to a missionary tour during which he had built up branches of the church in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri. 5 H e returned to Missouri only to run into trouble at the new Mormon headquarters at Far West, Caldwell County; in May, 1837, fellowship was withdrawn from him "for unwise conduct, until he should make satisfaction."6 This he did on the 22nd of the same month, and was restored to fellowship/ He must have participated in all the scenes attendant upon the expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri in 1838-39 and their resettlement at Nauvoo, Illinois, and on the Iowa shore opposite, but the record is silent. Emmett evidently located at first in Iowa, for on April 24, 1841, the High Council of that area selected him as a member in the place of David Pettigrew, who had just been elevated to the position of counselor in the presidency. 8 By 1843 Emmett had moved to Nauvoo. On December 29 of that year Joseph Smith organized a special police force for the city, and Emmett was one of those named to serve in it, with the rank of 1st Corporal. 9 The winter of 1843-44 was for the Mormons at Nauvoo one both troublous and eventful; in the entire history of t i e church there have been few periods quite so yeasty. In January Joseph Smith announced to the Twelve Apostles his intention of running for the Presidency of the United States on an independent electoral ticket; in February he outlined to the Twelve a plan to send 3

History

of the Church. II, 327.

Hbid., II, 452. 1837 5 i jjf e 495 D a i ' mistory

Saints

'

Messenger

and Advocate,

Kirtland, Ohio, April,

of the Church, VII, 270n.

II 522*24' " ' 4 8 2 ' H e ^ *Ibid.. IV, 352. mid., VI, 149.

ak

°

PkCed

3t

Far

W e S t

m

Novembe

r . 1837, ibid.,


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

5

a company of 25 men to Oregon, California, and New Mexico to seek out a new location for the Saints; in March proposals were made to move the church instead to a buffer zone between Texas and Mexico where the Saints might establish a republic of their own; and the same month Congress was memorialized to give Smith the privilege of raising 100,000 volunteers to protect American interests in Texas and Oregon. This was by no means all, but it serves to show the temper of the times. The Emmett Company as such had its immediate origins in the proposal to send out a Western exploring expedition. The day after Joseph Smith broached the idea to the Twelve, on February 21, 1844, he named Emmett as one he would like to see enlisted, and two days later Emmett volunteered for the

One of his fellow volunteers, Moses Smith, is our chief authority with respect to the subsequent evolution of the project, for it soon drops from sight in the publicly available sources of Mormon history. The company of 25 men, we are informed, were "charged with the duty of exploring the country and visiting the Indian tribes west of the Missouri, in the north-west part of Texas, through New Mexico, up the coast of Upper California, and the Columbia River, and back by the South Pass and Council Bluffs. This company were further charged with the duty of commencing a settlement in the Indian country, at a place to be selected by them for that purpose, where a part of them were to remain while the rest should return to pilot out a large company with families, stock, &c, to extend the settlements." 11 Too many things were going on in Nauvoo at just this time, however, for any of them to be done up to the hilt. It was finally decided that the exploring expedition should be postponed till fall, with a view to wintering in New Mexico or Sonora and returning mbid., VI, 223, 224. " S e e the obituary of Moses Smith published in Gospel Herald, Voree, Wis., June 14, 1849, IV, 53-55. This obituary was clearly written by James J. Strang, Moses Smith's brother-in-law, who was intimately associated with him in religious and other affairs. Although Strang would be regarded by the Utah church as a hostile witness, his account accords perfectly with the fragmentary information elsewhere found.


6

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

in the summer of 1845, and that meanwhile its members should be pressed into the service of Joseph Smith's Presidential campaign. Thus, at the same time James Holt was sent to Tennessee, Emmett was dispatched to Ohio, and Moses Smith to Michigan. 12 The murder of the Mormon prophet having collapsed the campaign, Emmett like most of the other missionaries came trailing back to Nauvoo. Unlike them, however, he was a man with a program, for he considered that he had been given a mission by the Prophet which the latter's death made only the more obligatory upon him. In a sense, he was right, and this explains why Brigham Young, who had just won control of the church at a special conference in Nauvoo on August 8, and who did not like any of the programs previously on foot which would have a momentarily divisive effect—neither the Texas migration of which Lyman Wight was the special champion nor the movement into the Indian country Emmett was urging—nevertheless handled both with kid gloves. It was too early to gainsay programs which had been publicly sanctioned by Joseph Smith, whatever the wisdom of those projects in the light of events, so long as really vital interests, the control and welfare of the church as a whole, were not endangered. Thus it is recorded that on September 9, 1844, "Elder Heber C. Kimball and George A. Smith labored diligently with James Emmett that he might be persuaded to desist from his intended course of taking away a party of misguided saints into the wilderness," 13 but Emmett was not absolutely forbidden tq go, and indeed the Twelve in Nauvoo made excellent capital of Emmett's subsequent misfortunes—a lesson to the Saints that they should listen to counsel.14 ^History of the Church, VI, 338, 339. Ibid., VI, 269-70. At a conference in Nauvoo the day before, Brigham Young had challengingly told the congregation, "We want all those who are for Lyman Wight and his measures, to show themselves openly and boldly; and all those for James Emmett and his measures, to show themselves.—We wish them to withdraw to day without fear and to be as bold here as they are in other places." But when, toward the close of the meeting, Orson Hyde motioned "that James Emmett and Zachariah Wilson, and those who go with them, shall be disfellowshipped, until they repent," at Brigham Young's own request the motion was withdrawn. See Times and Seasons (6 vols Nauvoo Illinois, 1839-46), V, 647, 687. "See, e.g.. ibid.. VII, 302, 377-78, 383-85, all between October, 1844. and March, 1845. Many similar allusions can be found. 13


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

7

Having thus limned some of the features of the inception of the Emmett expedition, let us note what some of the participants have written with regard to their involvement in the enterprise. William Kartchner's account is the most interesting and explicit.13 "An expedition," he writes, "was ordered by Joseph the Prophet prior to his martyrdom for a few families to migrate to the Missouri River and put in crops preparatory to the Church moving from Nauvoo westward under the charge of Bro. James Emmett and John L. Butler, his counsellor. I was called upon to go, being just married, as tbey wanted young men mostly. I was instructed to keep it a secret as all would want to go if word went forth that we were going west. This instruction was given us by Zacariah D. Wilson, the Presiding High Priest of Liberty Branch, situated on the head of Bear Creek, twenty miles below Nauvoo. W e were told by Bro. Wilson that he was in the highest court on the earth 16 and were told at his council in Nauvoo to counsel the company to not ask counsel of Brigham Young as he would see our faint-heartedness and would, of course, discourage those asking such advise." Holt tells a not dissimilar story. Lyman Hinman 17 remarks merely, " W e left Nauvoo on the 3 of August [September?] 1844 in company with two or three others expecting to fall in company with others soon going we knew not where we were going but desiring to find a place where we could breathe free and worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience." James and Rebecca Nelson (in an account written, however, after they had broken with Emmett and perhaps colored by their desire to show faithful adherence to the Twelve) relate: " W e 15 A typed copy, 6 pp., is in the WPA Collection of the Utah State Historical Society; it has the title, "Expedition of the Emmett Company as Recorded by William Decatur Kartchner and Loaned to be Copied . . . by Isaac J. Riddle who had previously secured his copy from the Kartchner original." 16 This was the Council of the Fifty Princes of the Kingdom of God, organized in Nauvoo, in March, 1844, as not least among the astonishing developments of that winter. AH the proposals then on foot having to do with the temporal future of the church were weighed by this council, "the general council," as it was also called. "Lyman Hinman to "Brother & Sister Taylor,'' Winter Quarters, June 27, 1847, a remarkable unpublished document now in the Coe Collection at Yale, quoted by permission of Mr. James T. Babb, Yale University Librarian.


8

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

were residing at Bear Creek, Hancock County, 111- a t t n e ' of Joseph's death. Zachariah Wilson presided as presiding elder at this time. Brother Wilson and his two counselors brought word from the church in Nauvoo that they had been in the council with the twelve, and that the council was to break up and remove immediately to the west, without passing through Nauvoo but go direct to Maddison. W e did so and removed to Iowa River and organized. The ideas we had gathered were such that we expected one of the twelve as a guide; the excuse was that the twelve had not been able to wind up and arrange their business, so they sent Emet as a substitute. Brother Butler came among us at this time as being sent from Bro. Young, stating that Bro. Brigham had sent his blessings and the blessings of the Lord with word for the brethren to take good care of the women and not suffer them to go barefoot in cold weather. The word was to remove into the wilderness out from the settlements, but not so far but what they could go for grain to subsist on until they could raise it as it was their intention to come on." 18 There were two divisions of the party, one going by land, the other by flatboat up the Iowa River. Holt, like Hinman, traveled by land. Hinman writes: "The first night we lodged upon the ground about five miles east of Nauvoo in a tent Our clothes in the morning were almost wringing wet from the dew on the following day we bent our course for Fort Madison on the Mississippi River—and crossed it about 2 o P M Camped about 5 miles west of the River the day following we put bows and covering upon our waggon and travel about 8 miles and picthed [sic] our tents at the head of Los a Creek so called at this place we lost 7 head of Oxen and of course among the lost I had One yoke and 2 cows we hunted for them 5 days and then left diem and pursued on our journey fell in company with 3 or 4 other waggons following up not far from the Iowa River crossed it and passed the City of Iowa on the 19th Recrossed the River—and proceeded up said River to the upper trading post on said River where we met and fell in with others amounting to 200 persons at ls This document, in the Church Historian's Office, is dated at Winter Quarters, May 10, 1847, and bears the title, "A memorandum of the proceedings of Emet's company from memory by James and Rebecca Nelson."


JAMES HOLT AND WIFE, PARTHENIA OVERTON HOLT —Photo, Mrs. Charles B. Petty


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

9

which place we organized ourselves into a company for the purpose of traveling together and remained at said place until the last day of December Kartchner says that sometime in September he sent his blacksmith tools to Nauvoo to be put aboard a flat boat. "It was manned by Capt. Emmett, his son Simpson, Williams, Gardner, Potter and their families. It was towed by a rope by men on shore until opposite the Iowa River. They crossed and went up the Iowa River to Iowa City where they sold their boat, while those taking wagons and teams crossed at Burlington [some, however, at Fort Madison, as Hinman shows]. They made a rendezvous about ten miles above Iowa City and built small log cabins where they wintered during which time the men worked in the surrounding settlements for provisions. Capt. Emmett gathered from the Sisters at this camp their feather beds and jewelry and sent them below and sold them for grain and other supposed requisites." These various narratives thus provide a composite picture of the fortunes of the Emmett Company to the close of December, 1844, just prior to their final departure into the Iowa wilderness. Their subsequent adventures will be followed through Holt's narrative, annotated with reference to the other documents.

LIFE O F JAMES H O L T EARLY P I O N E E R I, James Holt, was born February 10, 1804, in Halifax County, North Carolina. 39 W h e n I was five or six months old, my father started with a colony of his kindred, and others, and traveled to Tennessee, and settled in Wilson County, near Lebanon.20 My grandfather, Icona Davis, was also of the colony. My memory, in regard for my relatives at that time, is very imperfect, but I will write a sketch of those I do remember, that perhaps it may help to give a clue for those who are in search of a genealogy of any of those here named. 19 Halifax County is in north-central North Carolina, a little south of the Virginia boundary, bordered on the northeast by the Roanoke River. 20 Lebanon is the seat of Wilson County, next east of Davidson County, in which Nashville is situated.


10

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

My Grandfather Davis and my father settled together. Grandfather, James Holt, settled in Montgomery County; Moses Read, my grandmother Holt's father, settled in Dickson Coui^y. When I was about twelve years old, my great-grandfather Head got up a dinner for his children and grandchildren. I sat at the head of the table, being the eldest of his great-grandchildren. There were about eighty present of his descendants; the Holts, Reads, Harveys, Silivents, and Davis's were all relatives. My grandfather, James Holt, had two sons: Jesse and Laban, and six daughters: viz., Mary, Sarah, Lydia, Anna, Elizabeth, and Patay. Mary married Burges Wall; Sarah married Balum Bull; Lydia married Levitt Morris; Anna married Ona Harvey; and Elizabeth married Ona Silivents. I never knew of Patay's marriage. Laban went to the W e s t Tennessee, and married but I never learned of his wife's name. My father, Jesse, married Elizabeth Davis, daughter of Icona Davis. She was the widow of Joshuay Crosland, and had three children by her former husband: namely, Joshuay, Sarah, and Lucretra. By my father, she had six children: James, Nancy, Icom, Jesse Washington, Laban, and Elijah. After the death of my mother, my father married Lucretra Crosland [his stepdaughter], by whom [omission?]. My Father was of a religious turn of mind, and joined the Baptists w i t i my mother. He also joined the army, and was in the W a r of 1812. During that time he had his family move near Grandfather Davis's, about eight miles northwest of Lebanon. After the war he bought a mill site by what was called "Barton's Creek,"22 where he had erected a grist and saw mill. There he resided, doing a flourishing business, until his death, which occurred October 15, 1844. W h e n I was about eight years old, there was quite an exciting time in religion. Father used to take me to church on horseback behind him, and as young as I was, my mind was greatly "Montgomery County is some distance northwest of Wilson County, adjoining Kentucky; Dickson County is south of Montgomery County. 22 Barton Creek in Wilson County is still so called, flowing northerly into the Cumberland River.


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

11

impressed in regards to religious matters. About this time I had a very remarkable dream: I dreamed that my father sent me, in company with one of my brothers, to a neighbor's place, about three miles distant, on some errand. It appeared, that in going, we had to travel through a dark and gloomy cave where there was neither light of the sun, moon, nor stars. It appeared that all people traveled through this gloomy cave. After we had traveled in this awful gloom for some length of time, we emerged in the light of day, and great was the contrast. Upon the left I beheld a large building, and when we came opposite this building, I saw a man coming to the door, whom I thought was the keeper. H e called to me, saying, "James Holt, you must come in here and be tried for your faith." There were two or three steps to the building and I thought he took hold of my hand and led me up into the building, where I beheld the hook, somewhat similar to a stilyards [steelyard] suspended to a beam overhead. He said I was to be hanged upon that hook, and if I had enough faith in God, I would jnot fall. But if I did not have faith in God, I would fall down in that dismal "Hell," pointing to a trap door in a floor, where there was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I looked where he had pointed and I beheld a deep, dark pit, and as far around as I could see, I beheld people in the greatest confusion; some groaning, some shouting, and all was in a great turmoil. One person stood up in their midst, saying, "All is well with us; we need no more revelation. The canon of Scripture is full, and we will all be saved. W e need not fear." After I beheld this, the keeper took me and hung me on the hook by the back of my vest. It soon began to rip, but I began to call upon the Lord to strengthen me and increase my faith. Suddenly my vest ceased to tear, and I hung only by the seam of my collar. The keeper now took me down, saying, "Well done, you have got just faith enough to save you, and that is all any man will have, no matter how great they may be. They will only have faith enough to be saved, so you •can go on your way rejoicing." W h e n I was about sixteen years old, I had a heavy spell of sickness, which laid me up for about five months. I was brought nigh unto death, but the Lord preserved my life for a wise purpose in him. M y fever caused all my hair to fall out, and when it again grew, it was mixed with gray.


12

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

I continued to labor with my father, helping him on the farm, helping him in the mills, and occasionally chopping and boating cord wood logs and lumber. Nothing further worthy of note occurred until I was about twenty-six years old, in the year 1829. I became acquainted with a young woman by the name of Mary Pain, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Pain, and on the 22nd of January, 1830, we were married. She was born July 16, 1814. John and Elizabeth Pain had six children, viz.: Mary, Nancy, Susan, John, Elizabeth, and William. Nancy married Andrew A. Simmens [elsewhere given as Temmons]; Susan married one Hogges. In the year 1831 I moved to Sumner County 23 and took charge of my brother-in-law's farm and business. His name was Theodrick-Amannel Patten, my sister Nancy's husband. I managed all his affairs and raised him a crop, and moved back to Wilson County in 1832. In this same year I went in partnership with my father-in-law, and built a boat, expecting to go down the Mississippi River to the Azoo County [Yazoo country?] to live. In 1833, in the spring, we loaded up our boat with our families, provisions, and furniture. My brother-in-law was still carrying in a few sacks of corn meal and stowing them away; the table was spread, and everything was about ready for us to sit down to supper, preparatory to starting on our voyage, when the alarm was raised that we were sinking. The gang planks were not yet removed, and we got out [our] families all safe, but the boat sank with everything else on board. There had been a check in one of the gunnel boards, but we had not anticipated its being laden heavy enough for the water to come above, but before we knew it, the water was pouring through this check, which was the cause of its sinking. However, we procured help the next day and succeeded in raising our boat. W e repaired it by putting in a new gunnel. W e saved some of our lading, but a great deal was damaged. However, we launched forth in a few days, and floated down the [Cumberland] river as far as the Ohio, where we encountered a great storm of wind, which continued to rage for several days, and caused our women and children to become seasick. W e could gono farther. 23 Sumner County, north of Wilson County and separated from it b y the Cumberland River, adjoins Kentucky.


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

13

W e landed about twenty miles above the mouth of the Ohio River to [at] a strip of country called the "Grand Chain," 24 when we landed on the Illinois side of the river in Johnson County. 25 There we took up farms and went to work building and improving them. W e stopped here for several years, but the place was very unhealthy; here, I lost two children. In the month of October [1839?] there came a man to our section of the country, to preach, who claimed to belong to a church called "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," a new sect lately sprung up. This man's name was Jackeriah [Zachariah] Wilson. 26 Previous to this, I had never believed in any denomination, for I could not see where they got their authority; they all preached about a God, whom no one could comprehend; they believed not in revelation, nor the gift of healing by the laying on of hands according to the scriptures. Now, I looked for a church that was built upon the foundation that was laid down in the scriptures, with Prophets and Apostles to lead, and I had talked a great deal with my brother-in-law, Andrew A. Temmons, who believed as I did. I had tried to persuade him to preach, for he was a well educated man, but he said if he was to attempt to preach as he believed, the people would kill him. Now this "Mormon" Elder (as this new sect were called by all the world) preached in our place, and I went to hear him. He preached the gospel according to the scriptures; faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and baptism for the remission of sins; the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost by those who were called of God; also, the administering to the sick, by the laying on of hands, and a great many other things which he proved by the Scripture. He then went on to show how the Lord appeared to the boy, Joseph Smith; how he was instructed of Angels from time to time, and at last when he had grown to man24 The Grand Chain was and is a celebrated natural feature of the Ohio's lower course, a chain of rocks extending across the river. 25 Johnson County then embraced the Grand Chain area, but it is now Pulaski County. 26 Zachariah Wilson is now principally remembered in Mormon history for his subsequent association with the Emmett Company, but he did considerable missionary service for the church in Illinois between 1839 and 1844.


14

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

hood, how he had been led by the same heavenly messengers to obtain the sacred plates; how he had been inspired to give the translation thereof; and how he had been ordained to be a ^IOPh' et, Seer, and Revelator in this last dispensation; also, how he had been led by God to organize the Church of Jesus Christ, with Apostles, and all the appendages of the Holy Priesthood; with all the gifts following those who believed and were baptized according to the promises given in the scriptures. Now I believed and rejoiced to hear the Gospel again preached on earth as it was in the days of Christ. 27 I sent for my brother-in-law to come and hear a man who preached according to our mind. He came to hear him, and after the preacher got through, he gave anyone present the privilege to ask any question which was fair, and he would try to answer it. My brother-inlaw asked him if he had a foundation for what he preached. He said yes. My brother-in-law then said that that was all he wished to know at present. After meeting, I invited the preacher home with me. He said that if anyone would open their doors to him, he would preach again to them. One man said he could have his house to preach in, and I told him he was welcome to preach again to them. One man said he was welcome to preach in his house, so he did, on Thursday. W h e n he got through, a Methodist preacher asked permission to say a few words, and being granted the privilege, he arose and said, "There are no need of any more revelations; the canon of Scripture is as full, and we needed no more additions to the Bible because it was perfect, and he could prove it by that bucket." (He pointed to an old bucket close by which had but one ear and no bail.) Said he, "That is a perfect bucket, is it not? Yes, it is well, or that bucket is perfect; so is the Bible. I told you I could prove it." I failed to see the point of his proof, but perhaps it satisfied him. He further went on and said the very words that the man said in die pit, which I saw in my dream. I had not thought anything about my dream for some time until now, when it flashed to my mind with great force. The next Sunday Elder Wilson held a meeting at my house, at which time I was baptized and ordained to the office of a 27 Holt's was a characteristic response to the early Mormon proselyting, and illustrates the basis of its appeal.


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

15

Teacher. 28 My brother-in-law did not join the Church at that time; he said I was like the sow that jumped at the swill as soon as it was put in the pen. He joined the Church on the following spring, and went on to Nauvoo, 29 where I heard he apostatised through some false doctrine, introduced by a few individuals who belonged to the Church, but did not understand the doctrine aright. In about three weeks from my baptism, my wife was baptized. As soon as I was baptized, persecution began, all manner of being reviling of those who belonged to the Church, but it only increased my faith; for so persecuted they, the Church, in the days of our Savior. Soon after I was baptized, I went and preached to my brother-in-law, Hogges, and his family, in quoting a passage in the Bible. His mother said it was not there. I told her it was surely there. She denied it, so I had her get her Bible, and her son read it to her. She still denied it, saying it was a made-up thing between us. I preached to her every chance I got, and she was so afraid she would believe and join, that she sent quite a distance for a Baptist minister to come and baptize her. My father-in-law would never hear a Mormon preacher. I now wished to sell my place, and gather with the saints, but I could get scarcely anything for it. I finally sold it to a man for one hundred and seventy-five dollars, although the same man had offered me one thousand for it before I joined the Church. I gave Elder Wilson the most of it to help him home and for his family, as they had been driven and persecuted a great deal since he belonged to the Church. In the spring of 1840 I started with my family to Nauvoo, "The City of the Saints." I got as far as Pleasant Vale Stake, in Pike County, 30 where one of my horses died. I was now left without a team, only having two horses and a light wagon to start with. Here I stopped the next winter and summer. I rented a farm and 28 Ordinarily a new male convert would become a member, afterwards a deacon and only then a teacher, but things went much faster in the early days of the church, and it was not uncommon for a convert to be ordained almost at once as an elder, even. 29 Nauvoo was founded by the Mormons in the spring of 1839, following their expulsion from Missouri. 30 Pike County lies immediately south of Adams County, of which Qulncy is the well-known seat. Pleasant Vale Township is in the northwest quarter of the county. Nauvoo is situated about 70 miles farther north.


16

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

raised a crop. The following fall [1841] I hired a horse to put by the side of mine, and started again for Nauvoo, where arrived all right. After I had been there a short time, I turned over my wagon to the Committee of the Nauvoo House, and took a share in the same. 31 Soon after my arrival in Nauvoo, my only horse took sick, and hearing of a horse doctor close by, I went to see him. H e said if I would give him half of what the horse was worth, after he was cured, and if I would get the medicine he would undertake to cure him. I asked him how much medicine it would take. He said it would take about ten dollars' worth. I asked how much he would give me for the horse, now, as he was. H e said he would not give me one dollar. "Well," said I, "I would surely be a fool to spend ten dollars for the horse that is not worth one dollar." The next night I asked the Lord to cure the horse and if he would do so, I would sell it and give half the proceeds to the Church for the building up of His Zion on the earth. Next morning my horse was well, and I went forth and sold him for two hundred bushels of corn and I gave one hundred bushels to the Church. I now went to work on the quarry, getting out rock for the Temple and the Nauvoo House. 32 I also boated a great deal of rock from the quarry and rafted lumber. I continued in this employment pretty much all the time until the spring of 1844. At the April [1844] Conference of the Church, I was ordained to the Office of the Seventy, 33 and set apart to take a mis31 The building of the Nauvoo House was enjoined upon the church by a revelation to Joseph Smith on January 19, 1841; it was to be "a house unto my name, . . . a house for boarding, a house that strangers may come from afar to lodge therein . . . a good house, worthy of all acceptation." The same revelation commanded the building of the Nauvoo Temple. The Nauvoo House was a commercial enterprise, stock being sold to finance its erection. T h a t this might be done legally, an act of incorporation for the Nauvoo House Association was passed by the Illinois Legislature in February, 1841. T h e Saints worked intermittently on the House until they left Illinois in 1846, without completing it. 32 The Nauvoo version of a public works program for needy immigrants was labor on the Temple and the Nauvoo House, financed by tithing receipts. Temples, public buildings, and forts were constructed on the same basis in Utah in later years. 33 The First Quorum of the Seventy was organized at Kirtland, Ohio, in February, 1835, selected from among the faithful Saints w h o marched as Zion's Camp to Missouri in the spring of 1834, in an effort to reinstate the


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

17

sion to Tennessee, in company with Jackson Smith, to preach the Gospel, and also with a copy of Joseph's views on politics, to have more printed and distributed throughout our travels. 34 W e traveled as the people of old—without purse or script. It was a very wet spring, and we had to travel many days through mud and slush, shoe-top deep, and wade through much tribulation, but we put ourselves in the hands of God and ceased not to call on his name. W h e n we got to the Ohio River, the ferry man refused to set us over because we had no money to pay him. W e went below four miles to another ferry, and told the ferry man our situation. He was very kind and kept us over night and set us across in the morning, telling us we could recompense him more by speaking a good word for his ferry. W e had not gone far beyond the forks of the road when we met a large train of wagons. The captain asked us about the ferry, and we recommended to him the one we had taken as the most accommodating, and he took the road leading to it. W e traveled on, and came to a town that was peopled with Methodists. W e tried there to get lodgings, but we were refused on account of our religion. W e traveled on, and late in the night we spied a light that issued from a house in the field on one side of the road. W e were led by the Spirit to the house. W h e n we knocked at the door and it was opened, we apologized to the man for disturbing them so late at night, but we told them we were preachers of the Gospel as revealed to Joseph Smith, and had been refused admittance Mormons on their Jackson County lands. Later other quorums of Seventy were organized. "The Seventies," Joseph Smith explained, 'are to constitute traveling quorums, to go unto all the earth, whithersoever the Twelve Apostles shall call them." Thus they have since constituted what has been termed "the foreign ministry of the Church." Not all elders were Seventies, but all Seventies were elders. 3 *In furtherance of his Presidential campaign, Joseph Smith wrote out his Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States. of which 1500 copies issued from the Mormon press at Nauvoo on February 23, 1844. After the April conference of the church, when elders were sent Into the field, they took with them copies of the Views which it was their duty to get printed locally. Many of the elders succeeded; New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and other imprints are known. Others, like Holt, were less successful. He and Jackson Smith were two of 24 elders assigned to canvass Tennessee; James Emmett was one of 41 elders sent at the same time to Ohio, which serves to indicate the magnitude of the effort.


18

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

back at the town on account of our belief. "Well, well," said he, "come in. W e would not turn away even a dog in such weather as this." They gave us food and lodgings and treated us well. The next morning, after asking God to bless them we bade them good day, and proceeded on our way. W e continued on our journey without much more of importance transpiring until we arrived at my father's in Wilson County, Tennessee. After shaking hands with him, I gave him an introduction to my traveling companion, Brother Smith, but he refused to shake hands with him. He said he had heard enough about the Smiths, and he did not want to see any of them, although this Smith was no kin to the Prophet, Joseph. The name seemed to displease him, for there had been a great deal of false reports circulated about the Smith family which my father believed. I told my father that I had always been obedient to him when I was living at home with him, but if he could not entertain my fellow-traveler and treat him as a gentleman, I should be under the necessity of going somewhere else for accommodations, and turned my back on my father's house. This cut my father to the quick and with tears in his eyes he said, "James, take your friend in and make yourselves welcome." As it had been several years since I had seen my relatives, I spent several days visiting with them, and teaching them the principles of the Gospel, when they gave me an opportunity. My brother, Jesse Washington, being class leader of the Baptist Church in this place, gave us the privilege to preach in the meeting house. The first meeting we held attracted very few, but after that the meeting house was always filled. A few days after we arrived here, I went to Lebanon (it being six miles), with the copy of Gospel [i.e., Joseph Smith's] Views of Politics, to have some printed. I found an editor and made a contract to have five hundred copies printed. He agreed to have them done on the 27th of June. I then returned and spent the time with my relatives, and the people of their neighborhood. W h e n the day arrived, I left Brother Smith at my brother's, Jesse Washington, and started again to Lebanon to see about the printing. W h e n I got there the editor told me that so many


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

19

had borrowed the copy to read it that he had lost track of it and could not find, consequently he had not been able to print it. W h e n the people found I was there, several ministers of different denominations gathered around me and wanted to hear me preach. I told them that I was sent here to preach the Gospel and if they would get me a place to preach in, I would accommodate them to the best of my ability. They procured me the Courthouse and had the bell rung. It was soon crowded to overflowing, for the word had flown throughout the town that a "Mormon," who was reared in that neighborhood, was going to preach a sermon. They all felt curious to hear him. There were also a great number of ministers who were acquainted with me, and also knew that my education was limited, thinking of having sport at my expense, [who] came to hear me. I arose to my feet, on the 27th day of June, 1844, about two hours by sun, to address this large congregation. T h e Spirit of the Lord was upon me. I began by preaching the first principles of the Gospel; faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ; repentance and baptism, for the remission of sins; the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost; showed them how the primitive church had fallen away, and the world had lain in sin and darkness for many ages, and people had been led by self-appointed ministers, who preached for hire. I portrayed to them the calling of Joseph Smith; how the Lord had revealed to him the plan of salvation, and endowed him with the Holy Priesthood, with power to ordain men to the ministry, and send them forth to preach, without purse or script, depending upon the Lord to help them with his spirit. I also told them how he had been maligned by his enemies; had been driven, and persecuted in a Christian country, a land of freedom, for the Gospel's sake! In quoting the scriptures, I was guided by the Spirit, and I always opened at once to the passage I quoted. In winding up my sermon, I had the spirit of revelation come upon me and I told them that the enemies of the Church had taken the Prophet of God this day and put him to death, as they had all the prophets of God in all dispensations of the world. 35 "Now," said I, "you may have this 85 This was James Holt's recollection of the occasion some 37 years after. One of the most characteristic features of the Mormon folk memory of Joseph


20

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

for a testimony of the Gospel, for that is true Mormonism." After I had said this, I looked through the window, and the sun was just setting. I told them I had spoken to them longer than I had anticipated, but if anyone wished to ask any questions, I would answer them if they were fair. No one had anything to say, but all seemed struck with amazement, and their eyes were filled with tears. After I dismissed and went to the door a man stepped up to me and said he would like to hear more of my doctrine, and wished me to make an appointment in his place. I asked him where he lived, and he said he lived near Jackson School House, about twenty or thirty miles from here. I told him to give out an appointment for Saturday at four in the afternoon and eleven on Sunday morning, and I would be there and fill them. Next day I went back to father's and I told him that the Prophet was slain, and the Church was in difficulty, and that I was going home. He said he did not believe anyone could know anything for a certainty at such a distance. I told him that the spirit of God could reveal anything to man that was going on in any part of the world, and I knew that God had revealed the truth to me, and that I should start for home right away. I went to my brother's to see Brother Smith, and told him what the Lord had revealed to me; but he could not believe me. He said that my brother was believing, and he wished to stop and baptize him. But my brother wished to see the Prophet before he joined the Church and was thinking of going shortly to Nauvoo, and Brother Smith thought he would stop and go with him. So I bade them all farewell and started home. This was the last time I ever saw my father 36 and have never seen any of the others down to the present time, which is in the first month of 1881. I now went on to Jackson School House, which was on my road home and filled my two appointments, and at Nashville I Smith's death is that a personal revelation of the happening was vouchsafed to many of the elders then remote from Nauvoo. This is not supported in any case where an actual contemporary diary was kept, and it would seem that memories were afterwards distorted by the emotional need for personal participation in an overwhelming tragedy. s8 Holt has mentioned that his father died on October 15, 1844, which was only a few months later.


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

21

took a steamer for Smithland [Kentucky] at the mouth of the Cumberland River. W h e n I got there, there was no boat going [down the Ohio and] up the Mississippi River to Nauvoo. I crossed the river on a ferry boat, thinking of going to my former home about twenty miles below, where I heard the Gospel. After I crossed the river, and had gone a few hundred yards, I saw a house off to the left, and a man sat on the steps reading. The house was a few yards from the gate, and I felt impressed by the Spirit to enter. I did so, asking for a drink of water for an excuse. The man told me there was a cup and bucket; to help myself. He never took his eyes off from his paper he was reading. After I had drank a few swallows of water, I spoke to him, saying, "You seem to be quite interested in what you are reading. Is it anything very special?" He said he did not know, it was concerning the death of the Mormon Prophets. I asked him where the Mormon Prophets lived. He said they lived at Nauvoo, and were taken to Carthage and killed. I asked him if there was any truth in the report. He said it must be true, for the Governor's signature was to it.37 This confirmed my impression of the expression I had by the Spirit at Lebanon, and I now had no cause to doubt if I had felt so dispaired [disposed?], but I had not doubted since it was first revealed to me. But instead of it weakening my faith, it only strengthened it, for I knew that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God. Now I went to the Grand Chain and there I got on board the steamboat for Nauvoo, and arrived safely home. There I found the church in a great uproar. The Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were slain by a merciless mob, and there was great mourning and lamentations among the Saints. The Church was divided in fragments; some were following one, and some another, thinking they were following the right one. It seemed difficult to determine which was the right one until Brigham Young, the president of the Twelve, came and took his place at the head of the Church, the Twelve being next in authority to the first presidency. Mr. Lyman Wight declared that he was the right one to lead the Church, and led a small portion of it. Then came 37 On June 29, 1844, two days after the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage Jail, Governor Thomas Ford publicly announced the tragedy in a widely republished proclamation to the People of the State of Illinois.


22

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Sidney Rigdon, who had been counselor to Joseph, but had been dropped from the Quorum. H e came and professed to be the one to lead the Church until the son of Joseph was old enough to take the lead. Several other men led a portion of the Church, but the main part of them adhered to the Council of the Twelve. 38 James Emmett came after me to go with him. H e said he had been appointed before Joseph's death to choose a few families and travel among the Indians; to go on to the Rocky Mountains; to preach to the Indians along the way, and prepare them to receive the Saints in the Valleys of the Mountains. Brother Miller, then bishop, 39 testified to me that Emmett had been appointed by Joseph, and said that he had the privilege of choosing whom he pleased to accompany him. So I decided to go with him. H e also chose John Butler to go. 40 H e wished us not to reveal it to anyone, not even to our wives, where we were 38 Although characteristic as memory, this summation of the situation in Nauvoo during the weeks after the death of Joseph Smith is scarcely faithful to the fact. The church at Nauvoo was not at this time divided into fragments; sentiment had not crystallized behind any of the leaders. Sidney Rigdon, whose field of religio-political labor had been Pittsburgh, did not reach Nauvoo to press his claims to the Succession until August 3. Brigham Young and five others of the Twelve, including Lyman Wight, arrived on the night of August 6. Two days later, at a special conference of die church in Nauvoo, Brigham Young at the head of the Twelve won the initial struggle with Rigdon for control. Rigdon did not urge the right of Joseph Smith's son to lead the church; rather, he argued that the Prophet could have no successor, only a spokesman. As Rigdon had been consecrated "a spokesman to Joseph," and commanded to speak for him, his contention was that he must act in this office now that Joseph had "gone behind the vail." Lyman Wight, one of the Quorum of the Twelve, did not assert any right to the Succession, but one of the many projects which had stirred the inner councils in the spring of 1844 had been the removal of the church to Texas. Wight insisted on this program, and in 1844-45 actually led a group to Texas to prepare the way, as he thought, for the coming of the whole body. Brigham Young opposed this course and Wight eventually became estranged. After his death in 1858 his colony broke up. Some of his followers journeyed to Utah; others joined the emerging Reorganized Church. 39 An extended account of Bishop George Miller will be prefixed to Part II of the Holt narrative. *°John Low Butler's life is briefly sketched in Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saints' Biographical Encyclopedia (4 vols.. Salt Lake City, 1901-36), II, 601. He was born in Kentucky in 1808, joined the church in 1835, and was active in its Missouri troubles, 1836-38. Coming, like James Holt, to Utah in 1852, he settled in Spanish Fork, where he was the second bishop. He died in Spanish Fork April 10, 1860.


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

23

going, for everything was in such an uproar that he was afraid a great many would follow, and it would cause suffering. 41 John Butler had a friend by the name of Edwards 4 2 whom he told, and this Edwards told others. Emmett was to go by boat and I was to travel by land and meet him at a certain place up the Iowa River, but before we met, it got rumored around to such an extent, that a whole settlement on Bear Creek joined us. 43 W e traveled on up the Iowa River, and all met five miles above Kitchens Settlement, which was the largest settlement at that time on the Iowa River.44 There, my wife died, in October [1844], and was buried. T h e doctors gave her a dose of lobelia, when her stomach was too weak to take it, and it caused her death; and I must say that I have ever since been opposed to anyone administering drugs. 45 My wife left a child about two months old, which William Coachner's [Kartchner's] wife took to nurse. 46 I soon learned that they had the "itch" and had given it to the child. I then took it and put it in the care of a Miss Parthenia Overton, who kept it about two months, and as she had to go into another family, she had to give up the child. I then put it in the "This was approximately at the end of August, 1844. At least four men of this name were associated with Emmett Thomas L., Senior and Junior, William, and F. M. 43 This was the Liberty Branch, of which Zachariah D. Wilson was presiding elder. It is curious that Holt does not mention him in this connection. "Kitchen's Settlement was evidently a few miles above Iowa City. 45 Lobelia was a favorite prescription in the practice of botanic medicine; its praises are sung by the herb doctor, Priddy Meeks, whose engaging autobiography was published in Utah Historical Quarterly, X (1942). 46 William Decatur Kartchner, as recorded by Frank Esshom, Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah (Salt Lake City, 1913), 980-81, was born May 4, 1820, at Hartville, Montgomery County, Pa. He married Margaret Jane Casteel, 5 years younger than he, apparently just before his involvement in the Emmett Company. He broke with Emmett after the party reached the Missouri River, and, as related in his own narrative, came down the Missouri with his wife on a steamboat returning from the Yellowstone River. It is evident that it was he who was interviewed on his arrival at St. Louis, July 18, 1845, a story reprinted in Niles' National Register, Aug. 2, 1845, LXVIII, 339-40, the first published account of the experiences of the Emmett Company. (The substance of the story is recorded by Hubert H. Bancroft in his History of Oregon, San Francisco, 1886, I, 523-24, though Bancroft did not understand it.) Kartchner came on to Utah in 1847. Subsequently Kartchner was one of the Mormon colonists at San Bernardino, but returned to Utah on the abandonment of that Mormon outpost in 1857-58. In later life he was postmaster at Panguitch, Utah, and Snowflake, Arizona, in which latter place he died May 14, 1892. Kartchner took as his second wife at Salt Lake City (date not stated), Elizabeth Gale, daughter of an Australian convert. 42


24

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

care of James Nelson's wife, with which family we messed, and she starved it to death. 47 It died on the 10th of February, 1845. I lost another child at this camp, above Kitchens Settlement, where my wife died. It was my eldest son, Leander. He died about a month after my wife, in the month of November. I must here state that I cannot give dates and particulars as I would wish, for in my moves I lost my journal and have to tax my memory to a great extent to remember even one hundredth part of all which I would like to relate. W e here organized the company which had increased to upward of twenty-five or thirty families. Emmett was appointed trustee-in-trust for the company, and I was appointed bishop, with Brothers Henry Heneyman [Herriman?] and Jackson Steward 48 as my two counselors, and we all came under a covenant to divide up everything equal. W e sold everything which we did not need, and bought corn and teams, and everything was divided out equal. The provisions were rationed out daily and each person received only half a pint of corn a day. On the first of January, 1845, we started again, and still traveling up the Iowa River, we went somewhere between fifty and one hundred miles, where we stopped to rest awhile.49 Here 47 The bitterness of the animosities engendered in the Emmett Company is faintly suggested by this accusation. Rebecca and James Nelson felt just as hostile toward Holt. In their "memorandum" written at Winter Quarters, M a y 10, 1847, Mrs. Nelson complains of Emmett's decrees with respect to rations, which had the effect of starving all the company except "Emet Holt and Steward Butler," who "lived to suit their own taste without referring to the company." And, further, "I feel to speak of an infant that was put into my care by its father James Holt, when I took it it was literally covered with lice. T h e child was only three months old. I kept it about four months until it died and in that time there was two days I had not one mouthfull except a kind of soup such as we had for breakfast to feed it on. I went to its Father and told him his child was starving to death and I must have milk or flour. He gave me one pint of flour. I made flour gruel without salt and fed it on that. It was 7 months old when it died and suffered a lifetime in those few months. I speak of this to show that all natural affection appeared to be shut out from their hearts." 48 The "Steward" of whom Holt speaks is evidently Andrew Jackson Stewart, who was born in Jackson Township, Monroe County, Ohio, Sept 13, 1819, came on to Utah in 1850, and settled at Payson; he lived until Dec. 12, 1911. For a fuller account of him, see Esshom, op. tit., 1186. "According to the Nelsons, the reason for this singular winter journey was that Emmett became apprehensive that he might be called to account by Brigham Young (John L. Butler having lately gone to Nauvoo for counsel): "his fears were so great that his orders were to pack up and march in the


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

25

we made a good deal of sorghum [maple sugar]. It was also a good place for our cattle to browse and rest. Here we also had a visit from Brother Fuller [i.e., Amasa] Lyman, who was sent by Brigham Young to stop us from going any farther at present, and to have us come back, as he thought there were too many following us, which would bring great suffering. Emmett agreed to go back and consult with the Twelve when he got his company in a place where he was certain they would be safe, as he didn't feel they were safe here traveling in an Indian country. 50 I here married Parthenia Overton, on the 11th of February, 1845. W e had been messing with the before [mentioned] merciless Nelson family and his wife, who nearly starved my children to death. As I before stated my youngest child died in her care through neglect and a proper allowance of food. As I had to be away most of the time hunting and digging roots to live upon, I could not properly guard the welfare of my children as I could middle of winter.'' Lyman Hinman, in the letter he wrote from Winter Quarters June 27, 1847, says that they "traveled from bottom to bottom on [the Iowa] River staying from one day to three weeks in a place just as we found feed for our cattle digging wild potatoes artichokes and onions leeks and peas adding to our half pint of corn per head per day which was all the Bread stuff we had . . . . About the 18th of April [March?] we came to a place where the hard Maple trees were quite plenty we taped them and went to making sugar . . . ." This halting place is established by various Iowa annals to have been at a point on the Iowa River near present Albion, Marshall County, where some low hills ever since have borne the name Mormon Ridge. See, especially, History of Marshall County, Iowa (Chicago, 1878), 324. 50 The Twelve in Nauvoo were not unmindful of the well-being of Emmett's Company through the winter of 1844-45, but it was Moses Smith's reappearance in Nauvoo that stirred them to send Amasa Lyman to inquire into conditions in the camp. Moses Smith himself departed the company under heart-rending circumstances; his daughter gave birth to a son and was unable to proceed, and when he would not go on with the company Emmett stripped him of everything the family possessed, except the clothes on their back and an ax—which latter he vainly attempted to retrieve afterwards. See Moses Smith's obituary, as cited in Note 11. He had reached Nauvoo by February 27, 1845, on which day he represented to a council made up of the Twelve and others "the condition of the company led into the wilderness by James Emmett." It was agreed that Lyman and Daniel Spencer should visit the camp, carrying a letter from the Twelve which urged Emmett's followers to hearken to counsel and exhibit a spirit of union. (At the same time Emmett was pointedly rebuked for his willful behavior; the letter ended, "If Brother Emmett will receive our advice and continue so to do, it shall yet be well with him, but if not we say in the name of the Lord that it shall be ill with him and all that follow him.') Lyman was back from his mission by March 15, when he reported the Emmett Company to be on the Iowa River 150 miles west of the settlements


26

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

wish, and this woman took advantage of my absence and to glut herself; they nearly starved to death before I found out what was the matter. 61 But after I married Parthenia Overton, my children fared much better. Great was the suffering of all the camp. The men hunted as much as possible and when they killed anything, it was divided among them, even a squirrel. W h e n an ox died with fatigue or starvation, it was divided out to the people. They were as greedy for it as if it was the best of beef. No one can have any idea of the suffering of this company, except those who experienced the same. Women and children suffered great starvation and fear, not knowing when they would be massacred by savages or unprincipled whites. 52 in a deplorable condition, "caused chiefly by the rigid enforcement of Emmett's measures; he having limited their food to three gills of corn each per day. The company were much distressed and in all probability many would soon return to Nauvoo." See History of the Church, VII, 377-78, 383-85. 51 The point of view of the Nelsons on these matters has been set forth in Note 47. T h e dissensions in the party were such that they and others left it soon after Lyman visited the camp. Rebecca Nelson describes the increasingly harsh measures Emmett took to insure his grip upon the company after the commencement of the winter journey, the corn ration meanwhile being reduced to a gill and a half per day. At a point they called Camp Division, some 70 miles out, Emmett decided that the old women of the company should be separated from their families and sent back to the settlements. T h e carrying out of this measure led to the bitterest dissensions, most graphically described by Mrs. Nelson, and somewhat differently b y Kartchner; Emmett came close to ordering the execution of Zachariah Wilson. T h e upshot, in Kartchner's language, was that "Billy Edwards . . . Mr. Russel, wife and two boys, Thomas Edwards, Thomas Edwards Jr., William Edwards, Chester Loveland and family. Page, Sister Hart, Jimmie Nelson, Rebecca, his wife, John Flowers and family, W i l e y Flowers, (left his family), Samuel Coon and family, Elissi St. Marie and family, Stephen F. Casteel and his sister Emaline, formerly wife of John Savage, James Hickman and family, and others with Zachariah Wilson and wife, went back down Iowa River to Iowa City." T h e exact date of this division is not established, but F. M. Edwards had reached Nauvoo by March 26, as noted in the manuscript diary of Hosea Stout. 52 As Holt passed over the division of Emmett's Company, so does he pass over the sequel, which is described at some length by Kartchner and Hinman, and recorded in the local annals of Iowa. W h e n the refugees reached the Powieshiek Indian trading post near present Marengo, Iowa, they sent their complaints down to Iowa City, the seat of Johnson County, which was the nearest organized county and had an almost indefinitely extended jurisdiction. The sheriff assembled a posse which marched on foot to the Mormon camp and on April 15 arrested Hinman and three others. (That Is Hinman's version, but Kartchner says those arrested were Butler, Hinman, William Potter, Gardner Potter, Armstead Moffitt, and Enoch Burns; "Capt. Emmett fled in haste.") According to Hinman, posse and prisoners traveled the


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

27

In the month of March 53 we again started on our journey and went to the Vermillion, which was a French trading post,54 but before we arrived at this place, we were spied by the French and Indians, who came out to meet us and find out our intentions. After they found out, they escorted us to the fort, where we arrived the 7th day of June. 55 The next day Emmett went about fifteen miles to see the Indian chiefs who were drying buffalo meat for their winter provisions. They were of the Sioux Nation. When he told them his business, being able to converse with them in their own tongue, he returned being accompanied by seven of their chiefs. Now there was one of their chiefs, by the name of Henry, who had been to Petersburg to college, and had got quite a good education, and had settled down in this place. 56 Emmett 130 miles back to Iowa City in four days, arriving late on the 19th. W h e n court convened on the 21st, the complaining witnesses did not put in their appearance, and the prisoners were released. T h e y returned to the camp on April 29, finding that it had meanwhile moved 12 miles higher up the river. The Mormon narratives of the whole episode should be compared with that in History of Johnson County, Iowa (Iowa City, 1883), Chapter 8, Part 2, which is written from the point of view of the posse. 53 Hinman gives the date as M a y 2, and he also provides a description of the further journey. H e says that they "proceeded up to the head of said [Iowa] river and then of[f] into the broad prarie west for the rocky mountain traveling every day but 3 miles untill the 7 day of June which day we camped on the East bank of the River Missourie having little else to eat but the half pint of cut greens and roots for we killed but [very little game] . . . . on this tour we traveled six days to reach from one piece of timber to another we lived almost six months on little else than a half pint of corn per day and that most miserable shrunk mouldy and rotten and grown." Kartchner relates that they left the Iowa River about the middle of May. " W e drove out on a very large prairie without road or trail and came to a small creek, I thought Skunk River. Traveled on some distance and came to a swift river with steep banks, I thought the Des Moines, a good rocky ford. Traveled four days and came to a deep creek [Raccoon River?], no timber . . . . Traveled northwest several days on same prairie and came to Sioux River. Here we made a cottonwood raft. W e r e three days working hard to cross. Our women hunted Sioux roots and wild onions to eat as Emmett stopped our rations while we crossed the river. T h e first days travel after leaving this river a party of Sioux Indians came to us . . . Next day some Frenchmen came. . . . Said they lived at Fort Vermillion, a few miles due west and invited us to the Fort . . . . Next day we drove to the Fort, camped a little above " 64 Fort Vermillion, or Vermillion Post, a trading establishment of P. Chouteau, Jr. & Co., was situated on the Missouri just below the mouth of the Vermillion River in present South Dakota, nearly on the line between Clay and Union counties. See Hiram M. Chittenden, The American Fur Trade of the Par West (New York, 1935), II, 927. T h e arrival of the Emmett Company here marks the first appearance of the Mormons in South Dakota history. " T h i s date seems to be confirmed by Hinman's account, quoted in Note 53. 56 Kartchner's narrative speaks of "Mr. Henry" as "a half Frenchman," adding that his wife was an Indian, presumably Sioux. This is in accord with


28

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

and those seven chiefs went to Henry's house to hold council but I must here state that the chiefs brought us several bales of dried buffalo meat for a present, which was very acceptable. W e made a feast for them, giving them the best we had. Emmett handed the chief Henry the Book of Mormon to read, and after he had read the preface and explained it to his comrades, they all gave a great shout for joy. They danced, sang, shouted, and had a joyful time. Emmett asked them why they were so happy. They told him that their great chief, who had died twenty years ago, had told them that the whites would bring them in this very year, the record of their forefathers. They had almost forgotten it until he had presented him with this book. They felt to rejoice, because the words of their Prophet had come to pass. Emmett told them that he was traveling through their country to preach them the Gospel that was found in that book, and that his intentions were to travel on to the Rocky Mountains where his people wished to go and settle. They told him that it was a long way to the mountains; that he would have great waters to cross, and great plains where there was no water and when he got to the Rocky Mountains, he would find no buffalo; and that his women and children would starve. They wished him and his people to stop with them and learn them to farm; anyway, he must not go any farther this season, for it was late and he was perfectly welcome to take his men and hunt, and kill all of the buffalo around here they wished. They could help him and they should not be molested in any manner. W e went out in a few days and killed two or three loads of buffalo which greatly helped us in our provisions. After Emmett had been promised protection by the Indians, he took John Butler and went back to Nauvoo, to have a council with the Twelve, as he had promised.5'

the report of John S. Fullmer and Henry G. Sherwood, who visited Emmett's camp in the autumn of 1845 (the complete report is preserved in the Church Historian's Office; a condensed version is printed in History of the Church, VII, 495-98). T h e y mention "a half breed by the name of Ongee [perhaps a phonetic rendering of Henri], an educated and influential man." He was the best friend the Emmett Company found while in the vicinity of the Vermillion. "Kartchner himself left the company before Emmett went back to Nauvoo. Henry, he says, had taken himself and wife into his family, which caused the domineering Emmett to feel jealous, "fearing we would relate his tyrannical rule over us." Subsequently Emmett wanted some blacksmithing done, and threatened to force Kartchner to do it. T h e General Brooke having made its


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

29

W e had peace while he was gone; the Indians treated us very kind.58 W h e n he returned, he told me that he had made everything right with the Twelve; that he had been baptized again, and Brigham had blessed him with all the blessings that had before been conferred upon him, and had also conferred upon him greater blessings than he had hitherto held. There were a couple of brethren came back with him—Brother Sherwood and another brother.59 They both confirmed his words and we were all reappearance at this time, in buffalo robes down from succeeded in getting aboard ously in Niles' Register and behind everything but the

the annual steamboat voyage bringing furs and die Yellowstone, with Henry's help Kartchner and escaping, though as recorded contemporanelater in his narrative, he and his wife had to leave clothes on their backs. T h e y reached St. Louis

July 18. Emmett must have set out for Nauvoo almost at once after Kartchner got away, for on August 2, at Nauvoo, Emmett appeared at a council of several of the Twelve and bishops, desiring "in behalf of his company to be retained in the fellowship of the church." Brigham Young replied "that if he and bis company would follow the counsel of the Twelve we would fellowship them, but not otherwise." T w o days later at a second council "Emmett wished to be restored to the priesthood. He confessed his fault in leading away his company contrary to counsel and promised to make all the restoration in his power, he said he would abide counsel. Council decided he should be restored." On August 7 it was concluded "to send John S. Fullmer and Henry G . Sherwood to counsel and instruct James Emmet's company." Five days later "the Twelve, presiding bishops and others met in council, and wrote letters for H. G. Sherwood and John S. Fullmer, with authority to lead, direct and instruct Emmett's company who are now encamped among the Sioux on the Missouri river about thirty miles above the mouth of Big Sioux river . . . . Brother Emmett declared he would be subject to counsel." See Journal History for these dates. 68 Meanwhile official notice was taken of their presence in the Sioux country. The annual report of Thomas H. Harvey, Superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, dated September 10, 1845, in commenting on the new phenomenon of emigration to Oregon, remarked: "A small party of emigrants from Wisconsin, bound for Oregon, travelled across the country last spring, to the mouth of the Vermillion, on the Missouri. W h e n they arrived there they concluded that it was too late to proceed, and determined to remain there until next spring, and with this "view proceeded to plant corn, buckwheat, &c. I understand from persons familiar with the character of the Indians who frequent, in the winter, the neighborhood where this party is located, that their property, if not their persons, will be in great danger should they remain there until spring, as they •contemplate. I have instructed agent [Andrew] Drips to point out to them the dangers of their situation, and to induce them, if possible, to fall back within the boundaries of Missouri, and winter there.' 29th Congress, 1st Session, Senate Executive Document 1 (Serial 470), p. 536. 59 As will be seen by a previous note, the other brother was John S. Tullmer, which may account for Holt's having given Amasa Lyman's name earlier as "Brother Fuller Lyman." In their extremely interesting report, Sherwood and Fullmer say that with Emmett they traveled west-northwest to the Raccoon Barracks on the Des Moines River, 75 miles from Nauvoo, then morthwest four days to avoid the unwelcome attention of U. S. troops who


30

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

baptized by them. John Butler did not come back at this time, but came the following spring. 60 The brethren that came back with Emmett concluded to go back by water if we would fit them up a boat and they could sell their horses, which belonged to the Church. 61 There was no one to buy their horses but a Frenchman who kept a station nearby for a fur company. 62 He offered them $30 for the one and $35 for the other, but Emmett thought the sum too small and he concluded to buy them for the Company, giving $50 for one, and $60 for the other, taking the means to pay for them out of the company treasure. He told the brethren, when he met the Church, that it could have the horses back if it so wished, by returning the same amount to him.63 After these two brethren had gone, the might have arrested them for entering the Indian country without a license, and finally direct to Council Bluffs. T h e y then turned up the Missouri to Emmett's camp, which they found on the bank of the Missouri a few miles below the mouth of the Vermillion. T h e journey seems to have taken from August 13 to September 13. 60 Butler went back to Nauvoo with Sherwood and Fullmer, not previously with Emmett as Holt recalled. It was he who officiated in rebaptizing the camp. T h e two elders relate that they "appointed John L. Butler to attend us on our return, as we were yet too feeble [after the hardships of the outward journey] to risk such a trip alone, and to be the bearer of such instruction to the camp as might be given them at headquarters." Emmett desired this appointment but his headstrong behavior as guide earlier led them to arrange otherwise. 61 Sherwood and Fullmer had their hands full with Emmett, and after their arrival at the camp had to show written documents to prove that they were in authority. Emmett was so bold as to claim equal authority with them. Yet such was the situation that to obviate any trouble with Emmett after they should be gone, "it was finally decided to appoint him the President of the camp, with instructions. T h e y were to remain where they were build cabins for the winter, procure what buffalo meat they could, by sending out organized parties. T o conciliate the friendship of the Indians, and prepare themselves for any instruction they might receive from Nauvoo in the spring, anticipating a removal to some place then unknown." 62 Fullmer and Sherwood give the man's name as Brewyer, and add that he had married two daughters of the Sioux chief, Eagle. It would appear from Elliott F. Coues, ed., Forty Years a Fur Trader on the Upper Missouri (2 vols., New York, 1898), II, 288, 297, that "Brewyer" was Theophile Bruguiere, but if so he was still in sound health as late as 1851, notwithstanding Holt's subsequent remarks. Jacques Bruguiere, a nephew of James Kipp, and three Brouillards, John, Joseph, and Louis, are mentioned in fur trade records of the period, but not in association with the Vermillion Post. 63 This version is much more favorable to Emmett than the FullmerSherwood account, which says that Emmett first declined to buy the horses. " W e next applied to Brewyer . . . who gave Sherwood $25 for his horse, and me $20 for mine, both excellent horses, but thin in flesh. Emmett now objected and refused to deliver the horses out of his corral, although they had been paid for; stating that he wanted them for buffalo horses."


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

31

Frenchman who wished to get the horses, got very much offended, because we had bought the horses and he couldn't get them. So he got the Indians together and got them drunk and hired them to come against us and kill us all off (by giving them ammunition and a few trinkets). The Station, where they gathered, was about a half mile from our camp. The Indians started toward us to put in execution the bloody orders of the Frenchman, but the head chief came on ahead to have a council with the chief Henry at his cabin. They asked him if it was right to kill us. "Yes," said Henry, "go and kill them who brought us the record of our forefathers; kill all the women and little children who have never done us any harm, and get a big name." Said they, "Are you making fun of us?" "Yes," said he, "go and stop your warriors and don't let them hurt a hair of the whites, at your peril." This sobered the chiefs, and they in company with Henry came on a run to intercept the Indians and met them at our camp in the act of raising their guns to shoot us down. The chiefs ran in among them knocking their guns right and left, and shouted to them to stop. They nearly had a war between themselves before the chiefs were able to stop them, for the Indians were so drunk that they were hard to control. By their own chiefs, however, they were brought under subjection, before they shed any of our blood, but our people were greatly frightened, especially our women and children, who cried and screamed, thinking we were all going to be massacred. But die hand of God seemed to be over us. And we escaped by almost a miracle, for during the skirmish between chiefs and Indians, there were a great many guns discharged and die bullets whistled among our wagons, some over and some under, and several in close contact to the inmates of our camp. 64 64 AU this happened before, not after, the departure of Fullmer and Sherwood (who left on October 3), and their account may be read in comparison. Emmett's action in refusing to deliver the horses "so enraged Brewyer that he immediately declared hostilities against the whole camp. There had been . . . above a thousand Indians camped close by, during our stay, up to that time, but had just started to the north. Immediately upon this difficulty occurring, Brewyer . . . sent for [Eagle] to return with all his warriors, which summons they promptly obeyed. He now stimulated them by giving them whiskey, and sold them on credit guns and ammunition in case they would wipe out the entire camp. Eagle promised to do so. Fortunately there lived there a half-breed by the name of Ongee . . . to whom Eagle communicated his intentions. Ongee opposed it with all the art he was master


32

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The Indians now all swore vengeance on the Frenchman, whom they now called a murderer, and went to kill him, but he kept forted up, and dared not go without the walls, for fear of them for some time. But they got a chance by fall to shoot him. They only wounded, and he was taken by his friends down to the chiefs [Bluffs?] to a doctor, where he recovered. H e then started to return and when he got to the little Sion [i.e.. Little Sioux River?], he was again shot by them, and this time killed. So he fell into the trap that he had set for us. When spring opened, we put in garden seeds and were preparing to put in corn to raise a crop, but John Butler now returned from Nauvoo, with James Cumming, 65 bringing word from the Twelve for us to meet the Church at the Bluffs, so we broke up camp and met the Church at that place. 66 W e went about of. One device was this: he said they should select the least baby that they could find, and kill it, and he would give each of them a petticoat and make squaws of them all. T o Eagle he said that he should walk over his dead body first; but if they would desist Brewyer should have the horses which he had bought which we also determined he should have if that would settle it. Just before the difficulty was settled, an Indian brave appeared with a number more on horse back before Butler's tent where Emmett was sitting, and levelled his rifle at him; but was instantly prevented from firing by Ongee who was consulting with him on the subject at the time. Ongee's wife also used what influence tears and entreaties she had with the several chiefs, and with Eagle also, who was the head chief." 65 Butler accompanied Sherwood and Fullmer down the Missouri to within 20 miles of St. Joseph, but as he had been in the Crooked River battle during the Mormon W a r of 1838 and had consequently had to flee the state, it was inexpedient for him to risk himself in Missouri jurisdiction. He went overland to Nauvoo across southern Iowa. His companions reached Nauvoo by water October 29, 1845, he perhaps a little later. W h e n the large-scale evacuation of Nauvoo began during the winter, Butler set out for the W e s t with the other Saints. O n March 8, 1846, near Richardson's Point in Van Buren County, Brigham Young in council with four of the Twelve decided that Butler should go on to Emmett's camp, and summon them to rendezvous with the main Camp of Israel preparatory to sending a company to the Great Basin "soon enough to plant in the spring." After debate whether Butler should go alone, on March 26 it was decided that James W. Cummings should accompany him, Emmett's company being notified "to meet the camp at Fort Laramie." Butler and Cummings accordingly set out on March 27. See Journal History, March 8, 16, 26, 27, 1846. 66 It is not explained in the sources how it happened that Emmett's Company came down the Missouri to Council Bluffs instead of striking direct for Fort Laramie, which could have been done by w a y of the Niobrara River, if the party was well-enough provisioned. According to the Journal History, James W . Cummings made contact again with the main Camp of Israel on June 11, at the W e s t Fork of the Nishnabotna River: "About 2 p.m. James W . Cummings arrived from his visit to Emmett's company, accompanied by Bro [William] Potter, he said Emmett had taken seven horses, some


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

33

twenty-five or thirty miles beyond and camped on Keg Creek, 67 and we of the brethren who were able went down the Missouri and worked around to obtain corn for our families to eat. W e got a load or two and were about ready to start with it to our families, when word came for us to hurry up and join George Miller's company, which was waiting for us, ready to proceed to the Rocky Mountains. 68

jewelry and with a young squaw left the company; it was supposed that he had gone to St Peters, that Emmett's company were at the fort thirty miles below the bluffs [Council Bluffs] and John L Butler with them." John D . Lee's version, in his diary for the same date, is that "at 12 noon Bros J W Cummings & W m Potter arrived in camp directly from Emmet.s Co informed us that they were all in the Settlement near the Mo River waiting our arrival at the Bluffs that Emett had taken an other mans wife & abscounded the remainder of this Co felt mortified." Lee adds that next day Potter was dispatched back to Emmett's Company with a letter from Young to Butler "containing instructions to the Brethren . . . to say nothing about our exit to the Mountains—but to lay in their supplies and meet us at the Bluff.s." See the typed transcription of Lee's diary in the Utah State Historical Society library. Holt's narrative, brief as it is, is the only one setting forth the experiences of the Emmett Company through the fall and winter of 1845-46. Lyman Hinman says only that after the party reached the Vermillion Post in the summer of 1845 "the inhabitants both French and Native were anxious that we should stay untill spring and recruit with them we therefore agreed to stay as our provisions was almost gone . . . . we remained at said place untill the 19th of February on which day myself and family and 6 others started for Council Bluffs said to be 150 miles down the River at which place we arrived on the 15th of March all well but Evelines husband G G Potter." 67 Keg Creek rises in Shelby County, Iowa, flows somewhat west of south, and enters the Missouri River below the mouth of the Platte. It passes about 12 or 13 miles east of the later Mormon settlement of Kanesville, now renamed Council Bluffs, Iowa. 88 Miller's Company will be discussed at length in Part II of the Holt narrative, in the April issue.


U T A H ' S C O A L R O A D I N T H E A G E OF UNREGULATED

COMPETITION

BY LEONARD J. ARRINGTON*

O

NE OF THE important problems in the development of the Mountain W e s t was the shortage of fuel. Colonists were compelled to build elaborate wagon roads, at great cost of human effort, to tap sources of timber in the mountain valleys and canyons. The lack of timber also stimulated a desperate search for coal deposits, the development and marketing of which usually depended on adequate transportation facilities. Four minor railroads figured in the history of the transportation of coal from a number of important deposits near Coalville, Utah, to Salt Lake City: The Coalville and Echo, the Summit County, the Utah Eastern, and the Echo and Park City railroads. Officials of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were instrumental in promoting the first three. The history of these roads, largely untold, is a despairing chronicle of financial loss and failure; nevertheless, it sheds light on the attitudes and objectives of Mormon leaders, and illustrates the callous disregard of powerless public interest which often typified big business in the Gilded Age of American capitalism. While the state of Utah is underlain with extensive supplies of low-grade bituminous coal, this fact was not known by the Mormon pioneers for many years. The church-commissioned Southern Exploring Expedition discovered outcroppings of coal near Cedar City late in 1849, but Brigham Young and his associates decided to dedicate this coal to the working of the iron deposits located nearby. A vein of coal much closer to Salt Lake City was discovered shortly thereafter in what is now Sanpete *Dr. Arrington is a member of the staff of the department of economics at the Utah State Agricultural College, Logan. He is a frequent contributor to the Utah Historical Quarterly and other historical and educational periodicals.


AREA OF UTAH'S EARLY RAILROADS

'*+.


U T A H ' S COAL ROAD

37

County, Utah. Worked for a number of years, this mine was too distant from consuming centers to warrant large-scale production. During the period 1858-61 a number of important deposits were found in Summit County, near what came to be called Coalville, approximately fifty wagon-road miles from Salt Lake City. These were in Chalk Creek, Grass Creek, and Spring Hollow canyons. While this coal disintegrated or "slacked" upon exposure to the atmosphere, it was relatively clean, and was the object of immediate development. The completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, accompanied as it was by a rapid increase in smelter operation and exhaustion of timber supplies, caused Mormon authorities in Salt Lake City to study the possibility of establishing railway connections with Coalville. The thirty-six mile Utah Central Railroad, connecting Salt Lake City with the Union Pacific terminal at Ogden, represented the first step in the church's plan to get coal to Salt Lake City. In conjunction with the Utah Central, which was commenced in May, 1869, church officials planned to construct a three-foot narrow-gauge railroad from Coalville north to the Union Pacific line at Echo, five miles distant. From Echo the coal would be carried on the U. P. lines some thirty-two miles northwest to Ogden. Later, branch lines would be built to the principal mines in the Coalville area. As with most pioneer Mormon enterprises, the road was to be constructed on the cooperative plan. Coalville residents would be expected to contribute labor, supplies, and equipment in return for stock in the road; the rails and rolling stock would be furnished by the church-owned Utah Central Railroad Company. 1 Under the direction of Brigham Young the Coalville and Echo Railroad Company was organized in September, 1869, with a capital stock of $250,000.00, divided into 5,000 shares of $50.00 a In 1868-69 the church contracted with Union Pacific officials to grade ninety miles of its road in Utah. The U. P. defaulted on most of this obligation, but agreed to furnish the church $600,000.00 worth of rails and rolling stock. At prevailing prices Brigham Young calculated that this would represent enough iron to construct both the Utah Central and the Coalville and Echo railroads. See Edward W. Tullidge, History of Northern Utah and Southern Idaho (Salt Lake City, 1889), 131.


38

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

each. The board of directors was composed of church leaders in Summit County, with Bishop W . W . Cluff of Coalville as president. 2 The road from Coalville to Echo was surveyed, and on October 21, 1869, ceremonies were held in Coalville to mark the commencement of construction. By the end of 1869, nearly all the grading had been completed, most of the ties had been procured, and plans were made for laying the track as soon as weather permitted in the spring. 3 Nevertheless, the track was not laid. The Union Pacific, which had been depended upon to furnish the iron and rolling stock for the Utah Central and Coalville and Echo railroads, sent only enough to complete the former. W h e n superior coal from the Rock Springs, Wyoming, mines was carried by the Union Pacific to Ogden, ready for transportation to Salt Lake by the Utah Central, Mormon authorities decided it would be unnecessary to purchase elsewhere the rails and rolling stock needed to complete the Coalville and Echo. W o r k on the little road was thus abandoned, with no compensation to the Coalville citizens who had devoted months of labor to the task of grading the road and securing ties. The president and superintendent of the Coalville and Echo, Bishop Cluff, was sent on a gospel mission to Scandinavia, to remain a year and a half. What coal was shipped out of Coalville during the next two seasons went by wagon north to the U. P. line at Echo, or, alternatively, southwest by team to Salt Lake City. The Union Pacific Railroad Company, however, seemed to play the part of the "grasping monopolist," at least in the eyes of the Utah citizenry.4 Coal prices were high and supplies precarious. 2

Deseret News, June 4, November 1, 1869. Ibid„ November 17, 1869; Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, XXXII (1870), 121. 4 In reproducing the allegations of the 1870's and 1880's, the writer is not implying any criticism of the policies of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, either then or now. T h e Union Pacific has undergone many reorganizations since the events described herein transpired, and the unfriendly practices alleged by its nineteenth-century competitors have long since been discontinued. T h e writer's motive in resurrecting this bit of history is not to indict the U. P. Company, but to unearth an interesting page of social history long buried, and to provide a partial rationale for some of the legislation which followed the competitive era of the 1870's and 1880's. If any animosity toward today's progressive Union Pacific should result from the publication of this article, the writer would be the first to regret it. s


U T A H ' S COAL ROAD

39

At the same time, some rich silver mines were opened at Park City, approximately twenty-eight miles south of Echo, and thirtyfive miles east of Salt Lake City. A railroad connecting Park City and Coalville with Echo, and possibly with Salt Lake City, seemed to be justified. Shortly after his return from Scandinavia in 1871, Bishop Cluff was asked once more to superintend the completion of the Echo and Coalville road. "Such temporal labor," he afterwards said, "was as much a part of the duties of the Elders as preaching, or anything in that line." 5 A new association was formed, on November 27, 1871, called the Summit County Railroad Company, with a capital stock of $660,000.00, divided into 6,600 shares of $100.00 each.6 The principal stockholder and president was Brigham Young's son, Joseph A. Young. Other stockholders included Bishop Cluff, F. A. Mitchell, Charles Crismon, George Crismon, and other Mormon mine-owners in the Coalville locality.7 The narrow-gauge road was to connect Coalville with Echo Station and with the Chalk Creek and Grass Creek mines, and would push south of Coalville to Unionville and Wanship, and ultimately, it was hoped, to Salt Lake City. Plans called for the immediate construction of twenty-six miles of road. According to the agreement made at the time of the organization of the company, the Summit County partners were to furnish the labor and ties, while Joseph A. Young was to arrange for the iron and rolling stock. As it turned out, the rails, cars, and engines were financed by the sale, on January 1, 1873, of two hundred and seventy $500.00 mortgage bonds (twenty-year, seven per cent). This sale, which presumably netted $135,000.00, was made to the Union Trust Company of New York, a firm in which officials of the Union Pacific Railroad Company were interested.8 The Summit County Railroad Company also purchased the ties, grade, and rights-of-way of the Coalville and Echo Railroad by exchanging its own stock for paid-up stock in the defunct corporation. 9 s Deseret 6

News, October 7, 1873. The company seems to have been legally incorporated on January 1, 1873. 'Summit County Railroad Company, incorporation papers. National Archives; The Herald (Salt Lake City), August 17, 1873. 8 Summit County Railroad Company, incorporation papers. 9 Tullidge, loc. cit.


40

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Construction began in 1872, and the grading was completed from Coalville to Echo in the fall of the same year. The road was finally completed from the leading mines in the Coalville area to Coalville, and from Coalville to Echo Station, on May 14, 1873,10 which was not in time to prevent what Salt Lake City newspapers described as a "coal famine" during the winter of 1872-73. 11 At the same time, Mormon officials were improving the organization at the mines.12 At the time of a visit of the church First Presidency to Coalville in July, 1873, the working of the mines was already well advanced, and the road was pronounced to be "already a success." 13 A "well-built and commodious engine house" was located at the Coalville switch, and a "home-made caboose" was in operation. The track, including the branches to the mines, was twenty-two miles in length. Additional rolling stock arrived in October, 1873, making it possible for the company to transport all the coal taken from the Summit County mines. The Deseret News was happy to state that "the people of this city may consider themselves safe from the probabilities of a coal famine during the approaching Winter." 14 It 10 Deseret News, April 9, M a y 14, 1873. The road went as far as the Wasatch Mine, seven miles northeast of Coalville. " " . . . the people were put to great inconvenience and some even suffered considerable distress . . . the depot was absolutely besieged with teams and people would get up early on cold mornings in the hopes of being able to purchase a few hundred pounds of fuel." Ibid., October 29, 1873. 12 T h a t coal existed in ample supply, if of dubious quality, in the Coalville region, has been confirmed by modern explorations. T h e district of which the Chalk Creek and Grass Creek mines formed a part is now known to have contained some twenty square miles of coal land, with seams ranging from four to twelve feet in thickness. Approximately half of the 200,000,000 tons are thought to have been commercially profitable to work. The two most profitable mines, the Wasatch and the Cullen, both of which were operated for a time under Mormon Church auspices, proved to be competitive under private operation and were worked until well into the twentieth century. See Marie Rose Peterson and M a r y M. Pearson, comp.. Echoes of Yesterday; Summit County Centennial History (Salt Lake City, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1947), 95-101. 13 The Herald, August 17, 1873. T h e spiritual and business affairs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are under the general direction of a First Presidency, consisting of a president and two "counselors," and the Council or Quorum of Twelve Apostles. T h e president of the church also serves as legal "trustee-in-trust" of all church property. T h e collection of tithing, the construction of buildings, and the dissemination of welfare assistance are handled by bishops in charge of "wards" or parishes, under the general supervision of a presiding bishop and two counselors. ^Deseret News, October 29, 1873; The Herald, October 23, 1873.


U T A H ' S COAL ROAD

41

was estimated that the eight mines in Summit County shipped approximately two hundred tons per day during the winter of 1873-74.15 Nevertheless, the completion of the road did not "free the citizens from the clutches of the Union Pacific," as some of them expressed it. T h e coal had to be transferred at Echo Station to the Union Pacific track for transmittal to the Utah Central at Ogden. The U. P., which was not particularly anxious to relinquish its hold on the lucrative Salt Lake coal market, did not regard the Summit County venture as a "feeder." Instead, U. P. officials retaliated by hiking coal rates from Echo to Ogden to prohibitive levels. Specifically, rates on coal from Echo to Ogden were raised from $1.50 to $3.76 per ton. 16 The indignant little church road, the Utah Central, refused to receive U. P. coal at Ogden under these conditions; Salt Lake City was again in danger of a "coal famine." The Salt Lake Herald complained that in this action the U. P. was " r o b b i n g " Coalville of five hundred dollars per day. 17 George A. Smith, a member of the First Presidency of the church, also deplored the ill-considered action of the U. P.: "The action of the U. P. R. R. Company is, with other things, designed to aim a deathly blow at the Coalville Railroad Company . . . . As soon as they have broken up the other companies we may expect them to increase the price of their coal as much as their avarice may dictate. Our remedy appears to be in building a railroad to the south until coal mines are struck, and by that means equalize the market." 18 Another prominent church official wrote of the "helpless condition of the entire city" and "the rapacity of the railroad monopolists." 19 The Deseret News 15 Ibid., July 3, 1874. The amount of coal carried by the Utah Central into Salt Lake City was placed at upwards of 45,000 tons for the year 1873. Edward L. Sloan, comp. and ed., Gazeteer of Utah, and Salt Lake City Directory (Salt Lake City, 1874), 43. A similar figure for the 1873-74 season is given in the Deseret News, July 1, 1874. Certainly most of the coal was mined at Rock Springs, Wyoming, and transferred from the U. P. to the Utah Central at Ogden. 16 Deserei! News, July 1, 1874. The News estimated that 60,000 tons of coal would have moved into the Salt Lake Valley in 1874-75 if the Union Pacific had not raised its rates. "The Herald, July 3, 1874. 18 George A. Smith to Joseph F. Smith, July 2, 1874, Millennial Star, XXXVI (1874), 492. 19 John Morgan, The Herald, July 22, 1874.


42

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

editorialized: "It is a matter the importance of which can scarcely be over-estimated for the people to be at the mercy of a whimsical and apparently unscrupulous railroad company for one of the necessaries of life, which, to a great extent, would be the case here in the winter season, when hauling by team would be occasionally, at least simply impossible." If the road linking Salt Lake City with Coalville was not built soon, the editor added, the people would be paying out more for coal than die cost of the road: "In the meantime, there are now hundreds of teams for which there is no other work in and around this City, . . . [which] might be and should be hauling coal from the Weber [i.e., Summit County] coal-beds, and thus keeping money in the Territory that would otherwise be paid out to a railroad company which has no sympathy with nor interest in the community . . . ,"20 The unity and spirit of the Salt Lake citizens, both Mormon and non-Mormon, in opposing the rate-raising action of U. P. officials apparently forced a second look. On August 7, 1874, the rates were lowered to $1.75 per ton from Echo to Ogden, and Summit County coal was shortly put on the market in Salt Lake City at its old prices. 21 Editors warned, however, that a permanent solution would not exist until "the community will be in such a position that they will not be at the mercy of a railroad company who have the power and who to some extent have manifested the will to create a monopoly for tbe furtherance of their own ends independent of the distress and inconvenience they may entail upon others." 22 The operation of the Summit County Railroad after May, 1873, proved to be of little aid in the solution of the worsening fuel problem of Salt Lake City, Ogden, and odier cities in northern Utah. The Union Pacific Railroad Company was in a strategic economic position. It owned low-cost, high quality coal mines at Rock Springs, Wyoming, and the connecting railroad; it purchased coal mines in the Sanpete and the connecting Sevier Valley railway; later, temporarily at least, it acquired control over the coal mines opened up in 1876 in Carbon County, Utah, and ^Deseret News, July 15, 1874. "TAe Herald, August 8, 1874. ^Deseret News, August 12, 1874.


U T A H ' S COAL ROAD

43

the connecting railroad. It owned the road from Echo to Ogden, without the use of which Summit County coal could not be economically delivered to Salt Lake City. The producers of coal in Coalville, coal dealers in Ogden and Salt Lake City, and the Church-sponsored Utah Central and Summit County railroads— all were in a very weak bargaining position. By the exercise of its rate-setting powers, and by the allocation of coal cars, the Union Pacific could control the quantity of Summit County coal which moved to Salt Lake and Ogden as well as the price at which it would sell. By 1875, Brigham Young had given up the unequal struggle and sold the Utah Central Railroad to the Union Pacific for the reputed sum of $250,000.00.23 Also in grave financial difficulty, the Summit County Railroad defaulted on its bonds on January 1, 1875. Brigham Young absorbed the controlling stock interest of his son, and sold it to the U. P. Shortly after this purchase, the U. P. took up some of the track of the railroad in order, according to Tullidge, "to embarrass and prevent the Coal Company from being able to market its products . . . ," 24 As the result of proceedings initiated August 23, 1880, the Summit County Railroad was finally sold at public auction to Sidney Dillon, representing the Union Pacific Railroad, for the sum of $75,000.00.25 Both before and after these transactions, the Salt Lake City newspapers vigorously complained of the "outrageous" impositions of the Union Pacific people, and campaigned for the construction of a locally-controlled rival line from Echo to Salt Lake City via the new mining center of Park City. The increase in population in Salt Lake City, coupled with the almost complete exhaustion of economic timber supplies, rendered the provision of an adequate, cheap, and secure coal supply even more important "Testimony of John Sharp, Senate Executive Document No. 51, 50 Congress, 1 session, 2154-55. Sharp stated that the transaction took place in 1872, which seems too early. M Op. cit, 522-23. The coal company to which he had reference was the Mormon-owned Wasatch Coal Company, die largest producer of coal in Summit County. 25 Summit County Railroad Company, incorporation papers. Brigham Young is reported to have sold at the same time the church's interest in the Grass Creek coal mines. Tullidge, loc. cit.


44

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

than it had been in 1869. Mormon officials and Salt Lake citizens generally began to be concerned, particularly when Jay Gould secured a working monopoly on the northern Utah coal market in 1877, by acquiring controlling interest in the Pleasant Valley Coal Company of Carbon County as well as of the Union Pacific. In October and November of that year, Union Pacific "negotiated" with the Summit County mine owners to take all of their output—from ten to forty car loads daily—"with the proviso that none be sold to any other purchasers." 26 Having little choice, the dealers complied, further consolidating U. P. control of the northern Utah coal market. This agreement forced mine owners to cease the practice of selling to men with teams who had been obtaining merchandise in Salt Lake City by exchanging coal. Such a barter arrangement was of considerable advantage in a territory where cash was "hard to come by." T h e bishops of the various Mormon wards in Salt Lake County were particularly interested in this matter because Salt Lake tithing produce had been carried by team to Coalville for years. There it was exchanged for coal which was brought to Salt Lake and used for welfare purposes, and for heating church office buildings, chapels, and business enterprises. 27 The U. P. management, for some reason, was averse to permitting mine owners the privilege of these barter deals, even when it was directly connected with welfare assistance to the poor.28 During the winter of 1877-78 firewood sold for ten dollars a cord in Salt Lake City and a ton of coal brought the same price.29 This was from two to four dollars in advance of "traditional" prices. As the winter progressed, the U. P. allocated fewer and fewer cars for the use of Coalville mines, and by April, 1878, only two car loads of coal were being taken a week 2e Deseret News, October 25, December 5, 1877. "Ibid., December 13, 1877. 28 A parallel move was the appointment of Abram Gould, brother of Jay Gould, as sole agent of Union Pacific coal mines in Salt Lake City. Retail coal dealers were thus dependent for their supplies upon Gould, who appears to have been anxious to "freeze out" small independent retailers. On the grounds that his supply of coal was running out, he allegedly refused to furnish coal to any but large retailers. Ibid., March 11, 1880. 29 Journal History of the Church (hereafter referred to as JH), December 27, 1877, Church Historian's Office, Salt Lake City.


U T A H ' S COAL ROAD

45

from Coalville, compared with "normal" shipments of four to ten •cars daily. Coalville was almost "starved out" of the coal business. Nor could the owners, under their contract, sell to anybody but the U. P. Company. 30 The U. P. "took up the slack" in the Salt Lake market by selling its own more expensive coal from Rock Springs. The president of the church, John Taylor, who had succeeded to the position after Brigham Young's death in August, 1877, reacted to the situation by negotiating for the purchase of a coal mine in Summit County. The mine was to be worked by unemployed Mormon miners in the Coalville area. The president hoped to induce the U. P. Railroad Company to freight the coal from the mine to church offices at a reasonable rate, and thus permit church employees and welfare cases in Salt Lake to obtain fuel by paying cash for the freight only. These negotiations failed, but President Taylor did arrange with church leaders in Coalville to have coal mined by non-contracting parties, and hauled to Salt Lake by teams for delivery to die residences of church employees at $10.00 per ton. 31 These developments only served to reinforce the demands for construction of a railroad from Salt Lake to Coalville. The presiding bishop of the church, Edward Hunter, frequently spoke •of the matter in the weekly meetings of the Salt Lake County bishops. The deteriorating prospects of Coalville also occasioned a number of meetings of the Summit County priesthood; they proposed to run a railroad from the mines to Kimball's Ranch, at the summit of the Wasatch Range, if the Salt Lake County priesthood would run a road from that point to the city. It was thought that coal could be delivered to Salt Lake City for three to four dollars per ton. These efforts bore fruit on December 27, 1879, with the incorporation of the Utah Eastern Railroad Company.32 30

Deseref News, April 10, 1878. lbid., March 29, July 22, 1878. The trustee-in-trust finally acquired the productive Cullen Springs mine, in Grass Creek Canyon, in 1880. 32 Ibid., December 12, 1878; February 28, March 6, November 27, 1879; The Herald, November 18, 1879. S1


46

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

According to the articles of incorporation, the track of the Utah Eastern Railroad was to run from Salt Lake City through either Emigration or Parley's Canyon, to the summit of Wasatch Range, thence across Parley's Park to the head of East Canyon Creek, thence across the divide to the head of Silver Creek and to Park City, thence down Silver Creek to Wanship, thence down the Weber River to Coalville, a distance of about fifty miles. The company was capitalized for $700,000.00, divided into 7,000 shares with a par value of $100.00 each. The estimated cost of building, furnishing, and equipping the road was given as $600,000.00. Five hundred and ten shares, representing $51,000.00, were subscribed and paid for at the time of the incorporation. The nine directors (and principal stockholders) of the company were: Robert C. Chambers, George M. Scott, Henry Dinwoodey, Francis Armstrong, Edmund Wilkes, John A. Groesbeck, Joseph M. Cohen, Robert Harkness, and Robert T. Burton.88 The incorporators were: (a) Non-Mormon mine operators in Park City who desired a railroad connection to Park City as well as a cheap supply of fuel; and (b) Mormon capitalists who had no personal interest in the road but were urged by church officials to support the road. Burton, counselor to the presiding bishop, represented church authorities on the board. The formation of the company was widely acclaimed in Salt Lake and Summit counties. The Deseret News and Salt Lake Herald, which had done so much to keep the "coal road" issue alive, carried many editorials urging support for die company, Their concern in this matter was undoubtedly prompted by die recognition of the vital role which coal was coming to play in an area largely devoid of timber supplies. Their editorial arguments can be summarized as follows: 1. W h e n the need for coal was greatest, the supply was smallest. This could hardly be satisfactorily handled by teamhauling because the wagon roads were snowbound during die worst part of the winter when coal needs were greatest. The 3a Each of the directors subscribed for fifty shares, with the exception of Robert T. Burton, who subscribed for five shares. Deseret News, December 29, 1879; Utah Eastern Railroad Company, Incorporation papers, National Archives.


U T A H ' S COAL ROAD

47

coal could not be hauled in the summer and stored for winter use because of its quality of rapid disintegration. 2. The price of coal was altogether too high. Eight to ten dollars per ton was regarded as excessive in view of the price of two dollars per ton paid at the mines. It was thought that the U. P. could have made a reasonable profit by charging as little as four dollars per ton. If the price were reduced by only two dollars per ton, it would represent a saving of three hundred dollars per day to Salt Lake citizens, or an estimated seasonal saving of $180,000.00. Park City was said to be paying four hundred dollars daily in exhorbitant rates on coal.34 3. The insecurity of being subject to a monopoly. The "rude and uncivil rejoinders and sometimes . . . insults for answers to respectful inquiries;" the desire to get out from under "the bondage of a monopoly." 35 Public indignation "over the heartless conduct of the U. P. . . ."36 "The necessity for the Utah Eastern," said The Herald, "has been created through the grasping, grinding policy of the U. P. . . ."37 John R. Winder, a pioneer stockman and military leader, wrote that the road had to be built so that thirty thousand people would not be dependent on one man or one company. 38 4. Money should be kept at home. Several of the leaders in the movement stressed that Salt Lake City, which consumed 70,000 tons of coal annually, was paying half a million dollars, nearly all of which went out of the territory, to the Union Pacific itself or to the Rock Springs, Wyoming, area. Some emphasis was placed on the fact that the Rock Springs coal was dug mostly by Chinese, "while many of our own citizens are without employment."39 One of the problems which arose in connection with the formation of the concern was the possibility that the "great 34

Deserei; News, July 8, October 18, 1880. Idem. ™The Herald, October 15, 1880. 3 Hbid., May 14, 1880. ss Deseret News, November 11, 1880. a9 Idem. a5


48

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

monopoly" might buy up a controlling interest in the Utah Eastern and thus render it ineffective. To avoid such a possibility the stockholders decided to elect three trustees in whose hands was to be placed a majority, or $400,000.00, of the stock. Such stock was to be inalienable for fifteen years; that is, the stock could be sold but would still be subject to the control of the trustees for voting purposes. Here was the use of the trust device to fight rather than to entrench monopoly! Colonel Winder and Leonard W . Hardy, counselor (along with Burton) to the presiding bishop, were elected trustees from among the Mormon supporters, and Fred H. Auerbach was chosen to represent the nonMormon interests. 40 Anticipating success in solving the freight problem, the church bought the highly productive Cullen Springs mine in Grass Creek Canyon in April, 1880. Church leaders also personally subscribed for a considerable amount of stock, and requested the Latter-day Saints to assist the enterprise in every possible way. Bishop Hardy, in speaking to the bishops about the Utah Eastern, is quoted as having said that: "He hoped the bishops would not only use their influence to further this important enterprise, but take all the shares they could in the railroad . . . . By bringing coal to this city from the mines in Coalville, the price per ton would be lowered one half . . . ." 41 Not only did the bishops use their influence, but a bill was passed by the territorial legislature authorizing counties to take stock in it. The Grant-appointed governor, George W . Emery, however, vetoed the bill.42 To stimulate sales, the management decided to price the $100.00 shares at fifty dollars, which could be paid in ten-dollar monthly installments. Later, ten-dollar certificates, representing fractional shares, also were issued.43 One bishop developed an interesting financial arrangement in his ward to permit small stockholders to subscribe. W a r d members would pay for stock in small sums—whatever they felt they could i0 Ibid., May 1, and 19, 1880. According to the incorporation papers, the three trustees were listed as having 4,000 shares on June 1, 1880. "Ibid., May 14, 1880. *2The press attributed his veto to Emery's alleged friendship with U. P. officials. Ibid.. May 7, 1880. *3Ibid., May 19, October 21, 1880.


U T A H ' S COAL ROAD

49

afford—in cents or in dollars. A person was chosen to pool this money and buy stock to be held in trust. These subscribers organized "The Sixth W a r d Co-operative Association," on November 12, 1880.44 A petition was also circulated to have the Salt Lake City Council put $50,000.00 into the road. 45 T h e Deseret News and a large number of leading citizens supported this move, but the council disapproved, on constitutional grounds. All in all, only $82,400.00 was subscribed, of which $2,400.00 was advanced by the president of the church as trustee-in-trust of its funds.46 During the fund-raising campaign, Salt Lake newspapers and church authorities emphasized the public nature of the road. It was to be a "people's road." The benefit to the community of its construction was continually stressed. In answer to the question, "will it pay?" the editor of the Deseret News wrote: "If the people build and own the road, no matter whether a ton of coal is freighted upon it or not, so long as coal is sold in Salt Lake City for $4 or less a ton, the people will gain largely by the investment."47 The editor of The Herald added: "The Utah Eastern was not devised as a moneymaking scheme for a few individuals . . . . The Company was organized and the road is to be built for the purpose of breaking a monopoly that is sorely oppressing the people." 48 Bishop Burton echoed this theme in speaking to the bishops: "This was no private speculation," he stated; "it had been commenced for the express purpose of benefiting and blessing the poor, and . . . [he] besought the Bishops to lend their aid and influence to the consummation of the work." 49 Presiding Bishop Hunter also stressed the welfare aspect of the enterprise. "The poor," he said, "suffered severely, last winter, on account of the high price of fuel, which they could only obtain in small quantities, if at all, and he often thought," he continued, /fcid., November 13, 16, 1880. A copy of the petition may be found in ibid., November 15, 1880. See also The Herald, November 17, 1880, for a dissenting view. 4e Ibid., November 18, 1884. One source definitely states that the amount raised was $66,750.00, which, if true, would indicate that some of the stock was never fully paid up. "Deseret News, May 19, 1880. **The Herald, June 20, 1880. *3Deseret News, June 11, 1880. 46


50

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

"while sitting at his fire, of the poor children who were . . . suffering from cold and privation . . . . He knew die building of tie road meant help for the poor . . . ." 50 Bishop Hunter's clerk George Goddard, reaffirmed the bishop's sincerity in a letter to a friend in England: "Bishop Hunter and Council are extremely in earnest in the matter and doing all they can, by word and deed, to forward the enterprise and call upon all good Saints who have the interests of the kingdom of God at heart to step forward and help to free themselves from the grip of a powerful monopoly."51 These appeals of the bishops, newspaper editors, and others made it possible for the company to begin construction operations quickly, for nearly all of the initial construction costs were paid for with capital stock in the enterprise. 52 The right-of-way, for example, was easily secured by the agreement of property owners to take payment in company stock. Contracts were let in May, 1880, for the grading of the first ten miles of the road, from Coalville to Kimball's Junction at the summit, and for 60,000 tiesenough to timber twenty-one miles of track. By the middle of June, four hundred men and one hundred-fifty teams were at work on the grading. 53 The overwhelming majority of these men were paid in stock. The grading from Coalville to Park City—twenty-three miles—was completed August 27, 1880. The lack of an adequate public cash subscription, however, obliged the management to call on the Ontario Silver Mining Company of Park City for the cash with which to buy rails and rolling stock. The Ontario Company agreed to advance $186,000.00 to the Utah Eastern in the form of a loan secured by mortgage bonds. 54 (It later became evident that the precise manner in which the transaction had been handled paved the way for the downfall of the little road, but more of that later.) On ™Ibid. "George Goddard to William Budge, Millennial Star. XLH (1880), 437. The Utah Eastern might well be called "The Bishops' Railroad" if it were not for the important role eventually played by the owners of the Ontario Silver Mining Company in the financing and ultimate fate of it. 52 77ie Herald, November 30, December 3, 9, 1880; Deseret News, May 18, October 29, 1880. ™The Herald, June 20, August 27, 1880. M lbid., December 10, 1880. One estimate gives the figure as $120,000.00; another places the Ontario investment at $100,000.00.


U T A H ' S COAL ROAD

51

September 8, 1880, President R. C. Chambers of the Ontario Silver Mining Company purchased rails for more than twentyfive miles of track, and an engine and ten cars, from the bankrupt Nevada Central Railroad. 55 Track-laying commenced on November 5, 1880. The road was completed to Park City on December 9, 1880. The facilities were later expanded to include twenty-eight miles of main track, four miles of branch track, the switches, and stationhouses at Park City, at Kimball's, and two at Coalville. The total construction cost was approximately $300,000.00, of which the initial $82,400.00 was contributed by stockholders, and the remainder obtained by the sale of first and second mortgage bonds. 56 While the construction of the road was being pushed, the organizers of the Utah Eastern also formed a corporation known as the Home Coal Company, which acquired a number of important coal mines in Summit County, including the Wasatch. 5 7 In December, 1880, the Utah Eastern and Home Coal companies signed a contract with the Ontario Silver Mining Company whereby Utah Eastern agreed to transport all of Ontario's coal from Coalville to Park City for two dollars per ton. Coal sold at the mine for two dollars a ton, so that coal was laid down at Park City for four dollars a ton, saving the Ontario company up to two hundred dollars per day. 58 A similar contract was made with the Empire Mining & Milling Company, also of Park City. These contracts assured Utah Eastern of sufficient business to keep going even if crowded out of the Salt Lake market. "/bid., September 3, 12, 1880. Ibid., March 7, 1885; Deseret News, April 18, 1885. The exact cost given is $291,236.54. The cost of one engine, two way-cars, and twenty-five coal cars had been only $26,110.00. The first mortgage bonds seem to have been issued solely for the purchase of rails, engines, and cars from the Nevada Central Railroad. Second mortgage bonds apparently were issued later to cover the purchase of other equipment, fixtures, and additional cars. 67 JH, October 21, 1880. Shortly after the formation of the Home Coal Company, Edward W. Tullidge wrote: "There has been great danger of our Utah coal fields being monopolized by the great railroad passing through our Territory, but the prospect of an escape from such an all-prevailing monopoly appears in the organization of the Home Coal Company, as an adjunct of the Utah Eastern Railroad, and the minina operations now being rapidly pushed forward by the Pleasant Valley Coal Co. . . ." Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine (3 vols., Salt Lake City, 1.880-85). II, 297-98. ^Deseret News, November 11, 1880; The Herald, February 5, 1885. The amount used by Ontario amounted to about 100 tons per day. sa


52

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

When the track was laid to Kimball's Junction the company was to have delivered coal at $3.50 per ton to men with teams for hauling to Salt Lake City. 59 But when that point was reached on November 26, 1880, there was only enough rolling stock to fulfill the Ontario and Empire demands. Salt Lake residents were justifiably disturbed when one member of the board of directors, Mr. Henry Van Praag of the Empire Mill, made a public statement to the effect that unless the people put up enough money to buy more rolling stock they would get no coal.60 Actually, it was discovered that half of the rolling stock had been "tied up" in track-laying operations, and shortly after the track was completed to Park City, December 9, 1880, the road furnished some coal to teams. Nevertheless, the record seems clear on the point that at the outset "the common people" had to wait until die wagons of the Ontario and Empire mines were filled and take what was left. Coal haulers complained that the situation was not improved at all: a new monopoly (the Ontario Company) had replaced the old one (the U. P.). 8 1 Ontario Mining Company was saving two hundred dollars a day on its fuel bill, but the inability of haulers to get coal in the desired volume, and the expense of hauling the twenty-five miles from Kimball Junction to Salt Lake City, precluded any immediate reduction in coal prices to Salt Lake consumers. As the winter wore on, however, more coal was made available to haulers and the first disillusionment was tempered with a more realistic view. By Christmas, forty tons per day were delivered at Kimball's and two weeks later more coal was available than haulers were taking. 62 Nevertheless, "A Sixth Warder," who had invested fifty dollars of "hard-earned money" in the road so that coal could be cheaper, and so that it would be "Mormon-controlled," wrote that the enterprise had done nothing but add thousands to the pockets of the rich non-Mormon owners of the Ontario. 63 58

Deserer News, October 29, 1880. °The Herald, November 30, 1880. <"lbid., December 9, 16, 17. 19, 1880. e2 Ibid„ December 24, 1880; Deseret Newt, January 7, 1881. **The Herald. November 2, 1881. e


U T A H ' S COAL ROAD

53

How did the Union Pacific react to these efforts? Did U. P. lower coal prices to discourage investment in the road? Did U. P. promise more regular supplies of coal? Did U. P. commence a campaign against the Mormon bishops for interfering with "free enterprise?" In each case the answer is in the negative. Moving quietly, the Union Pacific, now controlled by Sidney Dillon and Charles Francis Adams, proceeded to construct a parallel broad-gauged line from Coalville to Park City, in an attempt to drive the Utah Eastern out of the Park City as well as the Salt Lake City market. 64 In 1880, it will be remembered, the U. P.-dominated Union Trust Company of New York initiated bankruptcy proceedings against the twenty-two mile Summit County Railroad. Union Pacific interests were able to buy that line, which connected Echo Station with Coalville and the Summit County mines, for only $75,000.00. In acquiring the Summit County Railroad Company, the U. P. secured rights-of-way and properties which made possible the construction of a road south from Coalville to Park City. The newly-constructed line was to vouchsafe to the Union Pacific interests a direct self-owned road from Park City to Coalville, to Echo, to Ogden, and to Salt Lake City. The Utah Eastern, upon learning of the parallel line, did not back down. As Editor Sloan of The Herald wrote, "To give up now would be to fasten the chains tighter upon the country, for the Union Pacific has only to block the way to Coalville, when it will have Salt Lake perpetually at its mercy in the matter of coal prices." 65 After an important meeting on the subject, the Deseret News carried the official announcement that "the road will be built." If the U. P. decides to haul coal and put it on the market cheap, the report added, the people "can afford to put their locomotives and cars under cover and let the road rest on ei Ibid.. June 20, 1880. Another motive of the U. P. in building the Echo and Park City was the imminent competition of the Denver & Rio Grande, which had acquired control of the two million dollar Pleasant Valley Coal Company in Carbon County, and was threatening to push a narrow-gauge railroad into Salt Lake City. On the rivalry of U. P. and D. & R. G. at this time, see files of the Deseret News and The Herald for 1880-81. ™The Herald. June 20, 1880.


54

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

its little bed, while they pocket big dividends in the reduction of the cost of coal for their own use." 66 The construction of the two parallel roads developed, as one might expect, into a contest to see which one should reach Park City first. The Union Pacific was in the enviable position of being able to lay its track as fast as the grading was done because it had plenty of iron. The promoters of the Utah Eastern also felt that U. P. deliberately charged an exhorbitant rate on the transport of the Utah Eastern iron from Ogden to Coalville in order to hinder the enterprise. (The Utah Eastern had made arrangements to have the Central Pacific Railroad carry its iron from San Francisco to Ogden.) 6 7 U. P. reportedly charged $85.00 per car to carry rails the requisite forty miles—a price which seems reasonable enough today, but which was "about four times the price asked from ordinary shippers." 68 Moreover, they had allegedly agreed to transport it for $35.00 per car before they knew what the Utah Eastern promoters were about. The U. P. line to Park City was finally completed in January, 1881, approximately a month after the completion of the Utah Eastern to that point.69 The broad-gauged road cost an estimated $500,000.00. Hardly profitable in the narrow sense, the Echo and Park City line preserved to Union Pacific its control over the coal market of northern Utah, and it also prevented inroads by competition from the youthful and aggressive Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company. 70 In the event of the failure of the Utah Eastern, the Echo and Park City road also would have the lucrative coal business of the Utah Eastern and the reverse ore traffic from the Park City silver mines. 6e

Deseret News, June 25, 1880. <"Ibid., June 11, 1880. e8 The Herald, October 15, 1880. At least that was the unsupported allegation. ^Deseret News, January 19, 1881. '"Having been successful in its Colorado campaign, the Rio Grande made a successful attempt to buy out the Pleasant Valley coal fields and Utah S Pleasant Valley and Sevier Valley railroads in 1881-82. Pleasant Valley coal began to appear on the Salt Lake market and somewhat eased the "coal famine" there. A subsidiary, Denver & Rio Grande Western, then made plans to construct a railway from Salt Lake City to Park City, at a cost of slightly over $500,000.00, in order to beat the U. P. to the draw. This move of Rio Grande against the well-entrenched monopoly of the U. P. gave it sudden


UTAH'S COAL ROAD

55

After the completion of the Echo to Park City line, the Union Pacific organized the Echo and Park City Railway Company, on January 17, 1881, with capital stock of $500,000.00, its stated purpose being "to buy, own and operate the Summit County Railroad." On May 6, 1881, Sidney Dillon sold and delivered the Summit County road and its properties to the Echo and Park City Railway Company for $1,006,600.00 worth of the stocks and bonds of the latter company. 71 After nearly a year of operation, the Utah Eastern Railroad was reported to be working at near capacity and paying its way. As with most Mormon enterprises, the board of directors served without charge; it also boasted the "lightest bonded indebtedness of any road in the territory." 72 During the three-year period from December, 1880, to December, 1883, the Utah Eastern earned $379,056.00, of which more than half was earned on its Ontario contract.73 This was sufficient to pay operating expenses amounting to $147,687.00, and $231,369.00 interest on bonded indebtedness, and other transfers; but it was insufficient to warrant dividends. Projects to continue the road from Park City to Salt Lake City got underway at least twice because of the anticipated profitability, but these projects were effectively estopped by a development which served only to increase the disrespect which "the people" held for the Union Pacific. This development was a maneuver by the Union Pacific to close out the Utah Eastern and remove it permanently from competition. popularity in Utah. T h e Utah Eastern entered into an agreement with Rio Grande so as to permit direct connection between Coalville and Salt Lake City. The management of the Utah Eastern seemed serenely confident of the little road's future. Bishop Hardy announced in bishops' meeting in August, 1881, that "he would not today take the face value of his shares, and he could assure the Bishops, who had invested in the road, that if they would hold on to it, they would soon realize, in the cheapness of fuel, the benefits for which the enterprise had been inaugurated." The Rio Grande road, however, was not completed until 1889, as the Salt Lake and Eastern; it was recently abandoned. See The Herald, June 12, 1881, June 13, 1882; Deseret News, August 18, 19, 1881. 71 The incorporation papers indicate that Dillon sold the Summit County road for 510 of Echo's first mortgage thousand-dollar bonds, 4,660 shares of one-hundred-dollar stock, and $30,600.00 credit on the Echo's books. Dillon kept only 329 shares of Echo stock and disposed of some of the remainder to U. P. officials in Utah and elsewhere. 72 77ie Herald, November 3, December 4, 1881. "/£>«£,. February 5, March 7, 1885; Deserer News. April 18, 1885. The figures given are for a four-year period, but during the fourth year earnings and costs were unimportant.


56

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The original capital stock of the Utah Eastern was 7,000 shares of stock, of which 4,000 shares were pooled to three trustees for fifteen years, and the remaining 3,000 were to revert to the company. As the result of popular subscription of stock, however, the trustees were able to sell only 1,098 shares, representing an investment of $54,900.00. Forty-eight of these shares, valued at $2,400.00, were held by John Taylor, as trustee-intrust for the Mormon Church. In addition, non-trustee subscribers purchased 550 shares, for which they paid $27,500.00.74 The combined investment of subscribers and trustees was $82,400.00, representing 1,648 shares. Being unable to secure the necessary funds by selling stock, Robert C. Chambers, president of the Utah Eastern, and superintendent of the Ontario Silver Mining Company, bonded the road to J. B. Haggin (of Haggin 6 Lloyd Tevis, a San Francisco partnership), who was vice-president of Wells-Fargo and the Nevada Central Railroad Company, and who was also president of the Ontario Silver Mining Company. When stock sales continued low, it was deemed imperative to issue second mortgage bonds. Mr. Chambers "negotiated" with Mr. Haggin, as the result of which Haggin agreed to buy 186 bonds ($186,000.00), provided he was given a sufficient stock "bonus" to give him control of the Utah Eastern. Apparently, without the knowledge or consent of the three trustees who held a controlling interest in the road, Chambers, in the fall of 1881, turned over to Haggin 2,232 shares of treasury stock (12 shares for each bond). 7 5 This transfer gave Haggin more stock in the concern than all other stockholders put together. In the fall of 1883, two years after this exchange, the U. P- bought the Utah Eastern bonds from Haggin & Tevis. The U. P. also secured from the firm a proxy to vote the bonus stock, and later the stock itself. With 2,600 shares of stock, in the fall of 1883, the U. P. prepared to assume control of the road.76 74 77ie Herald. November 18, 1884, February 5, 1885. There are some discrepancies in the figures reported by the newspapers, perhaps because of the use of different dates. ™Ibid., February 5, 1885. Elsewhere it is reported that he was given a bonus of 2,400 and 2,600 shares, respectively. Deseret News. November 20, 1883, November 18, 1884. ^Apparently U. P. purchased a few additional shares from some of the original non-trustee subscribers.


U T A H ' S COAL ROAD

57

The knowledge of the transfer of the bonus stock to the U. P. was carefully kept from the pooled stockholders until the annual stockholders' meeting November 19, 1883. At that meeting Union Pacific, voting the bonus stock, elected its own slate of board of directors, placed its own representatives in charge of the management, removed the books of the company to Union Pacific headquarters in Omaha, closed the road, transferred its usable rolling stock to its subsidiary, the Utah and Northern Railroad, and allowed the Echo and Park City road to absorb the coal contract between Utah Eastern and the Ontario Mining Company.77 Within a year, Charles W . Penrose, of the Deseret News, in an editorial entitled "The Injustice of a Great Corporation," reported: "The U. P. [Echo & Park City Railroad] is in fine condition, conveying both passengers and freight, . . . chiefly coal for the Ontario. The U. E. is dilapidated and empty; its rails are twisted, its road-bed sunken, its bridges falling into decay, and the whole concern going rapidly to destruction. It is a standing but crumbling shame to the Company which has wrought this ruin." 78 The pooled stockholders met to discuss the possibility of countervailing action. A committee of prominent Latter-day Saints was appointed to investigate the condition of the Utah Eastern and the rights of the (now) minority stockholders. 79 At a subsequent meeting of the pooled stockholders, held February 9, 1884, the committee reported as follows: W e find, on examination, that . . . the earnings of the road are more than sufficient to pay the interest on the legal bonded debt and current expenses. It therefore is evident that there is no necessity for any parties connected with the road undertaking to jeopardize the interest of the minority stockholders therein. 71 Deseret News, November 18, 1884. Union Pacific headquarters at Omaha has informed the writer that no records of the Utah Eastern now are deposited there. 's/dem. ™Ibid., February 4, 1884. The committee consisted of John R. Winder, Alonzo H. Raleigh, John A. Groesbeck, Francis Armstrong, Sydney Gilchrist, and John C. Cutler.


58

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

W e find that on or about the 20th day of November, 1883, the day after the new board was elected, orders were issued to the employees of the Utah Eastern road not to receive or transport any local freight or passengers over said road, and on the 20th of December, 1883, the coal trains hauling coal on the Ontario contract were taken off, and the coal to fill this contract between the Ontario and the Utah Eastern—which was to continue five years—was transferred to the Echo & Park City road, and no trains have run over the Utah & Eastern since that date. Thus the present directors of the Utah Eastern—who are also the interested parties in the Echo and Park City Road—have transferred all the business from one to the other, to the great detriment and against the interests of the stockholders of the Utah Eastern. W e find that immediately after the election of directors, a new secretary was appointed, and the books and papers belonging to the company were taken from the office in this city away from the Territory, and when stockholders applied at the office to transfer stock or do business they were informed that the books and papers had been sent away . . . . W e find on examining the list of the pooled stockholders there are between 400 and 500 owners, a few of them are wealthy men, a good many merchants, and a large number of influential citizens, who unitedly can wield an influence in this city, in resenting a wrong when perpetrated upon them, should necessity require it.80 s

°Ibid., February 11, 1884.


U T A H ' S COAL ROAD

59

The committee then recommended that a group of five stockholders be appointed to take legal steps for the protection of the rights of the minority stockholders. The report was adopted unanimously, the committee appointed, and legal advice sought. 81 However, nothing concrete was accomplished by the time the next annual stockholders' meeting was held on November 17, 1884. That meeting was presided over by Mr. E. Dickinson, who had been appointed by the U. P. as superintendent of the idle Utah Eastern. Chairman Dickinson said the object of the meeting was to hear the annual report and elect officers. But "as the road was not in use no report could be given," so he proceeded to the election. W h e n the trustees objected to the voting of the bonus stock on the grounds that it was not bona fide, paid-up stock, the chairman overruled the objection. An appeal was taken to the decision of the chair, but by the vote of the bonus stock, the chairman was upheld. Sidney Dillon, Charles Francis Adams, F. L. Ames, E. Dickinson, and other U. P. officials were then elected to the board of the Utah Eastern. 82 The board later elected Charles Francis Adams, president, and E. Dickinson, vice-president and superintendent. Commented the caustic editor of The Herald: The duties of the newly-elected officers . . . will be onerous and trying in the extreme. They will consist of a vigilance almost superhuman, to see that a puff of smoke never by any possibility ascends from the shops of the company; that the toot of the whistle is sacredly excluded from along its line; that the rails rust with all possible facility, and that the rolling stock of the company do the best possible service on the Utah & Northern. The present force [Dickinson and his brother] may suffice for these duties for the time being, but sooner or later we are convinced, their hands will have to be strengthened. 83 81 The committee consisted of John R. Winder, Alonzo H. Raleigh, Francis Armstrong, Robert T. Burton, and Elias Morris—all prominent Latter-day SaintS2businessmen. Deseret News, November 18, 1884. *3The Herald, November 19, 1884.


60

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The U. P. stockholders offered to buy out the local stockholders for the reported price of $8.00 per share. The latter decided to reject this "munificent sum," as they sarcastically called it, and made plans to go ahead with a suit to test whether U. P, could vote the bonus stock.84 Leading Mormon lawyers, however, were engrossed in defending Rudger Clawson, the first of the Mormon polygamists to be sentenced under the Edmunds AntiPolygamy Act, and it remained for U. P. to take the case to the courts. In January, 1885, through the person of J. E. Dooley, Salt Lake banker, the U. P. brought suit in Third Judicial District Court for foreclosure of the mortgage which the bonds were given to secure, alleging default on the interest and the insolvency of the road. Apostle Joseph F. Smith, who was chosen to represent the stockholders in the suit, and was therefore listed as co-defendant with the Utah Eastern, replied by charging that the new board had purposefully prevented the U. E. from making money so as to permit the U. P. bondholders to foreclose. As evidence, he showed that all interest payments on the bonds had been met prior to the assumption of control by Union Pacific in November, 1883. And during November and December, 1883, the Utah Eastern earned over $10,000.00, which was more than ample to pay current interest on the first mortgage bonds. Smith held out for a receivership, and claimed that there was no reason why, under a receivership, the road could not pay the entire floating indebtedness. 85 Judge Charles S. Zane announced his decision on February 5, 1885, that, in the interests of all stockholders and bondholders, a receiver for the Utah Eastern should be appointed.86 This decision was regarded as a victory for the minor stockholders. Judge Zane appointed his deputy clerk, H. G. McMillan, to serve as receiver. The sum total of McMillan's activity as a receiver seems to have been to make an inspection trip over the U. E. line and to report his findings. They were substantially as follows: S4

Deseret News, November 18, 1884. 77ie Herald, February 5, 1885. se Deseret News, February 6, 1885.

8S


U T A H ' S COAL ROAD

1. The company could be expected to earn as much in the future as in the past provided it were managed efficiently and fairly. 2. Since November, 1883, when the Union Pacific transferred the lucrative Ontario mine contract to its own Echo and Park City Road, 33,879 tons of coal had been hauled. No payment had been made by the Echo & Park City railroad to U. E. for the use of its coal mine branch, engine and cars. The receipts of the road from November 1, to December 19, 1883, were not to be found. According to the books, however, the engine, way cars and coal cars had been leased by the U. P. management to the Utah & Northern Railroad; the engine at the rate of three dollars per day, and the cars at the rate of 3/5 of a cent per mile. The Union Pacific had also taken $1,132 of tools, fixtures, etc., for which it had left a voucher. 3. Some portions of the track were missing as the result of washouts; three bridges were gone. The timbers were out of a number of other bridges, and nothing had been done to preserve them. The stationhouses were still standing. There were two engines and many cars on the track. 4. The value of the road equipment at the time of the investigation totaled $135,941. The cost of putting the road into operating condition was estimated at $3,250. The bonded indebtedness of the road, represented by first, second, and third mortgage bonds, was $470,000. On this there came due as interest on April 1, 1885, $57,569.87 flbid., April 18, 1885; The Herald, March 7, 1885.

61


62

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Deprived of its contract, its traffic taken away by the Echo and Park City, the Utah Eastern could not recover without an active receivership. McMillan seems to have been interested only in the liquidation of the concern. Sufficient prodding by the stockholders might have moved him to positive action in putting the company on its feet; but it was not to be. One of those curious coincidences in history made it unlikely that the stockholders could make their influence felt. W i t h an adverse decision by the United States Supreme Court in the Clawson case, in January, 1885, the way was open for the drive on Mormon polygamists to begin. The Mormons chose to "go underground," and, when caught, to fight back with every legal device they could muster. The pressure of the antipolygamy drive not only engaged the attention of every Utah lawyer, but forced almost every leading Mormon into jail or into hiding. This included most of the minority stockholders interested in the re-establishment of the Utah Eastern. Joseph F. Smith, who had been chosen to represent the stockholders, was indicted for "cohabitation" and escaped to Hawaii, to remain until 1890.88 As the direct result of the Edmunds Act, therefore, the minor stockholders ceased to press for the reactivation of the road at the very moment that it became feasible. It was only a question of time until the Utah Eastern would end up on the auction block On February 21, 1887, P. L. Williams, representing the Union Pacific interests, whose $186,000.00 in first mortgage bonds had matured, bid $25,000.00 for the road bed, locomotives, cars, and other properties of the Utah Eastern Railroad. 89 He was the only bidder. Soon afterward, the tracks of the Utah Eastern were taken up and the equipment transferred to other U. P. lines,90 88 It is somewhat ironic that shortly after Smith became church president in 1901, he became a director of the Union Pacific Railroad Company and served as such until his death in 1918. ss The Herald, February 22, 1887. 90 The Home Coal Company, which was not involved in the sale, had remained more or less continuously in the market by transporting its coal over the Echo and Park City to the U. P. line and thence to Salt Lake City. The company alleged that U. P. attempted to force it to sell out (or get out of the Salt Lake market) by prohibitory rates; but the company stayed alive, and in 1888, sold 4,500 tons of coal at its mines, 23,800 tons in Park: City, 6,000 tons in Salt Lake City, and 900 tons in Coalville. Deseret News, April 27, 1889.


U T A H ' S COAL ROAD

63

The story of the Utah Eastern is a story which was repeated many times in the history of American railroading. The seemingly brutal tactics of the Union Pacific were accepted competitive practices during the "Reign of Laissez-faire" from the end of the Civil W a r to the turn of the century. There was one unique element in the situation, however, and that was the vital and growing dependence of Salt Lake City upon coal. The growing exhaustion of timber resources, the relative distance of other coal deposits from Salt Lake City, and the spectacular growth of the mining industry, not only created a comparatively large demand, but rendered the demand increasingly inelastic. The willingness of Union Pacific interests to pay half a million dollars to construct a line parallel to the Utah Eastern is explicable only in terms of their recognition of the importance of preserving to themselves the coal market of the Great Basin metropolis. The U. P. monopoly proved to be short-lived. Rich new mines, the Scofield and Winter Quarters, had been opened up in Carbon and Emery counties in eastern Utah in the early 1880's, and the Castle Gate and Sunnyside were developed before 1900. The Denver and Rio Grande, which developed these mines, was pushing into Salt Lake City with competitive supplies. At the same time, companies were established to manufacture gas, and quantities of natural gas began to come on the market within a decade. The process of economic development, starring the achievements of American scientists and engineers, was accomplishing what the Mormon bishops had sought in vain to do.


W H A T ARE W E DOING?' BY CLIFFORD L. LORD*

I

T IS A VERY great pleasure indeed to celebrate the occasion of my first visit to the historic State of Deseret with this opportunity to meet with the members of a sister institution, the State Historical Society of Utah. I have long looked forward to inspecting at first hand the storied progress of the Utah Society under Dr. Mortensen, to admiring the collections of my old friend Mrs. Carter, to visiting the new museum of the Sons of Utah Pioneers, the library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and some of my friends at the local universities. And it certainly is not an unhappy coincidence that this visit should come so soon after the publication last month by the W i s consin Society of the life of James Duane Doty, territorial governor of Wisconsin, and territorial governor of Utah. It has been a delightful experience thus far and may itself develop into something of an historic occasion. I was shocked to discover last night that your able Executive Secretary has never been swimming in Great Salt Lake. Weather permitting, I shall remedy that situation tomorrow afternoon, and leave town feeling that I have made some small mark on Utah, or at least on Dr. Mortensen.

In any field of activity, a periodic reappraisal, a taking of stock, an attempt at an inventory even of intangibles such as those with which we deal, is always valuable. W h a t are we doing in our historical societies? It it worthwhile? Is it important? *An address delivered at the third annual meeting of the Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City, October 22, 1954. The title of this address appeared on the program for that evening as "The Importance of Localized History." *Dr. Lord has served as Director of the New York Historical Association at Cooperstown, and as Historian of the Bureau of Aeronautics and Office of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations. Since 1946 he has acted as Director of the Wisconsin Historical Society. He is author of a history of naval aviation and list and index of presidential executive orders, and co-author, with his wife, of an historical atlas of the United States.


66

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

W h a t is our role? Are we filling it even to our own satisfaction? These are some of the questions I think we must ask ourselves frequently, if we are to avoid the dual menaces to the navigation of historical societies—ruts and dead-end streets. W h y are we in this movement—you and I? Because as an avocation it is fun—which it is? Because of interest in family history or the quite real heroics of some of our pioneers? Because it is socially the thing to do? Because it yields a sense of belonging to the community and the region? I know, and I am sure you know, people who do belong to historical organizations for one or more of those reasons. But surely the work of our societies is based on broader—and firmer—grounds. Traditionally the historical society in America has fulfilled to some degree, depending on budgets and the bents and skills of key personnel, a scholarly function. It has collected the materia of the record of our heritage; the private manuscript, be it letter, diary, or journal; the public record, the school record, the church record, the business record, the labor record, the farm record, It has preserved the printed record, too—the area book, pamphlet, imprint, newspaper. It has gathered in the record of our recreations and our culture—from old ice skates and antique baseballs to theater programs and stage curtains. It has collected the graphic record—the photograph, daguerreotype, etching, lithograph, painting of its region. It has taken down the reminiscence of those with stories to tell—from the sort of reporting done by my distinguished predecessor, Lyman Copeland Draper, to the modern tape-recorded interview or the more complex "oral history" developed at Columbia University and Dearborn, Michigan. It has preserved the artifact, the physical remain, the tangible, material symbol of history, which, from the tool of the early craftsman to the product of modern industry, can do so much for so many to shorten the distance to the past. This function of the collector, the preservator of historical knowledge, the squirrel of localized history, is essential. That we all recognize. These are the pieces, the raw materials of history, and preserved—with discrimination—they must be.


W H A T A R E W E DOING?

67

A second scholarly duty is the advancement of knowledge of the history of its area—die job of putting or helping put the pieces together. And so we in historical societies encourage research in a wide variety of ways. W e counsel with the amateur, the budding professional and the mature scholar, suggesting in one instance a topic needing research, in another a source not yet consulted, in another an overlooked technique. Many of us make our own grants for work on particular subjects, or raise funds and administer them for special projects. All of us encourage research by compiling finding aids or guides to our materials, and by offering a publication outlet for some of the best work in our fields through either book or magazine. And these publications unquestionably help make available knowledge of our respective segments of the American heritage to our limited memberships and a few others. But the function of the modern historical society in America does not stop here. It has another even broader and equally vital role to play. I, for one, am greatly disturbed at the very limited audience we are reaching. A Wisconsin industrialist recently said to me, "Mr. Lord, we are spending millions educating a small stratum of our population which really does not need it, and tens of thousands on the bulk of our people who need it very much." Another Wisconsin industrialist, with a distinguished European education, asked one of my colleagues what the State Historical Society could do to help put across to his workers some of the basic elements of our heritage. He could not import speakers, show movies, sponsor a discussion or study group: it would be immediately suspect as company prograganda. Yet he, like the other man, had a definite conviction: It is essential that all our citizens have a basic appreciation of how the American system works with all its infinite complexity and diversity, if the republic of free men long is to continue to grace the face of this earth. Both men, let me add, were thinking in Jeffersonian terms. Here is the greatest conceivable challenge facing the historical society today, the most gigantic task, the most baffling opportunity. This is clearly not for the academic historian, who for the most part is deeply and properly involved with broadening or revising the horizons of knowledge in his own particular


68

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

specialty. Unhappily, his books, however important, however influential within the profession, are not widely, popularly read. To bridge the growing gap between the academic historian and the broad, general public, the historical society clearly is one of the best available media. In the face of this challenge, what are we doing? Obviously too little as one surveys the national scene. Yet we are taking, testing, trying many approaches. Many of us operate historical sites or restorations. Properly developed to tell a story, properly promoted to draw people to them, these can be a very effective means of recreating the atmosphere, the aura, the flavor of past generations, the life they lived, the hardships they faced. Museum exhibits, and specialty museums, fill a similar role without quite the restrictions or quite the opportunities of the historic site. Circulating or loan collections, for schools or for adults, are used increasingly to expand the impact of the museum, Special traveling shows—in North Carolina a van, in Nebraska a train car, in Portland (Oregon) a bus, in Wisconsin a Historymobile—have taken, or are taking, history to many people. These displays have a tremendous impact, particularly in the rural areas where their coming is an eagerly awaited event. They cannot be, however, one-shot ventures if they are to be really effective. They must be kept on the road year after year, taking a small bit of our heritage to thousands and thousands of people. Junior Historians' programs, breeding, we hope, a new generation with a livelier appreciation of the background of community development and problems, and a keener sense of the perspective that only history can give, are proving to have an unanticipated but real impact on the present adult generation as parents find themselves interested and their horizons broadened through research projects undertaken by the children. Radio and television, with obviously enormous opportunities, are being used, if haltingly. In Wisconsin we last year organized study groups around the state to work with a few of us, broadcasting from Madison, on various aspects of Wisconsin history. This sort of program—nowhere nearly as successful as Mrs. Carters study groups—has promise where network facilities are readily


W H A T A R E W E DOING?

69

available or where strategically located stations will carry the recorded programs. Television can and does reach the millions who do not read our magazines, our books, attend our meetings, or join our radio study groups. Yet I know of no historical society currently in a position to attract all the essential talents required to put on a historical show that will teach rather than amuse and yet will hold its audience. And so for picture histories, film strips, heirloom nights, pilgrimages, photographic identification contests, open houses in privately-owned historic buildings. They all are partial, limited, gingerly approaches to the main problem. At a slightly different level we are witnessing the spread of field services on the part of some of our state historical societies. Here competent people with historical training are taking history to the public in a different way. They work with the amateur who needs coaching, sometimes in very rudimentary matters of historical research. They help gather local collections of materials that can be used for historical research on the local level. They work, above all—as you are dong here.—with the county historical societies in developing wide-ranging, broad programs of real appeal and real significance. Let me draw on our recent Wisconsin experience to confirm the potentials in this field, using selections from the programs of three new county societies, organized with the direct help and counsel of the state society, and one older one reorganized with state help. In Sawyer County, in the northern "cut-over" part of the state, a group of 32 out of 80 members is signed up to do the research and writing for a history of the county. This is a cooperative research project, with one committee working as a unit on each topic. The committees meet once a month, compare notes, find ways around research roadblocks. W h e n the material for a segment of a topic is complete, one member of the committee is designated to write it up. These articles are published in the local paper which once a month devotes a full page to "The Sawyer County Historical Review." Publication helps insure high-grade


70

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

work, and incidentally has doubled the out-of-city circulation of the newspaper. In Portage County, again on a cooperative committee basis, one of the research projects is the compilation of a dictionary of county biography, modeled on a larger project on which the state society, with local cooperation, has been at work for four years, Other cooperative research committees are working on other topics, as in Sawyer County. The Grant County Society initiated a photographic program in 1950. The first year the camera enthusiasts, brought into the society by this program, photographed agriculture in the county, with all the variety of vehicle, crop and technique that could be found. The next year they worked on the local industries: pictures of plants, interior and exterior; pictures of machinery, products, personnel. The third year it was education—the schools of the county. For ten years they designated ten topics which between them would give excellent over-all photographic documentation to the 1950's in Grant County. In 1960, they will return to agriculture, and again in 1970. W h a t a wonderful photographic file they will have in another 15 years. And how well off any of us would be if we had started such a project say in 1870. The new Washburne County Society, also in the northern cut-over, has established a requirement that its members must also join the state society. W h e n I left Madison we had 61 members in Washburne County, which I suspect pro-rata is a heavier proportion of the total population than we have, as members, in Madison or Milwaukee. With the informal instruction in the field comes the formalized instruction of the annual institute such as those held in New York, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin. Here, with the paraphernalia of library, museum, and archives and a professional staff at hand, concentrated attacks are made on the problems of the local society and instruction offered alike in goals and techniques, W e thus are getting many hands and willing heads to forward the general movement. W e are adding to our knowledge and understanding of the American experiment in many of our states.


W H A T A R E W E DOING?

71

There is considerable evidence that we are moving into a new era in many of our historical societies, Utah and Wisconsin among them. But there still exists this basic problem: we are reaching too limited an audience. W e are merely scratching the surface. W e ' r e just beginning to do our job. In Wisconsin we have invented a mythical member of our staff, the plumber from Kenosha. He is called into every policy conference, into the discussion of every new program, every promotional or publicity release. How do you get him to visit one of our historic sites? How can you get him into a radio study group? What would make him visit the Historymobile? W h a t would make membership attractive to him? He is a yardstick, a very helpful man to have around. He is also a very aggravating colleague, because the simple fact is that he is not joining the study group, is not taking out membership, does not go even to the Historymobile or the historic site in any great numbers. W e hope that this is because he has only been around us for such a short while. W e do wonder a bit, although we have renewed his contract for another year, just how does one capture his imagination, his interest, his appreciation, his enthusiasm. The problems involved are tremendous, and obviously none of us have all or even a large portion of the answers. Taking history to the people is basically an experiment in adult education on a mass basis. It cannot be allowed to degenerate into a breadand-circusses program. It must have sound content. It must be educational. It cannot become a propaganda vehicle, much as some people would like to so use it, and attractive as some of the financial opportunities accompanying such use might be to the hard-pressed administrator. It must preserve its integrity; it must seek and teach the truth as best we may find and disseminate it. To deviate would clearly be fatal in the long run. Yet it must capture public interest. The stakes are high. I well remember, at the conclusion of my first budget hearing in Wisconsin, how the genial senator presiding looked up at me at the end of what I considered a spirited presentation and said, "That's all very interesting, Mr.


72

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Lord, but is it reatly important?" That was a good question in 1947. It is still a good question tonight. M y answer and I'm sure your answer is an unqualified yes, or I trust none of us would be where we are tonight. First of all, localized history, properly developed—not the simple calendaring of local events, but the interpretive treatment of events to show not only what happened but why it happened, and above all who made it happen—that sort of localized history cannot help but make us better citizens. The long-range perspective, in terms of seeing how far we have come in how short a time in Deseret or in the United States, the short-range perspective in terms of the background of our present problems, are indispensable to intelligent citizenship. Good—not antiquarian—localized history unquestionably can make us better citizens of community, state and nation. The study of localized history also must make us better people, for it cannot help but give us insight into how human beings act and react. If one of the measures of the fullness of the life of any man is the success of his relationships with his fellow men, then the historical approach at the localized level can indeed make a real contribution. But far more importantly, localized history can restore our perspective as a people on the importance of the individual in our type of society and economy. He is lost sight of, he is reduced to a census statistic—too often to a mere cipher—in the generalizations of world history, or Western civilization, or even that of our nation. W h e n you get back to the locality you see that history, with God's help, is made by men. W e witness it every day. It is so obvious we overlook it. The history of Deseret is full of it. The history of Wisconsin is full of it. History is made by people. Get back to that basic fact, and what happens to the Marxist concept of the inevitability of history and the importance of the individual? It becomes sheer nonsense, refuted by the everyday experience of everyone of us. While today we enjoy leadership of the free half of the world, we owe it to ourselves to know all we can of other peoples: their economy, their culture, their attitudes, i.e., their history.


W H A T A R E W E DOING?

73

But, on the other hand, we owe it to ourselves and to the world to understand and to publish to the four corners of this earth the basic elements that have made America great; that have given us the most dynamic economy, the most fluid society, the highest standard of living of any people in history. To the troubled world of 1954, serious, interpretive, localized history offers, through renewed emphasis on the dignity and importance of the individual, renewed evidence of the ability of free men to meet the test of responsibility and crisis, both personal and public. It offers a faith that so long as the individual remains free, answerable only to his own conscience and his God, the American Experiment will not fail, but will go on to fulfill its revolutionary opportunity of spreading world-wide the dignity of the individual; the doctrine of social, economic and political equality; the higher standards of living and greater productivity of labor; and the fiery sword of equal opportunity, to all men everywhere. Study local history—the story of how things happen in these United States—and we arm ourselves, as Andrew Jackson once put it, to "expand the areas of freedom." That is the potential of what we are doing in our historical societies. That is why our work seems to me so vitally important. That is the thought I would like to leave with you tonight— the unique opportunity those of us in historical societies throughout the country have in carrying on our work to set before the people the eternal presence of our past as we face and breast the perpetual challenge of the future.


T H E P R E S I D E N T ' S REPORT 3 BY JOEL E. RICKS*

F

the founders of our Historical Society announced the major purposes as being "the preservation of manuscripts, papers, documents and tracts of value, the establishment and maintenance of a public library and museum, the dissemination of information and the holding of meetings at stated intervals for the interchange of views and criticism." These broad aims have guided the Society ever since its founding. IFTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO

After many years of patient waiting, the Society in 1917 secured the passage of an act which made it a state institution. Some years later we were able to secure modest funds to initiate some of the announced objectives of the Society. To disseminate information we have published the Quarterly since 1928, with the exception of several years during the depression. The magazine has included much important source material upon Utah history as well as excellent articles upon the different phases of our history. Many of you here have contributed important articles. W e thank you for your generous contributions, and we request you and other talented writers to continue to submit articles for publication. As Professor Highet writes: "The man who understands the structure of a distant star-system, the man who finds an equation to describe the growth of a leaf, and the man who reveals a forgotten era of history needs no further justification." W e have done much to improve our library, in quality as well as quantity. Our librarian, Mr. John James, reports that the W . P. A. Collection, which contains the complete files of the Writers' *Dr. Ricks is chairman of the history department at the Utah State Agricultural College, Logan. He has served as president of the Utah State Historical Society since 1949, and as a member of the Board of Control for almost thirty years. 1 Delivered at the third annual meeting of the Utah State Historical Society, October 22, 1954.


76

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Project and the Historical Records Survey which were given to the Society, has been calendared and thus made available for use, This is a veritable reservoir of local history. W e are making progress on a Union Catalogue of published works pertaining to the Mormons and Utah. This is one of our most ambitious projects. W e have sought trust funds and donations of books to increase our library, since our state appropriations are limited. Former Governor Charles R. Mabey has given generously to start this fund. W e hope that other citizens will follow his example. Mr, J. Cecil Alter, our former editor, has given many valuable books to our library. At the autumn meeting of the Board of Control we conferred honorary life memberships upon these two distinguished members of our Society. In 1951 the state legislature passed a bill to inaugurate an archival program under the direction of the Historical Society. Lack of funds delayed the consummation of our plans until this year when the Board of Examiners authorized a deficit appropriation to employ an archivist to plan and execute our responsibilities, After thorough consideration, the Board of Control appointed Dr. Everett Cooley archivist. He began work July 1 st of this year, Prior to his assumption of office the Society had destroyed many useless records saving valuable space and money. The aim of the archival division is to destroy past records of no historical value, microfilm records to save space, and, by cataloguing the records retained, to make them more available for use. Already some 2,450 cubic feet of useless records have been destroyed. The papers of Utah's governors since statehood have been collected and arranged for use. The archivist has been busy in the vault of the secretary of state with a view to cataloguing documents found there. W e have started a collection of state publications. Our archivist reports that the saving in shelving space and filing cabinets will save the state more than twenty-thousand dollars. The service in calendaring the records in the governor's and secretary of state's vaults will make those valued depositories far more accessible than they have been before. An archives of state publications, containing vital information on Utah, her history and resources, will be of great value to the citizens of Utah as well as to the student of history. W e expect to develop


T H E PRESIDENT'S REPORT

77

the microfilming of records to save money as well as space and to bring to our library records not now available to us. Our two local chapters of the Society are accomplishing much in emphasizing the early local history. The Cache Valley Chapter began its fourth season this September with an inspiring historical lecture upon the first year of the Pioneers in Salt Lake Valley. The speaker was Mr. Nicholas G. Morgan, Sr., of our Board of Control. The Utah Valley Chapter completed its first year with marked success this spring. Among their lecturers was Mr. W i l liam R. Palmer, also a member of the Board of Control. I have mentioned but a few of the activities of the Society. The members of the Board of Control actively formulate the policies that are carried into execution by the staff. My fellow members of the Board of Control have been unselfish in their devotion and active in respect to the Society. An able staff in the office, under the direction of our capable executive secretary, Dr. Mortensen, has worked energetically and harmoniously to make our dreams realities. Here in this historic building, with its resounding memories of Utah's founder who lived here, we cannot escape the lingering memories of Utah's past. The English historian, Arnold Toynbee, •estimated the achievements of the Mormon pioneers and their leader when he wrote: In the early nineteenth century, it needed no less courage to venture out in wagons into the unexplored hinterland of the North American Continent than it had needed in the early seventeenth century to set sail from the shores of Europe in the Mayflower for an uncharted American coast. Moreover, at the journey's end, the desert basin of Utah, with the Salt Lake at its core, offered an even more forbidding landscape for a Promised Land. . . . Brigham Young had the vision to perceive that the salt


78

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

desert could be fertilized by the sweet waters descending from its mountain rim, and he also had the power of organization and command to carry through a great cooperative scheme of irrigation. W e should dedicate ourselves anew to preserving the story of Utah's priceless heritage. In numerous studies the settlement of our valleys has been written very well. New fields beckon to us. Utah's industrial development and Utah's agriculture and cattle industry need recording. Above all, Utah's cultural history should be gathered and published.


U T A H , THE MORMONS, A N D THE W E S T : A

A

BIBLIOGRAPHY

and necessary tools of historical scholarship are guides, bibliographies, and check lists, without which the student and researcher would find his work multiplied many times. The preparation of this important material results from the un glamorous but dedicated labors of many people. MONG THE USEFUL

The Utah Historical Society has embarked upon a longrange program aimed at aiding the student, the researcher, and the casual historian in his search for material. The result of this plan will be embodied in a bibliographical series under the general title of U T A H , THE MORMONS, AND THE W E S T . It is intended, among other things, to publish check lists of theses and dissertations on Mormon and Utah subjects prepared in graduate schools of Utah, as well as elsewhere. The library and archives of the Utah State Historical Society constitute a small, but highly specialized, reservoir of material relating to Utah, the Mormons, and the West. Small but related bibliographical essays and check lists on the holdings of the Society will appear from time to time. It also is intended that guides to the holdings and research facilities of other libraries and institutions will be published in the proposed series. The largest project ever undertaken in Utah-Mormon historiography is the Union Catalog of Mormons and Mormonism, which the staff of the Society has been working on for several years. This ambitious project, of course, will have to be published in a separate volume or volumes. In July, 1954, the Society published in the Quarterly, "A Guide to the Manuscripts in the Bancroft Library Relating to the History of Utah," compiled by S. George Ellsworth, which constituted the first article in the proposed series of aids to historical scholarship. The second item will be the Check List printed below which concerns itself with theses prepared in various departments at the University of Utah. Because it is selective, and because


80

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

it was impossible to ascertain from a reading of the title how much historically significant material was included, it may be that several interesting and important theses have been omitted. It is hoped that students and scholars of Utah and Mormon history will find herein many items of interest. It is noted that all of these theses are available at the University of Utah Library, and that many of them are obtainable on microfilm. Sincere tbanks are due to Ruth M. Jones and Robert N . McMillan for their help in preparing this check list.

A C H E C K LIST O F T H E S E S A T T H E UNIVERSITY O F

UTAH

Anderson, Lars. "A History of Education in San Juan School District." M.S. 1952, Department of Elementary Education. Banks, John. "A Document History of the Morrisites in Utah." B.A. 1909, Department of History. Barber, James Vaun. "The History of Highways in Utah from 1847 to 1869." M.S. 1949, Department of History. Bartholomew, Glenn L. "The History of Education in Sanpete County, Utah." M.S. 1948, Department of Educational Administration. Beeley, Stephen Johnson. "The Archeology of a Utah Lake Site." M.S. 1946, Department of Sociology and AnthropologyBehle, William Harroun. "The Bird Rookeries of the Islands of Great Salt Lake." M.A. 1932, Department of Biology. Bennion, Milton Lynn. "Highway Development in Utah." M.S. 1932, Department of History. Benson, Frank Thomas. "An Analysis of Orson Pratt's Invention in the Pratt-Newman Debate." M.S. 1950, Department of Speech.


T H E S E S AT THE UNIVERSITY OF U T A H

81

Blaylock, John Quincy. "History of North Ogden; An Economic and Social Study." M.A. 1922, Department of Economics and Social Studies. Bohl, Otto K. "The Park Utah Mine at Keetley, Utah, of the Park Utah Consolidated Mines Company." B.S. 1934, Department of Mining Engineering. Borovatz, Steve Nick. "The Settlement of Carbon County and the Development of Schools." M.S. 1953, Department of Educational Administration. Bywater, George G. "Antelope Island, Great Salt Lake," by George G. Bywater and Joseph A. Barlow. B.S. 1909, D e partment of Engineering. Call, Louise. "History of the Children's Service Society of Utah r 1884-1941." M.S. 1943, Department of Sociology. Campbell, Eugene Edward. "The Government of Utah—18471851." M.A. 1940, Department of History. Cannon, Howell Lee. "History of Weber County Public Schools." M.S. 1948, Department of Educational Administration. Christensen, John Oral. "The History of Education in Garfield County, Utah." M.S. 1949, Department of Education. Clark, Joseph C. "A History of Strikes in Utah." M.A. 1953, Department of Economics. Cole, Gordon. "Peter Maughan, Cache Valley Pioneer." M.S. 1950, Department of History. Cooley, Everett L. "The Utah W a r [1847-1857]." M.S. 1947, Department of History. Crook, John G. "The Development of Early Industry and T r a d e in Utah." M.A. 1926, Department of History. Danielson, Melvin D. "History of Education in Sevier County." M.S. 1951, Department of Educational Administration. Davis, Frances Gilroy. "A History of the William M. Stewart School 1891-1940." M.S. 1940, Department of Education.


82

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Doxey, Clifford B. "The History of the Ogden Public Schools." M.A. 1944, Department of Education. Ericksen, E. Gordon. "A Sociological Study of Funeral Customs and Legal Burial Requirements in Utah." M.S. 1939, Department of Sociology. Erickson, Velt G. "The Liberal Party of Utah." M.A. 1948, Department of History and Political Science. Evans, John Henry. "The Utah Expedition." B.S. 1906, Department of History. Felt, Hazel Lee Craig. "A History of Radio Stations in Utah to 1950." M.A. 1950, Department of Speech. Gleason, Herbert Lester. "The Salt Lake City Police Department: 1851-1949. A Social History." M.S. 1950, Department of Sociology. Halford, Reta Latimer. "Nauvoo—The City Beautiful... ." M.S. 1945, Department of History. Hammond, Roscoe Eldon. "The Anglo-Saxon Settlement of the Far W e s t Prior to 1850." M.A. 1918, Department of Political Science and History. Hansen, Clyde Wayne. "A History of the Development of NonMormon Denominational Schools in Utah." M.S. 1953, Department of Secondary Education. Humphrey, Isaac B. "Commission Government in Salt Lake City, Utah." M.A. 1936, Department of History and Political Science. Jameson, Jesse Harold. "Corinne; A Study of a Freight Transfer Point in the Montana Trade, 1869 to 1878." M.A. 1951, Department of History. Jameson, Sydney John Smith. "Archaeological Notes on Stansbury Island, Utah." M.S. 1948, Department of Anthropology. Jenson, Willard Conrad. "History of Logan." M.A. 1927, Department of Education,


T H E S E S AT THE UNIVERSITY OF U T A H

83

Johnson, David F. "The History and Economics of Utah Railroads." M.S. 1947, Department of Business. Judd, Neil Merton. "The Cliff-Dwellers of the San Juan Valley." B.A. 1911, Department of Arts and Sciences. Kemper, Ursula Helga. "Cooperative Movements in Mormon History; A Study of Social and Economic Aspects." M.A. 1952, Department of Sociology. Kerr, Andrew Affleck. "The Early History of the Textile Industry in Utah, Flax, Silk, Cotton, and Wool." B.A. 1907, Department of Arts and Sciences. Knapp, Alma J. "The History of Cyrus Edwin Dallin, Eminent Utah Sculptor." M.A. 1948, Department of Sculpture. Lewis, Anna Viola. "The Development of Mining in Utah." M.A. 1941, Department of History. McClellan, Kenneth R. "The Ute Indians and Their Educational Programs." M.S. 1953, Department of Educational Administration. McHenry, Vere A. "Fifty Years of Independence, a History of Murray City Schools." M.S. 1954, Department of Educational Administration. McKell, Charles Robert. "History of the Utah State Hospital, Provo. A Study of the Evolution of Public Care for the Mentally 111." M.S. 1948, Department of Sociology. McKenzie, William Howard. "A History of Secondary Education in Utah Since Statehood 1896-1941." M.S. 1941, Department of Education. Malouf, Carling I. "A Study of the Gosiute Indians of Utah." M.S. 1940, Department of Sociology. Margetts, Ralph E. "Biography of Phil Margetts, Utah Actor." M.A. 1950, Department of Speech. Margetts, Winifred Snell. "A Study of the Salt Lake City Actor from 1850 to 1869." M.A. 1948, Department of Speech.


84

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Mecham, Everett H. "The History of the Sheep Industry in Utah." M. A. 1925, Department of History. Passey, Earl Fredrick. "An Historical Study of Public Education in Rich County, Utah." M.S. 1951, Department of Educational Administration. Peterson, Ferdinand E. "Utah's Struggle for Statehood." M.S. 1929, Department of History. Poulsen, Alton B. "The Mormon Outpost of San Bernardino, California." M.S. 1947, Department of History. Price, Sara Sue. "A Comparison of Gosiute Material Culture and the Archaeology of Western Utah." M.A. 1952, Department of Anthropology. Rasmussen, Alma Vernon. "The Government W o r k Relief Program in Utah, 1932-1940." M.S. 1942, Department of Economics. Ridd, Jay Donald. "Almon Whiting Babbitt, Mormon Emissary." M.S. 1953, Department of History. Rodgers, Philip Ray. "Liquor Control in the State of Utah." M.S. 1940, Department of History and Political Science, Rogan, Francis Edward. "Patrick Edward Connor, an Army Officer in Utah, 1862-1866." M.S. 1952, Department of History. Rose, Blanche. "The History of Medicine in Utah." M.A. 1939, Department of History. Scorup, Dee. "A History of Organized Labor in Utah." M.S. 1935, Department of Economics. Seegmiller, Frank K. "The Economic Value of the Natural Resources of the Great Basin According to the Writings of Early Travelers and Explorers." M.A. 1932, Department of Western History. Shermer, Florence. "Chronological Development of Missions in Utah." B.A. 1910, Department of Arts and Sciences.


T H E S E S AT THE UNIVERSITY O F U T A H

85

Sorenson, Violette W a r d . "Diseases and Medical Practices Among the American Indians." M.S. 1934, Department of Western History. Speirs, John D. "The History of Money and Banking in Utah." M.S. 1935, Department of Business. Sudweeks, Leslie L. "Exploration and Settlement of Southern Idaho, 1807-80." M.S. 1935, Department of History. Sylvester, Robert H. "Dr. John Milton Bernhisel; Utah's First Delegate to Congress." M.S. 1947, Department of History. Thomson, Woodruff Christian. "Orson F. Whitney, Mormon Writer." M.A. 1949, Department of English. Walkup, Fairfax Proudfit. "Utah Pioneer Dress, 1847-1875." M.S. 1947, Department of Speech. Williams, Charles. "History of the Poultry Industry in Utah." M.S. 1937, Department of History. Williams, Joe. "Political Parties of Utah." M.S. 1933, Department of History and Political Science. Wilson, David Parry. "The Mormon Battalion." M.A. 1941, Department of History. Zobell, Albert Levi. "Thomas L. Kane, Ambassador to the Mormons." M.S. 1944, Department of History.


REVIEWS A N D RECENT

PUBLICATIONS

Comstock Commotion, the Story of the Territorial Enterprise. By Lucius Beebe. (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1954, 129 pp. $3.50) On December 18, 1858, at Mormon Station, territory of western Utah, W . L. Jernegan and Alfred James brought out the first issue of a paper destined to become the most famous (Mr. Beebe would prefer the term notorious) in the West. By November 3, 1860, The Territorial Enterprise had moved its date line to Virginia City, that commotion-filled town on the Comstock. Here through the talents of Joe Goodman, Dan De Quille, and Mark Twain, this Nevada paper became, as Beebe says, "the pattern and archetype of all Western newspapers in pioneer times. Its gunfighting editors, celebrated news beats, authority and power in affairs of state, and its hilarious and uninhibited way of life were to become legendary." The story of this "free-wheeling razzle-dazzle" period of Western journalism is told here by Lucius Beebe, present publisher of the revived Enterprise. The author calls his book "story," and I assume he thereby wishes to escape the responsibilities of history. For it is clear that what he wishes to write is not history at all, but legend. Above all, he wants to keep things lively, as if this were not only the "gee-whiz" (another Beebe adjective) story of the Enterprise, Dan De Quille, and Mark Twain, but also the story as Dan and Mark might have written it. Beebe builds up an air of legend by playing up those incidents which please his own "heady" taste, a blend of "wide," "boozy" wonder and a "fine feeling for the panache." He puts into print once more such doubtful episodes as Mark Twain's duel with Laird, changing the beheaded sparrow to a sage hen, for more local color I suppose. But perhaps this doesn't matter. Perhaps Nevadans (the Enterprise has been honored for its contribution to regional history) want their history this way. The student of Western literature may nevertheless object. Even though inspired by "a strong east wind from the brewery,"


88

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

as were Mark and Dan, Mr. Beebe does not really carry on the great tradition. Dan would never have been guilty of such verbal grotesquerie. "But just as every community in the land must, only a few years from now, have a railroad of its own, so did every hamlet and crossroads in the W e s t pant as the hart panteth for the water springs for its own newspaper." Or such a "corny" pun as this: "Few journalistic frontiersmen contributed so greatly to the original humor of Nevada as Frederick Hart, no relative of Bret Harte." Mr. Beebe bears the same relationship to Dan De Quille as does the college sophomore to Ernest Hemingway. Beebe may challenge me to a duel over this remark. If he does, I accept—with empty beer bottles at three-hundred yards. University of Utah

Don D. Walker

James Duane Doty, Frontier Promoter. By Alice E. Smith. (Madison, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1954, 472 pp. $5.00) Miss Alice Smith has written a book which is much more than a limited treatment of the life of James Duane Doty. She has written a political and economic history of territorial Wisconsin. This is a piece of writing by a careful researcher who knows intimately the documents of Wisconsin history. However, it is a work primarily for the student of history. The lay reader will find it rather "slow" reading. Miss Smith's contribution here is not a literary masterpiece, but it is a careful study which adds considerably to our knowledge on one of Utah's territorial governors. Her "Bibliographic Note" will be much appreciated. If there is a weakness in this book, and this reviewer is inclined to believe there is, it lies in the fact that while this is a biography of James Duane Doty, die reader never becomes acquainted with Doty the man. Aside from Chapter 18, "The Island Home," the reader is given little more than the economic and political activities of this frontiersman who moved about the political stage from Michigan to Wisconsin to Washington, D. C. to Utah. And still, in the end, one is left to speculate on the character of this man—what was the real Doty? Lest the reviewer convey


REVIEWS AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS

89

the wrong impression, this book is a careful, objective study. Unlike so many biographers, Miss Smith neither eulogizes nor debunks. James Duane Doty appeared upon the western scene at the age of 19 in the year 1818. Shortly thereafter he was appointed clerk of the Supreme Court of Michigan Territory. This was his first venture into public office. His last was that of territorial governor of Utah in the year 1863, at the age of 64. During this span of years, the name of James Doty became synonymous with practically every large political or speculative venture in the territory which later became Wisconsin. His financial interests were multifarious and multitudinous. H e either privately, as a partner, or as a corporation officer, was instrumental in plotting and developing land tracts and cities (including Madison the capital), founding banks, surveying roads, and chartering canals and railroads (including the Northern Pacific). These activities were usually undertaken in connection with the many public offices Doty held, namely: judge, territorial delegate, territorial Indian agent, United States congressman, and territorial governor (of Wisconsin and U t a h ) . Doty's political affiliations were about as varied as the offices he held. He was, at different times, a Jackson Democrat, a Whig, an Independent, a Democrat, and a late-arriving Republican. But first and foremost, James Duane Doty was a "Dotyite." The party's interests never took precedence. Party affiliation was strictly a means to an end. A list of Doty's friends and associates reads like a Who's Who of early American history. Doty was an intimate of Governor Lewis Cass, a personal friend of such men as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, William H. Seward and Thurlow Weed. The one relationship which really stands out is the one between James Duane Doty and John Jacob Astor. For years Doty represented the Astor interests in Wisconsin. He was the agent for Astor in many land and other speculative enterprises. Such was the background of the man named by President Lincoln to the position of Indian Agent for Utah in 1861, and two years later to the governorship. After a series of "unfriendly


90

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

gentile" governors, the Mormons of Utah were pleased with Doty's administration of territorial affairs. A study of Doty's record in dealing with the driven and damned Indian (pp. 84-85) reveals that the man had a sympathy and understanding of peoples with differing cultural traits. It is no surprise, therefore, that this "gentile" fared so well where others had failed. Doty's life in Utah is presented in the last chapter of the book. Even so, for the student of Utah history, this book makes a valuable contribution to the scant material now available on Utah's territorial governors. The chapter is marred by only slight errors which the native Utahn will soon discover. Those familiar with Salt Lake Valley will learn with surprise that the Mormon Tabernacle has spires and that Great Salt Lake lies "about twenty miles to the north" of Doty's burial site at Fort Douglas (p. 385). It is to be regretted that the publishers placed the footnotes at the end of the book instead of the bottom of the page. It is also regrettable that maps were not included in this work. It is most awkward to have to read with an atlas at hand to follow the routes and boundaries under discussion. Utah State Historical Society

Everett L. Cooley

Beyond the Hundredth Meridian; John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West. By Wallace Stegner. (New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1954, 438 pp. $6.00) "Mr. Stegner's subject is nineteenth century America and the part the W e s t played in creating twentieth century America." So writes Bernard DeVoto in the introduction to this book. Wallace Stegner says "it is an attempt to write a biography that is the history not of a personality but of a career." Within these limits, the drama and the tragic hero, is an interplay of a score of contesting forces which have shaped the American mind. John Wesley Powell, explorer, geologist, ethnologist, conservationist and government administrator, played a peculiarly conspicuous part in the development of the West following his courageous exploration of the Colorado River in 1869. Major Powell engaged in geological exploration of the arid region. There


REVIEWS AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS

91

appeared as a mere by-product of this work a monumental document, The Lands of the Arid Regions. Powell grasped the limitations of the W e s t and the necessity for new legal and governmental concepts for its development. That he proposed specific political institutions and measures to safeguard land and water rights attests to his sense of awareness. Stegner advances Major Powell's career in measured steps, from self-education and recognition to influence and power. In quick-moving scenes, with frequent allusions to contemporaries like Henry Adams and William Gilpin, the climax is reached when clashes between personalities, issues, politics and avarice combine to topple the Major from his unique position. The role of Powell in the effort to educate the nation concerning the true nature of the W e s t is given in detailed but readable narrative. It was a thankless and disheartening task to controvert established misinformation, some merely careless, some deliberate falsification. The reader gradually becomes conscious of the debt America owes to this one-armed fighter. Whether braving the canyons of the Colorado or standing his ground in Congressional hearings, the Major showed neither fear nor caution. W e are given an appraisal of his influence in the development of the West, and in turn the influence of the W e s t in the cauldron of American opinion. The one disturbing aspect of this informative book is the feeling that some of the critical problems exposed by Powell have not been resolved, if indeed they can be. Mr. Stegner has written a fine book, scholarly, spirited and lucid. The publisher has made it a splendid book with generous illustrations including a panorama (frontispiece) of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

William C. Darrah

Old Spanish Trail; Santa Fe to Los Angeles. By LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W . Hafen. Volume I, The Far West and the Rockies Historical Series, 1820-1875. (Glendale, The Arthur H. "Clark Company, 1954, 377 pp. $9.50)


92

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

At long last the story of an important and historic Western trail, too long hidden in near oblivion, legend, and rumor, is now told. W e moderns, often preoccupied with the problems arising from the intricate character of our modern mass media of transportation, only occasionally are aware of the thin threads of communication and transportation which held provinces, colonies, and empires together in bygone days. The modern motorist speeds down U. S. 91 from south-central Utah, through a corner of Arizona, and a slice of Nevada, into southern California and Los Angeles, little conscious that for miles he is following an important sector of an old trail laboriously worked out by plodding feet, both biped and quadruped, in the long ago. For most of the Spanish-Mexican period of California, isolation was the word. Surrounded by deserts to the east and southeast, and by limitless stretches of ocean to the west and south, California's future was never full of promise until the coming of the Anglo-American and the opening of the Overland Trail in mid-nineteenth century. The Old Spanish Trail was a tenuous link between two far-flung provinces of die Republic of Mexico (California and New Mexico), only lately independent of Spain. In existence less than two decades, it came to an abrupt end with the flood of overland travel coincidental to and following die Mexican War, Trail-breaking by Kearny's Army of the West, and road-building by the Mormon Battalion opened up the hitherto impossible southern route from Santa Fe to Los Angeles. Mormon settlement in the Great Basin and the following rush of humanity westward resulting from the Gold Rush in California opened up the central overland route, and the Old Spanish Trail was dead. LeRoy and Ann Hafen, born and raised on die southwestern leg of the Trail (the only sector still paralleled by an important modern highway) are pre-eminently qualified to write this book both through training and long experience in the study and writing of Far Western history. The story of the Trail, a narrow footpath extending in a great arc northwest from Santa Fe and tben southwest to Los


REVIEWS AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS

93

Angeles, is told against the background of half a continent and several centuries of time. It does seem that more than occasionally the book drifts far afield from the Old Spanish Trail, when it chronicles in some detail the subsequent lives and careers of those who passed over the Trail to California and later became prominent Anglo-Saxon citizens of that province and state. There are several other areas where the subject matter is of only casual interest to the Trail. O n the other hand, there are many interesting features of the book—the descriptions of the terminal towns, Santa Fe and Los Angeles, interspersed with accounts of contemporary observers of more than a century ago, are particularly interesting, especially for those familiar with the modern counterparts of those cities. The chapters dealing with the Mountain Men and explorers constitute nearly a capsule history of the presettlement period of the Rockies and Spanish Southwest. This book is advertised as the first in a fifteen-volume series under the general title, "The Far W e s t and the Rockies." The Hafens are to be congratulated for such an excellent start for their series, and the Arthur H. Clark Company for its usual excellence in die book-making art. Utah State Historical Society

A. R. Mortensen

Traders to the Navajos. By Frances Gillmor and Louisa W a d e Wetherill. (Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 1954, $3.50) The story of the Wetherills of Kayenta is a tale that needed to be told. As we now drive through the Navajo country and stop periodically at the fascinating trading posts, little thought is given to the natural endowments and uncommon good judgment of those who laid the groundwork to make these unique institutions possible. Hosteen John and Asthon Sosi (Wetherill) had that fortunate combination of attributes: patience, honesty and sympathetic understanding, that appeal so fundamentally to the Navajo mind and made possible the Indian Trading Post as we know it today. The Navajo Trading Post serves as an economic exchange, a communications center, first-aid station, cultural town hall, bank,


94

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

postoffice, court house, etc., for "the people" who roam the vast distances and whose homes are rarely permanent. This is, in a great measure, due to the mission of the Wetherills. This story, told in a vernacular strikingly suggestive of the Navajo with its economy of words and natural fluency, is indeed an engaging evening's entertainment for anyone concerned with this subject. The basic Navajo life philosophy unfolds in its natural setting, while such momentous discoveries as the Mesa Verde dwellings and the Rainbow Bridge are being described— not to mention the scores of lesser known archaeological contributions such as Tsegi Canyon, Keet Siel, Betatakin, Inscription House, and numerous others. It is both interesting and fortunate that the Wetherills were not diverted from their primary mission by the numerous prospectors and their many fabulous stories of riches, lost mines, and buried treasures close at hand. One becomes aware of the long-suffering acceptance of the many bad years and adversities, interspersed with an occasional good year, in this forbidding country by "the people," and feels with Wolfkiller, the medicine man, that the hard life has its rewards. The death of John Wetherill in November, 1944, and of Louisa W a d e Wetherill one year later, closed an important and singular chapter in the pioneering of the Navajo Nation. Frances Gillmor did an important service in making this record. Cedar City, Utah

Reed W . Farnsworth, M.D.

The Coming of the Mormons. (A children's account.) By Jim Kjelgaard. (New York, Random House, 1953) The Flowering Cactus. Edited by Raymond Carlson. (New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1954) A Gallery of Western Badmen. (Pamphlet.) By William Waters, (Covington, Kentucky, American Publications) Ghost Towns of California. By Remi Nadeau. (Los Angeles, Fortnight Magazine, 1954)


REVIEWS AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History. Paul Horgan. (2 vols., Rinehart, 1954)

95

By

Indians of the Plains. By Robert H. Lowie. (New York, McGraw-Hill, 1954) The Kachina and the White Man; A Study of the Influences of White Culture on the Hopi Kachina Cult. By Frederick Dockstader. (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, 1954) The Last Hunt. (Historical fiction about the last of the buffalo.) By Milton Lott. (New York, Houghton Mifflin, 1954) The Last War Trail; the Utes and the Settlement of Colorado. By Robert Emmitt. (Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1954) The Mind of Joseph Smith; a Study of the Words of the Founder of Mormonism Revealing 24 Symptoms of Mental Derangement. (Hamilton, Montana, 1954) People of the Blue Water: My Adventures Among the Walapai and Havasupai Indians. By Flora Gregg Iliff. (New York, Harpers, 1954) The Saga of Tom Horn; The Story of a Cattlemen's War. By Dean F. Krakel. (Laramie, Powder River Publishers, 1954) Six-Guns and Saddle Leather; A Bibliography of Books and Pamphlets on Western Outlaws and Gunmen. Compiled by Ramon F. Adams. (Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1954) Treasures of Pioneer History. Volume III. Compiled by Kate B. Carter. (Salt Lake City, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1954) Edward N. Wentworth, ed., "Trailing Sheep From California to Idaho in 1865: The Journal of Gorham Gates Kimball," Agricultural History. April, 1954. Dale L. Morgan, "Washakie and the Shoshoni; A Selection of Documents from the Records of the Utah Superintendency of Indian Affairs. Part III. 1852-1857," Annals of Wyoming, July, 1954.


96

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Dale L. Morgan, ed., "The Diary of William H. Ashley, March 25-June 27, 1825," Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society, October, 1954. John E. Sunder, "Report of Journey to the Rocky Mountains" (With Stewart and Sublette in the W e s t [1843]), ibid. Kenneth L. Holmes, "Bishop Daniel Sylvester Tuttle [1837-1923] in the West," Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, March, 1954. Frank Waters, "The Roaring Colorado," Holiday, August, 1954. Doyle L. Green, "Route From Liverpool to Great Salt Lake Valley" (with sketches and accounts by Fredrick Piercy), Improvement Era, August and September, 1954. Leonard J. Arrington, "How the Saints Fed the Indians," ibid., November, 1954. Louise Linton Salmon, "St. Louis in the Story of the Church," ibid. Leslie L. Sudweeks, "The Deseret Alphabet," ibid. Bill Gilbert, "Bloomers That Toppled A Throne" (How the attempt of King Strang of Beaver Island to dictate women's fashions wrecked his kingdom [Kingdom of St. James]), Inside Michigan, January, 1952. Photographed by Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams, "Three Mormon Towns," Life, September 6, 1954. Richard L. Evans, " W h a t is a Mormon?" Look. October 5, 1954. Eugenia Learned James and Vivian K. McLarty, eds., "Three Generations in the Span of a Continent; The Zumwalt Family. Part II. Solomon Zumwalt's emigration to Oregon, including his winter with the Mormons," Missouri Historical Review, July, 1954. E. Widtsoe Shumway, "Winter Quarters, Nebraska, 1846-1848," Nebraska History, June, 1954. Paul W . Glad, "Frederick W e s t Lander and the Pacific Railroad Movement," ibid., September, 1954.


REVIEWS AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS

97

Elizabeth H. Mills, "The Mormon Colonies in Chihuahua After the 1912 Exodus," concluded, New Mexico Historical Review, October, 1954. William Mulder, "Mormons from Scandinavia, 1850-1900: A Shepherded Migration," Pacific Historical Review, August, 1954. Rockwell D. Hunt, "To California by Ox Team" (journey of Ann Zumwalt Cotton Hunt, from Joliet, Illinois, in 1854), The Pony Express, September, 1954. "Central Office Facilities of State Government in Utah" (Question of adequacy of office facilities in Utah State Capitol Building), Utah Foundation Research Report No. Ill, July, 1954. Photographs by George Hunter, "The Colorado River," August 23, 1954.

Time,

'[Utah] Economics of the Future," Utah Economic and Business Review, August, 1954. "Utah Explosives," ibid., September, 1954. William Arthur Hansen, "1954 Tourist Survey," ibid., October, 1954. David E. Miller, "Peter Skene Ogden's Explorations in the Great Salt Lake Region: A Restudy Based on Newly Published Journals," Western Humanities Review, Spring, 1954. Thomas F. O'Dea, "Mormonism and the American Experience of Time," ibid.. Summer, 1954. James D. Horan, "Robin Hood in South America, the Last Years of Butch Cassidy," Part II, The Westerners Brand Book, New York Posse, Summer, 1954.


W E S T E R N JUSTICE: T H E C O U R T F O R T BRIDGER, U T A H BY W .

E

AT

TERRITORY

N . DAVIS, JR.*

that the tales of the more sensational occurrences of frontier justice have indulged in a good deal of license regarding the facts. Less appreciated perhaps, the popular portrait of western law and justice that has come down in a haze of gunpowder and tobacco from frontier days—it is but a shade removed from a regular stereotype now—has suffered just as grievously on other accounts. Almost wholly ignored, for example, has been that great body of men on the pioneer bench who, quite unconcerned with the chances for notoriety or show, actually did honor their sworn obligation to uphold the law. It may be that, here and there, the vicissitudes of frontier justice occasionally did require the eccentricities of "hanging" judges, or of courts colorfully convened amidst the confusion of some crowded saloon. But notwithstanding the extravagant publicity this kind received, they were clearly and always the exception to the rule. The demeanor of the western court generally, whether unlettered or cultivated, as indeed everywhere else, was one of simple dignity and relative restraint. For every swashbuckler on the western bench, countless even-mannered justices served. VERYBODY KNOWS

This, of course, is not to imply that the color, range, and vitality of western justice were in effect confined to any particular type of court. For the truth is, the whole panorama of social frailties and errors was known to all of them. Dramatic cases along with the commonplace, actions involving large issues and small, were regularly entered on every docket. Professor Harvey Wish has stated, in his study of American society and thought, "While there must have been innumerable honest and hardworking local judges, their achievements were apparently too dull to attract the chroniclers of the West; hence the illiterate, un* William N. Davis, Jr., is an assistant professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley.


100

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

scrupulous 'J-P-V have monopolized the writers' attention."1 Representative of a type found widely scattered over the West, the court of Fort Bridger is, as the evidence that follows is believed to show, a fair specimen to examine in the hope of adding a little balance to the other side of the subject. For fourteen years William A. Carter, the sutler, was the principal administrator of civil justice in Bridger Valley, beginning with the establishment of the permanent military post there in 1858. Some rather violent forces agitated that crossroads frontier on occasion in those days. Yet Judge Carter's court remained steady and responsible through it all. The devotion to justice and order thus so consistently displayed did much to promote the rise of local order, upholding all those who supported such cause, and so contributed not a little to the march of civilization in that section. Carter, like many another Westerner, became an officer of the law through what to him must have been a rather unexpected turn of events. His position of sutler, of course, is the main explanation for the appointment. By the time the Army of Utah was finally ready to march from Bridger Valley for Salt Lake, in June, 1858, after its forced winter encampment on Black's Fork, the command had pretty well formulated its plans for the development of a rear base at Fort Bridger. Carter, until then the principal local agent of Livingston, Kinkead & Co., the sutlers for the Second Dragoons, had elected to remain behind as the sutler of the new post. The governor of the territory thus found a way out of the problem of the recently vacated local civil bench by commissioning him justice of the peace as well.2 The latter appointment followed a pattern already well established on the frontier, for at many a western outpost, as was to prove the case at Fort Bridger, the sutler was easily the best-known civilian around. The association of Judge Carter with Fort Bridger almost at once became widely familiar. Indeed, for a quarter of a century J Harvey Wish, Society and Thought in Modern America (New York, 1952), 86. 2 A copy of Carter's contract with Livingston, Kinkead & Co., dated Fort Bridger, July 14, 1858, may be found on page 1 of W. A. Carter, Account Book, July 14, 1858-Aug. 25, 1859, MS., in possession of Albino S. Fillin, Fort Bridger, Wyoming (hereafter cited as Fillin Collection); Executive Proceedings 1850 to 1854 and Elections and Commissions, Book A, 119, MS., Office of the Secretary of State, Salt Lake City.


W E S T E R N JUSTICE

101

thereafter, such was the publicity given the relationship, the mention of either name, invariably brought thought of the other. Civil jurisprudence had come to Bridger Valley with the Mormons some four years before the arrival of the Army of Utah, and the pioneer judges of the region were of that faith. W i t h the establishment of the little Mormon agricultural settlement at Fort Supply in 1853, a dozen miles south of Fort Bridger, the territorial legislature created Green River County for the northeastern outposts, and elected W . I. Appleby, late of the Salt Lake Valley judiciary, as its probate judge. In December, 1854, the able Isaac Bullock of Fort Supply, captain of the larger of the two groups of 1853 colonists, was named to succeed Appleby to the office, and the valley knew still a third local judicial officer when John Pulsipher was chosen justice of the peace in the general election on August 6, 1855. The district's first courthouse, a two-story building serving the traditional many other purposes as well, was erected at Fort Supply. At the approach of the army in the fall of 1857, however, the buildings at Fort Supply, City Supply, and Fort Bridger were all destroyed and the valley abandoned. Moreover, in December the legislature disorganized Green River County and attached the district to Salt Lake County to complete the retrenchment program. 3 Even before the Army of Utah reached Fort Bridger, while its headquarters still remained rather uncertainly at Ham's Fork off to the north, the new territorial chief justice, D. R. Eckels, struck the opening blow in what was to become a bitterly waged, highly personal court battle against the Mormons. Sitting with all the judicial dignity that his frail little tent permitted, Judge Eckels, on November 3, 1857, listened intently to the parade of testimony 3 Milton R. Hunter, Brigham Young, the Colonizer (Salt Lake City, 1940), 279-89; Acts, Resolutions and Memorials, Passed at the Several Annual Sessions of the Legislative Assembly, Utah Territory (Salt Lake City, 1855), 259, 260; Journal of the Legislative Assembly, 1853-54 (Salt Lake City, 1854), 134; Journal . . . 1854-55 (Salt Lake City, 1855), 105; Acts of the Legislature of Utah, 1850 to 1853, p. 242, MS., Office of the Secretary of State, Salt Lake City, contains a partial record of county election returns to 1855; Acts, Resolutions and Memorials Passed by the Legislative Assembly, Utah Territory, 1857-58 (Salt Lake City, 1919), 5. Bridger's precinct, extending from Bear River to Green River, was created on January 31, 1850. See Utah Historical Quarterly, VIII (1940), 181. Green River County was re-established on January 17, 1859, with Fort Bridger the county seat. Acts and Resolutions of the Legislative Assembly, Utah Territory, 1858-59 (Salt Lake City, 1859), 19, 20.


'02

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

against Major Joseph Taylor, chief of the hard-hitting Mormon raiders, who, for a month now, had been held captive as a prisoner of war. The issue under review was about as clear and damnable as it could possibly be, the partisan court concluded. Taylor would be tried at the next term of the district court for Green River County on one of the most serious of all charges, treason against the United States. 4 Judge Eckels opened his district court at Camp Scott, near Fort Bridger, on December 7th, at which time a grand jury heard young J. M. Hockaday, the new U. S. attorney for the territory, present the list of charges against the Mormon prisoners. The grand jury gratified the court immensely by finding indictments wholesale. Not only were Taylor and William Stowell, a second prisoner, ordered to stand trial, but Brigham Young, Heber Kimball, Daniel H. Wells, Lot Smith, Lewis Robinson, and many others as well. The complete destruction of the three wagon trains belonging to Majors & Russell, the army's contract freighters, held to be a million dollar loss, was of course recounted in the indictment and the accused were each charged with "wickedly, maliciously and traitorously levying war" against the United States. It was apparent that the Black's Fork jury aspired to a full share in stamping out the "rebellion." Indeed, before the winter was out, the list of those indicted was to contain no fewer than sixty-seven names. There was some little irony in the situation, however, for Stowell, alone, was the solitary indicted Mormon that the court could lay hands on. Taylor had made his escape. Stowell, for his part, pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned on January 4th, and on motion of counsel his case was postponed until the next term.6 4 Captain Jesse A. Gove to Mrs. Gove, dated Camp on Harris Fork, Oct 16, Nov. 3, 1857, in Otis G. Hammond, ed., The Utah Expedition, 1857-58; Letters of Capt. Jesse A. Gove (Concord, N. H., 1928), 79, 89; writs issued to B. F. Ficklin, marshal pro tem of Utah Territory, Nov. 4, 7, 1857, House Executive Document No. 71, 35 Congress, 1 session, 55, 56, 68; Gov. A. Cumming to the People of Utah, dated Green River County Near Fort Bridger, Nov.5 21, 1857, in ibid* 75, 76. Captain Jesse A. Gove to Mrs. Gove, dated Fort Bridger, Dec. 7, 1857, op. cit., 103; for the indictment of December 30, 1857, see the New York Weekly Tribune, March 6, 1858, quoted in J. Cecil Alter, Utah. The Storied Domain (3 vols., Chicago, 1932), I, 260, 261; Cumming to Brig. Gen. A. b. Johnston, dated Near Camp Scott, May 25, 1858, Senate Executive Document No 1, 35 Cong., 2 sess., 103; Cumming to Secretary of State Lewis Cass, dated Camp Scott, Jan. 5, 1858, MS., State Department Territorial Papers, Utah Series, Volume I, 1853-1859.


W E S T E R N JUSTICE

103

W h e n it came to carrying through effective action against the Mormon leaders, Chief Justice Eckels found his situation unsatisfactory to the extreme. O n the one hand, the two other recently appointed justices of the supreme court had not yet reached the territory, which meant that the Mormons were entirely out of reach, even theoretically, on that high court level. It was true that the federal judges were authorized to hold district courts separately, and since Eckels had been assigned to district one, the area north of Salt Lake, he was certainly within the law in convening court in Bridger Valley. But completely cut off from the territorial treasury as he was, every expense of the court had to be met, if met at all, entirely out of his own pocket. Circumstances as embarrassing as these made any protracted court action almost impossible. A. G. Browne, Jr., the clerk of the court, was soon on his way east to beseech the administration itself to assume the costs of the court for the time being. The judge also requested the immediate dispatch of a second federal judge, and at least something in the direction of an adequate law library. Meanwhile, the court was determined to carry on as best it could. In May, Marshal Dotson, in pursuit of its instructions, petitioned Governor Cumming for a posse so that writs could be served on the indicted Mormons. W h e n the governor asked Brig. Gen. A. S. Johnston, the commander of the Army of Utah, if he could furnish such a posse to the civil authorities, the colonel replied rather formally that if such a request were actually to be made, he was afraid that at the moment he would not be able to comply. With civil and military requirements thus apparently at odds, the unhappy Eckels found himself powerless beyond the narrow bounds of the army's camp. For the most part, in fact, this was to be the experience of the federal suit initiated by Eckels until the very end.6 Correspondence from Camp Scott, dated June 10, 1858, New York Herald, July 8, 1858, quoted in Hammond, op. cit., 318-21; A. G. Browne, Jr., to Secretary of State Lewis Cass, dated Washington, D. C , March 15, 1858, MS., State Department Territorial Papers, Utah Series, Vol. 1; Cumming to Johnston, May 25, 1858, Senate Executive Document No. 1, 35 Cong., 2 sess., 103. Johnston to Cumming, May 26, 1858, ibid., 104. Andrew Love Neff, History of Utah, 1847-1869 (Salt Lake City, 1940), 694. A record of Eckels' correspondence with General Johnston's headquarters concerning the confinement of convicted camp civilians may be found in Register of Letters Received, Hdqrs. Army of Utah, Dec. 1857-Aug. 1858, Records of the Department of Utah, Vol. 14, MS., Army Section, War Records Branch, National Archives, Washington, D. C.


104

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Though federal judges like Eckels played an exceedingly important part in the administration of law and justice in the pioneer West, by far the greater volume of such work went on at a lower, more comprehensive, less selective level. The key figures in this lower judicial structure were the sheriff, the county judge, the justice of the peace, and in Utah in the period being dealt with here, above all others the probate judge. Each complemented the other, and to whatever extent order was maintained, each in his own way was essential. As has been noted, the Mormon evacuation of Bridger Valley had left Green River County entirely without civil officers. Since the services of at least a justice of the peace were required there during the period of the army's winter camp. Governor Cumming, on February 2, 1858, appointed David A. Burr to the office, and a court was soon opened in the civilian quarters at Eckelsville just west of Camp Scott. The large number of civilian employees in the area produced a good deal of judicial action, most of which had to do with the common everyday incidents of assault and battery and theft. For instance, a man named Lucas was brought in on the charge of stealing a bag of buckshot from one of the sutler's wagons. He was duly acquitted, but nevertheless the quartermaster dismissed him from his job. Cut off from his subsistence, Lucas announced that he was going to return to the States. Not long after, however, he was reported seen on the road to Salt Lake City. "Thus this scoundrel has been in camp all winter as a spy," Capt. Jesse Gove of the Fort Bridger detachment wrote, in his enthusiasm for jumping at any antiMormon conclusion, "and paid by the government for his villainy." 7 W h e n Burr vacated his office in May, 1858, the governor, as mentioned above, named William A. Carter as his successor. Carter was then working long hours putting the finishing touches on Livingston, Kinkead, & Co.'s new Fort Bridger store, but 'Cumming to Secretary of State Lewis Cass, dated Green River County, February 6, 1858, MS., State Department Territorial Papers, Utah Series, Vol. 1; Burr, Subpoena for Richard Armstrong, March 16, 1858, MS., C1051/17, Wyoming State Historical Department, Cheyenne; Burr, Subpoena and Search Warrant, March 16, 1858, MSS., Fillin Collection; Correspondence from Fort Bridger, dated April 10, 1858, New York Herald. May 24, 1858, quoted in Hammond, op. cit. 207. In a summons issued on April 1% 1858, Burr stated that his office was located "at Cumming, People of Utahy. A. H. Nolan, MS., P-M 221:1, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.


W E S T E R N JUSTICE

105

he readily accepted the added responsibility. A willingness to serve the public was always characteristic of him, but doubtless he would have been frank to admit that the value of the office to his business operations also counted in his decision. Judge Carter's initial cases dealt mainly with petty theft and with the run-ins between the small parties of Mormons now coming back into the Green River country and the still highly suspicious local troops. On June 8th, for instance, eight or ten Mormons came by Fort Bridger on their way to pick up the dozen wagons they had left at Platte bridge at the time of the previous season's trouble. Suddenly a soldier cried out, "That looks like the who stole Grover's pistol after they burned the trains last fall." Another soldier, in old campaigner fashion, proceeded to state the registry number of that particular pistol from memory. The Mormon, one Mathew Thompson, was surrounded, and sure enough the pistol he carried was stamped with that number. The group then laid the facts before Judge Carter, who after hearing the complaint ordered Thompson held in the guardhouse for trial. At the next day's trial the defendant cited the general pardon extended by President Buchanan, arguing that he was no longer answerable to the charge, and the court, accepting the argument as establishing an element of doubt, quickly released him. The intent of the pardon was not fully known at this time, yet the judge's decision was quite evidently in harmony with the President's policy. For if any one thing was certain, the administration wanted the speediest possible end to the Utah problem rather than any new or continuing grounds for keeping it alive.8 But Thompson's case in Bridger Valley was not yet closed. The persevering Green River County grand jury now preferred a charge of treason against him and forthwith recommitted him to the guard. The papers of the case, including Thompson's certificate of willingness to accept the Presidential pardon, were sent on to Salt Lake City where the acting territorial attorney general, W . J. McCormick, ruled that Eckels, in his capacity as judge of the first district, should order the prisoner released from 8 Executive Proceedings 1850 to 1854 and Elections and Commissions, Book A, 119, MS., Office of the Secretary of State, Salt Lake City; Correspondence from Camp Scott, dated June 8, 1858, New York Herald, July 8, 1858, quoted in Hammond, op. cit, 313, 314; "The Utah War; Journal of Captain Albert Tracy, 1858-1860," Utah Historical Quarterly, XIII (1945), 15.


106

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

custody. W h e n Eckels' order was brought up to Fort Bridger on July 19th, Judge Carter called Thompson before him and delivered a little address, carefully drafted beforehand, which reviewed in a rather fatherly way the facts and issues of the case. The gravity of the charge of treason against the government was dwelt on. "The court would however," the judge continued, "remind you of the great clemency extended towards you by the Chief Executive . . . ." Cautioned against further misdeeds, Thompson was allowed his freedom. Carter's beginning efforts as justice of the peace were favorably received locally, and in the general election on August 2, 1858, the voters retained him in office.9 For a number of years the most important judicial post in Utah Territory was the office of probate judge. It was not the "highest" court, of course, but notwithstanding the obvious intentions of Congress, it was still the most important. A product of the W e s t and of conditions peculiar to the territory, the Utah probate court, though matched in some ways by probate courts in other territories, was the all-important element in a system of law and justice in some ways unique in American judicial practice. The Utah way of doing things again was different. The bottom factor in the situation was the wide and vexatious gulf between the expected conditions for which the Organic Act had been drawn and the conditions that actually developed in the field. The Congressional act of 1850, creating the territory, vested the territorial judical power in a supreme court, district courts, probate courts, and in justices of the peace. The supreme and district courts, endued with chancery as well as common law jurisdiction, were placed in the hands of federal appointees, many of whom turned out to be not only non-Mormon but even vehemently antiMormon in their feelings and conduct. In addition to this not inconsequential point of friction, the federal judges all too frequently were absent from the territory, which circumstance deprived the citizens of the full and regular use of the higher courts. Therefore, if courts of broad jurisdiction were to function amicably and 9 W. J. McCormick to D. R. Eckels, July 12, 1858, with Eckels' endorsement; Eckels to Judge Carter, July 19, 1858; Carter's remarks to Thompson, MSS., Fillin Collection; Executive Proceedings 1850 to 1854 and Elections and Commissions, Book A, 117, MS., Office of the Secretary of State, Salt Lake City.


W E S T E R N JUSTICE

107

with continuity, some other system was evidently necessary. The justices of the peace could not assume the vacated responsibility, for the act of 1850 had specifically limited their jurisdiction to cases involving amounts of one hundred dollars or less. It was to the probate court that the territorial legislature turned as the way out of the problem. Hence the territorial act of February 4, 1852, which provided that, "The several Probate courts in their respective counties, have power to exercise original jurisdiction both civil and criminal, and as well in Chancery as at Common law, when not prohibited by legislative enactment." The probate judges' guide would be no less than the rules governing the practice of the federal district courts. This meant that the Utah probate court was scarcely to be identified with the ordinary probate court, whose principal work was that of probating wills, naming administrators of the estates of the deceased, and appointing guardians to minors. Instead, its jurisdiction would be of a totally different order. 10 Needless to say, the territorial federal judges with few exceptions did everything they could to block the Utah plan. But though they argued loudly and persistently that the enlarged jurisdiction exceeded all constitutional bounds, their repeated absences from the territory saw the probate courts continue to exercise their independent power. On occasions in 1861 and 1863, to cite something of the latitude of this power, the probate court at Salt Lake ventured to pronounce the death sentence, and the sentence was carried out. In the latter year, federal judge Charles B. Waite, of the second district, exasperated almost to the limit of endurance, sent off a proposed bill to Congress which would force the probate court back into its traditional place. So great was the Mormon protest to this move, however, that the bill died without debate or vote. Indeed, not until enactment of the Poland Bill on June 23, 1874, and the ruling of the U. S. Supreme Court in the case of Ferris v. Higley in October that year, was the Utah probate court stripped of its general authority and most of the controversy on the point ended. 11 10 For a summary of law and rulings on the general jurisdiction of the probate court in Utah and in other territories during the period, see Earl S. Pomeroy, The Territories and the United States, 1861-1890; Studies in Colonial Administration (Philadelphia, 1947), 58-60. " G o v e r n o r Cumming's Message to the Legislative Assembly, December 12, 1859, Journals of the Legislative Assembly, Utah Territory, 1859-60


108

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

T h e legislative assembly at Salt Lake City, consisting of the house and council in joint session, elected the probate judges for the territory annually. Carter, who had been appointed probate judge of Green River County by Cumming on July 23, 1858, was selected for the first time by the legislature on January 13, 1859. Re-election followed re-election and Carter's judgeship continued without break until the Fort Bridger section of Green River County was organized, in 1869, as a part of the new Wyoming Territory. 12 For the most part, the work of Judge Carter's probate court at Fort Bridger mirrored the general run of western judicial proceedings at the local level. In Utah the law required that the probate court always be open, but that regular, or law, sessions should commence on the second Monday of March, June, September, and December. A person seeking judicial redress in a civil matter initiated the action by coming into court and submitting a complaint in writing under oath. Similarly, a sworn complaint that an offense had been committed set a criminal action under way. T h e court then summoned or ordered the arrest of the (Salt Lake City, 1860), 4, 5; Cumming to Secretary of State Lewis Cass, dated Salt Lake City, April 5, 1860, MS., State Department Territorial Papers, Utah Series, Vol. 2, 1860-1873, File Microcopies of Records in the National Archives: No. 12, Roll 2, in which the governor declared that, because of Chief Justice Eckels' refusal to respect the probate judges, the territory had been reduced to a state of anarchy; Edward W. Tullidge, History of Salt Lake City (Salt Lake City, 1886), 291-312; Congressional Globe, 37th Cong., 3 sess., February 21, 1863, p. 1121; 18:3 U. S. Stat, at L. (1873-1875), 253-56, which (Poland Act) declared, "Probate courts . . . shall have no civil, chancery, or criminal jurisdiction whatever." In Ferris v. Higley the U. S. Supreme Court held the act of the territorial legislature conferring general jurisdiction on the probate courts to be "inconsistent with the general scope and spirit" of the Organic Act and hence void, 87 U. S., 375-84. A year earlier (October, 1873) the territorial supreme court had divested the probate courts of their jurisdiction in suits of divorce on the grounds that such jurisdiction belonged to the district courts by virtue of their common law and chancery powers; the decision, moreover, carried a much broader implication, for it also stated, "Whether as a fact it be true or not, it is presumed that the legislature is willing to act in harmony with national law and American ideas and principles and to do so it must notice the general character of the courts throughout the nation, and can not, without well grounded authority, attempt to commingle and mix up the jurisdictions of the Territorial tribunals created by the Organic Act, contrary to the well known and recognized powers of such courts in the States of the Union and contrary to the intention manifested in the Organic Act." Cast v. Cast, 1 Utah 120, p. 127. 12 Executive Proceedings 1850 to 1854 and Elections and Commissions, Book A, 119, 124, 132. 140, MS., Office of the Secretary of State, Salt Lake City; Governor J. A. Campbell's Message to the First Legislative Assembly of Wyoming Territory, October 13, 1869, Council Journal of the Legislative


W E S T E R N JUSTICE

109

person or persons named in the charge and set a date for the hearing. At the hearing, the judge determined whether the accused parties should be tried or excused and if the former, entered the cause in the trial docket. In the trial of a civil case the defendant filed his answer to the charge, following which the plaintiff and defendant alternately introduced their evidence and made such remarks as they considered appropriate. The court then rendered judgment "as soon as practicable." In criminal trials the county prosecuting attorney, appointed by the probate judge, presented the case against the accused. After the judge read the charge, the accused made his pleading. If guilt was admitted, the court satisfied itself as to the degree and then rendered a decision. If the accused pleaded not guilty, the case was decided according to statutory requirements, with or without a jury, but in either instance only after the evidence had been reviewed, witnesses heard, and both parties had had an opportunity to argue their case, which they often did without any reliance whatever on counsel. The court instructed the jury on the relevant law and equity, relying for this chiefly on its own reading of the territorial statutes, and presented any other necessary instructions. At the jury's verdict of guilty, the judge pronounced the sentence. Theoretically at least, appeals could be carried to the district court. Such were the probate court's general rules of procedure. 13 Assembly, Wyoming Territory, 1869 (Cheyenne, 1870), 8, 9; General Laws, Wyoming Territory, 1869 (Cheyenne, 1870), 382. Carter was appointed probate judge of Uinta County, Wyoming Territory, on July 10, 1869. Reelected in 1870, he resigned the office in April, 1872; Marie H. Erwin, Wyoming Historical Bluebook; A Legal and Political History of Wyoming, 1868-1943 (Denver, 1946), 445, 460; Governor Campbell to H. Glafcke, Secretary of Wyoming Territory, dated Cheyenne, April 3, 1872, MS., Correspondence of the Secretary of Wyoming Territory, January 1-June 30, 1872, Wyoming State Historical Department, Cheyenne. ls Acts, Several Annual Sessions, Legislative Assembly, Utah Territory (1855), 120-28, 132-36, 141, 182-206, 457-60. T h e right of being heard by self or counsel was guaranteed by territorial law (February 18, 1852); the same law provided that, " N o person or persons, employing counsel in any of the courts of this Territory, shall be compelled by any process of law to pay the counsel so employed, for any services rendered as counsel, before or after, or during the process of trial in the case." See ibid., 138, 139. T h e law itself was held to an extremely narrow base in the early Utah courts: "No laws nor parts of laws shall be read, argued, cited, or adopted in any court, during any trial, except those enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of this Territory, and those passed by the Congress of the United States when applicable; and no report, decision, or doings of any court shall be read, argued, cited, or adopted as precedent in any other trial." Ibid., January 14, 1854, p. 260. Common law was thus very much restricted; hence


110

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Infractions of the law often throw considerable light on the social and economic conditions of a particular place and time. Thus the prominence of the horse in western life was reflected in the work of the pioneer bench. Certainly the most common category of actions in Judge Carter's court was that in which horse stealings or mix-up over the possession of livestock were involved. Misconduct of this kind, commonplace as it was, was not viewed as warranting any very extreme punishment. Many of these cases amounted simply to someone filing a complaint in court, and little more, for the accused parties were no longer in the district. Occasionally the theft of government stock brought court action in Bridger Valley. For instance, on January 7, 1860, George McCarty entered a complaint charging that three men, whom he named, had stolen a steer from the government herd on Smith's Fork. The court subpoenaed the three men to come in and tell their side of the story, and the hearings establishing cause for a trial, a jury was summoned. In such criminal cases involving a jury, the territorial law required the court to select twelve "judicious men," or, if the opposing parties so agreed a number less polygamy, a felony in common law, was no offense in Utah. Governor Young, in his annual message to the legislature on December 12, 1853, summed up the Mormon attitude respecting legal technicalities at that time: "Strip a judge, or justice, of the legal mists and fog which surround him in this day and age; leave him no nook or corner of precedent, or common law ambiguous enactments, the accumulation of ages, wherein to shelter, and it is my opinion, that unrighteous decisions would seldom be given. It is much better to have no written law, than to send people into the labyrinths of such a mass of nonsense as fills the library of the law student, and which we frequently see entailed upon the people by the legal enactments our statute books contain." Journals of the House of Representatives, Council, and Joint Sessions, of the Third Annual Session, of the Legislative Assembly, Utah Territory, 1853-1854 (Salt Lake City, 1854), 113. Though the territorial supreme court declared in the mid 1850's that common law had been extended over the territory by the Organic Act (People, etc., v. Moroni Green, 1 Utah 13), as late as October, 1873, the same court could argue that, " N o specific body of the Common Law was transplanted to the Territory of Utah b y the fact of emigration. Neither has the Common Law been extended over the Territory by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and but one course has been left open, to-wit: for the whole body of the people to agree expressly or tacitly upon a common measure. T h e people of Utah have tacitly agreed upon maxims and principles of the Common Law, suited to their condition, and consistent with the Constitution and Laws of the United States, and these only wait the recognition of the Courts to become the Common Law of the Territory. First National Bank of Utah v. M. Kinner, 1 Utah, 100. For a consideration of the modification of common law by statute in Mississippi Territory in the early part of the century, see William Baskerville Hamilton, Anglo-American Law on the Frontier: Thomas Rodney & His Territorial Cases (Durham, N. C , 1953), 124-27.


W E S T E R N JUSTICE

111

than that. In civil cases where the sum in question exceeded twenty dollars, either party had the option of having a jury of from three to twelve members summoned. A territorial law of 1859 declared, moreover, that no person could serve as a juror "unless he is a free, white male citizen of the United States, is over twenty one years of age, is of reputed sound mind and discretion, is not so disabled in body as to be unable to serve, has not been convicted of any capital or infamous crime, owns taxable property and pays taxes in this Territory, and has been a constant resident therein during the year last preceding his being selected to serve as a juror." These qualifications were doubtless well suited to thickly settled valleys, but they were not very appropriate to such a slenderly populated place as Fort Bridger. Indeed Judge Carter found the impanelling of a jury an extremely difficult matter at times. It was necessary in the McCarty case, in mustering a six-man jury, to call in some of his farm hands at Fort Supply a dozen miles to the south. Despite these problems, the case of People of Utah v. John K. Stone, A.B. Baker, and Martin Collins was begun within two days of the filing of McCarty's complaint. The defendants were tried separately, Stone appearing first. McCarty told what he knew about the theft. The jury promptly found Stone not guilty. The next day Baker was tried, but when McCarty commenced the same ineffective recital of the day before, the court-appointed prosecuting attorney sensed the hopelessness of the situation and declined to press the matter further. No course was now open to the judge but to release the defendants. Once again a frontier jury had disposed of a federal suit with decision and dispatch. 14 On October 6, 1863, George K. Otis, the Fort Bridger agent of Ben Holladay's Overland Stage Line, filed a complaint in court charging Rodney Babbitt and Thomas Watson with the theft of two valuable mules from the mail stable at the fort. A jury convicting them the next day, Judge Carter sentenced both "Complaint of August Boerner, People of Utah v. John Hughes, September 30, 1858, MS., Fillin Collection; Evidences and Affidavits made in the Fort Bridger Court, MSS., W. C. Casto Collection, University of Wyoming Archives, Laramie; Complaint of George McCarty, People of Utah v. John K. Stone, et. al., January 7, 1860, MS., Fillin Collection; Acts, Several Annual Sessions, Legislative Assembly, Utah Territory (1855), 134; Acts . . . (1866), 68; Probate Court Record and Inventory, April 1, 1861, MS., Fort Bridger Museum.


112

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

men to two years' imprisonment in the territorial penitentiary, the minimum punishment under the law. In the language of the court, Jason Sherman was instructed to deliver "the bodies of Rodney Babbitt and Thomas W a t s o n " to the warden at Salt Lake City. On the trip down, Babbitt managed the feat of breaking his foot chains and was shot to death as he tried to escape. The deputy Sherman obeyed his instructions faithfully and delivered the corpse, as well as Watson, to the warden. 15 That the territorial attorney general kept a rather close watch on the proceedings of the probate courts at certain times is indicated by the reprimand the judge at Fort Bridger once received. Without the due process of an indictment by a grand jury or of a jury trial, Carter, on August 11, 1867, sentenced two soldiers to six months in the penitentiary on a conviction of larceny. The deputy attorney general's routine examination of the prison lists, a particularly necessary duty in those days, revealed the procedural discrepancy, and he immediately obtained a pardon for the soldiers. Carter was shortly notified that convictions obtained without observance of all legal forms were entirely void. "You are liable to these men for civil suit for damages for false imprisonment," the Salt Lake official wrote, "and liable to be indicted for malfeasance in office." The deputy then changed the tone of his letter completely to say that he had had to tell the same thing to many other probate judges and that Carter could rest assured that nothing more would be done in the premises. The incident pointed up the recurring necessity for judicial adjustments in the strivings to square social conditions with the law.16 A practice very common throughout the pioneer West was that of running out on one's monetary obligations. Many a man who had allowed his local accounts to fall burdensomely behind elected to slip quietly away for a fresh start elsewhere. From the courts, in consequence, there came a steady stream of garnishments and writs of attachment. The Fort Bridger court issued what probably amounted to a full share of these. For instance, 15 Archibald Geikie, Geological Sketches at Home and Abroad (London, 1882), 222, 223. 16 Z. Snow, deputy attorney general of Utah, to Judge Carter, October 12, 1867, MS., Fillin Collection: Report of A. P. Rockwood, warden of Utah Penitentiary, December 8, 1867, Journals of the Legislative Assembly, Utah Territory, 1868 (Salt Lake City, 1868), 36.


W E S T E R N JUSTICE

113

only a few days after John K. Stone had been released from the charge of stock stealing in January, 1860, E. B. Fraser made an affidavit in court that Stone was planning to leave the country with a view to defrauding his creditors. Probably the most interested party in the matter was the judge himself, for Stone's account was in arrears just then to the amount of $156.37 at his store. The court responded by issuing a writ of attachment against Stone's property near Millersville, and when Deputy Sheriff Richard H. Hamilton reported that Stone could not be found, the said property was summarily attached. In the ensuing case of W. A. Carter v. John K. Stone, a jury of six found for the plaintiff to the full amount claimed. The sheriff then auctioned part of Stone's possessions, a mule for $73.00, two sets of harness for $29.00, a house for $55.00, and the account was closed. When Charles Miller fled Bridger Valley in 1860, owing Miller, Russell, & Co.'s Fort Bridger store $190.00, R. T. Ackley, the company's local agent, promptly made complaint in court, and the judge issued a writ of attachment against any property he might have left behind. One of Miller's horses was found and auctioned off, the proceeds from which were applied to the debt, which the court allowed in full. Still another twist to the actions brought against individuals, believed about to depart the country to the loss of their creditors, was illustrated by a case before the court, now in Wyoming Territory, on November 16, 1871. Edward Alton made complaint that day that John Henry, an employee of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, had run up a bill of $39.75 for board and merchandise and that he was about to leave the district without any intention to settle the account. Alton wanted satisfaction from the money and credits of Henry still held by the railroad. Judge Carter complied by issuing a garnishment requiring the company to act in a custodial capacity in regard to Henry's funds, for the benefit of the plaintiff. In these and other ways the court strengthened confidence in personal contracts and helped to stabilize business relations generally, at a time when such agreements and associations were hazardous at best. Doubtless this particular function, though carried on with little drama or color, was among the most important performed by the western bench. 17 17

Acts, Several Annual Sessions, Legislative Assembly, Utah Territory


114

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The territorial statutes on crime and punishment contained detailed statements on forgery and counterfeiting, for in that day of numerous-issuing agencies spurious coin and currency were widespread. The Fort Bridger court, for one, heard an involved case of counterfeiting in the fall of 1870. It began with A. R. Ellison, a Union Pacific conductor, swearing that he had "good reason to believe that John Abell is a counterfeiter and is engaged in passing counterfeit money," followed by I. A. Fillmore making a similar charge against John B. Hixon. A telegram from the court to Sheriff Harvey Booth at Evansville brought Hixon down to Fort Bridger for trial the next day. Pleading innocent, Hixon frankly admitted that he had given the conductor a twentydollar bill which proved to be counterfeit, but was equally insistent that he had not known at the time that it was bad. He told how he had received the bill from H. W . Brizzee of Asping Station in part payment for a consignment of merchandise. He therefore respectfully requested that Brizzee be subpoenaed to testify. Brizzee was on the stand two days later to state that one of his associates had innocently exchanged fifty dollars of good money for bad at the request of John Abell, and Brizzee, in paying Hixon, had unknowingly given him one of the counterfeit bills. W i t h that testimony, the case came to an abrupt stop, for a principal bane of western justice had already come into play. Abell, the key figure in the whole affair, had precipitately disappeared from the region. "No case being made out against the prisoner," Carter was once again obliged to write, "he was discharged."18 Offenses against the lives and persons of individuals gave the western court its most exciting cases. An action of this kind was before the Fort Bridger court in April, 1860. Archibald Williams, Benjamin Armstrong, and Robert Caldwell had brought a wagon load of potatoes up from Provo, some two hundred miles (1855), 146, 147; W. A. Carter v. John K. Stone, January-February, 1860, Complaint of R. T. Ackley, February 7, 1860, Court Order, March 12, 1860, in Probate Court Record and Inventory, April 1, 1861, MS., Fort Bridger Museum; Statement of Deputy Sheriff R. H. Hamilton, February 11, 1860, MS., Fillin Collection; Complaint, Affidavit of Edward Alton, November 16, 1871, Court Garnishment, November 16, 1871, MSS., C-1051/12, pp. 13, 26, Wyoming State Historical Department, Cheyenne. 1B Acts, Several Annual Sessions, Legislative Assembly, Utah Territory (1855), 192-96; Complaint of A. R. Ellison, November 30, 1870, People of Wyoming v. John B. Hixon, December 1, 3, 1860, MSS., W. C. Casta Collection, University of Wyoming Archives.


W E S T E R N JUSTICE

115

to the south, and made a quick sale of that non-desiccated food to the Fort Bridger garrison. Starting home, the three men had reached the cedars some two and a half miles from the fort, when they were challenged by two or perhaps three bandits. From the cedars, according to Caldwell's statement in court, one of the assailants cried out, " 'Stop you D-nd Son of a bitch,' at the same time firing at us." Williams, who was sitting alongside Caldwell on the front seat of the wagon, jumped to the ground and ran desperately for cover but was seriously wounded in the shoulder and back. Caldwell, with better presence of mind, made a flip backward into the bed of the wagon where Armstrong was riding, and the latter, after what seemed minutes of frantic fumbling, finally got his pistol out and pointed in the direction of the assailants only to find that they had disappeared. Within a matter of minutes the dragoons of the fort were at the spot and the men were brought back to safety. Judge Carter's court compiled a detailed statement on the episode, but that was as far as it could ever go, for no one could identify the assailants. Whether in terms of geographical reach or of workable communications between one judicial district and another, cases like this showed the exceedingly narrow bounds of the effective authority of many frontier courts. 19 The roughness of frontier conditions and of certain classes of people circulating in western society was much in evidence in the case of People of Utah v. Joseph Pendergast, et. ah, which commenced to unfold in Judge Carter's court on May 31, 1860. One Elizabeth Harris charged four soldiers that day with the cold-blooded murder of her husband, George W . Harris. A preliminary examination was held on June 2, at which time the named parties all pleaded not guilty to the charge. Mrs. Harris then retold her story in court. On the night of May 15, she and her husband, together with a Mrs. Jones and Doby Mary, had left Camp Floyd below Salt Lake City as passengers in the wagon of W . T. Carroll. W i t h the exception of Doby Mary, who was headed for the lately much-publicized camps of the Pike's Peak miners, the group planned to cross the plains to Leavenworth City. The trip commenced rather auspiciously, it seemed, for the "Evidences of Caldwell and Armstrong, Testimony of Williams, April 17, 1860, MSS., Fillin Collection.


116

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

party traveled under the protective wing of a large detachment of dragoons and infantry bound for New Mexico. As Carroll was making the last crossing of the Weber River, however, Samuel Bennett and party came along and after a consultation between the two leaders it was decided that it would be best to leave the troops behind and go on to Fort Bridger as rapidly as possible. That night two dragoons, Joseph Pendergast and E. Mcintosh, dropped in on the civilian camp. They talked earnestly with Carroll for a long time. They wanted him to remain with the military column. Carroll declined. The troopers then asked him to leave behind a wagon for their women who were in the civilian party. Carroll protested that he was unable to do this, but in a spirit of accommodation offered to return the two women's fares. Pendergast and Mcintosh did not like the idea and at last departed, warning Carroll that there might be trouble if he attempted to pull out ahead. 20 The next day Carroll did all he could to put as much distance between himself and his hecklers as possible. His evening camp was a good ten miles beyond the stopping point of the troops, but it availed him little. Pendergast and Mcintosh came riding in. After spending the night with their women, the soldiers returned to their companies, but not before emphatically renewing their threats against Carroll. All the following day the wagon drivers kept their whips hard against the animals, and when camp for night was made at Needle Rocks on the Bear River, the distance between soldiers and civilians was great. Midnight passed: then 1:00 A.M.; all was well. But the dogged troopers! There was a murmur of activity out on the road at 2:00 A.M., and then a moment later everyone was awake as the dragoons came in. Told again in no uncertain terms that a wagon must be left behind, the weary Carroll now said that such an arrangement could probably be worked out if the Bennetts and the Harrises would agree to ride in the same wagon. Elizabeth Harris, however, for reasons 20 Complaint of Elizabeth Harris, May 31, 1860, Testimony of Elizabeth Harris, W. T. Carroll, Lt. Ebenezer Gay, et. al., June 2-4, 1860, Judge Carter's Remarks, June 4, 1860, MSS., W. A. Carter Folder # 3 , University of Wyoming Archives; Carter to Commanding Officer, Fort Bridger, June 5, 1860, Capt. A. Cumming to Hdqrs. Dept. of Utah, June 6, 1860, with endorsement, MSS., Letters Received, Fort Bridger, 1860-1868, Army Section, War Records Branch, National Archives, microcopies of which may be found in the University of Wyoming Archives.


W E S T E R N JUSTICE

117

of her own, positively refused any such accommodation with Mrs. Bennett. While the argument was going on in the Harris tent, Harvey Riley, one of four dragoons in the party, entered to ask a question of Harris, who, as far as the soldiers' designs on Mrs. Harris were concerned, was very much in the way. He wanted to know why Harris had said that he was as quick witb a six-shooter as Riley was. The defenseless Harris could only lamely deny ever having made such a remark. "Never say such a thing again," the querulous Riley growled. Thomas Maloney, the fourth dragoon in the tent, Pendergast and Mcintosh also being there now excitedly cried, "Shoot the son of a bitch." As if prompted by his own words, Maloney drew his revolver and shot the reclining Harris in the left eye. The stricken man died almost instantly. The hearing of testimony'—"a tedious investigation," the judge called it—continued for two more days. Carroll presented his version of the sequence of events from beginning to end. To a question as to the character of the two women who had been the cause of the trouble, Carroll begged off by replying, "They may have been prostitutes, but I knew nothing of it. Martha and Mary were kept by Mcintosh and Pendergast while on the road." Lt. Ebenezer Gay, Second Dragoons, took the stand. The judge asked, "Would you believe Mrs. Harris on oath?" The lieutenant replied, "I would not . . . as I have known her character well." The spotlight of testimony now moved still further over Mrs. Harris' past. Another witness stated that once at Camp Floyd he had heard Mrs. Harris threaten to kill her husband, and had heard her call him "an Irish loafing son of a bitch." Michael Mahon recalled that Elizabeth Harris had once begged him to take her away from the camp. On another occasion in her own home, while sitting on Mahon's knee, she remarked to him that she had had to give her husband twenty dollars to get him out of the place as she "expected her husky Pat Higgins that night." After listening patiently to a full description of the conduct of these camp followers, the issues at law being perfectly clear. Judge Carter was impelled to begin his pronouncement with the remark, "Dastardly indeed would be that justice or judge who would shrink from his sworn duties." The four soldiers were committed to the Fort Bridger guardhouse, to answer the charge of murder at the next term of the federal district court for the north-


118

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

em district. Carter actually could do little more than act as an examining court in the matter, for the federal courts in Utah had only recently ruled that the probate courts lacked jurisdiction to decide criminal cases. And added to that, he was again squarely up against other long-standing judicial problems of the territory. The judge explained the situation regarding the prisoners in a letter to the post commander. No federal judges were present in the territory at the time, and consequently no court in the territory possessed definitive criminal jurisdiction. Moreover, the county was wthout a jail. He therefore was requesting that the prisoners be held in the post guardhouse until the newly appointed federal judges reached the territory. The post commander, Capt. Alfred Cumming, a nephew of the governor, understood the situation fully and approved the plan. But when the request for the use of the guardhouse was forwarded to Camp Floyd for departmental consent, the dispatch was returned with an endorsement ordering the prisoners to be released from military custody and returned to Judge Carter forthwith. There was already a torrent of protest in the territory over alleged military intrusion upon civil affairs. The departmental commander would accept no new grounds for complaint. Thus on June 17, the four soldiers were handed back to the judge. Having no place to keep them, he was obliged to allow them "to go at liberty." That night, in the company of two deserting local soldiers and some stolen livestock, they fled from the valley. The Fort Bridger judge was greatly concerned over this breakdown of justice. The recent attack on the criminal jurisdiction of the probate courts, coupled with the outcome of the Harris case, seemed to assure that legal technicalities, now more than ever, would redound to the advantage of the lawless. "I am at a loss to know how to proceed," Carter confided to the governor in his report on the case. "If a great community of men has not a right to make laws for its own preservation, brute force and crime must reign supreme. I shall endeavor to keep up, at least, a show of authority until some salutary measures have been adopted." The statement evinced the sense of responsibility of a western judge whose instinct for decency and fair play had been very much aroused. 21 "Carter to Governor Cumming, June 20, 1860, MS. draft, Bancroft Library. On July 16, 1860, Hdqrs. of the Army, New York, forwarded to


W E S T E R N JUSTICE

119

The Harris case emphasized still another major shortcoming in the administration of law and justice in many western communities. Necessary jails were often non-existent. W h e r e jails were not available the costs of guards could be excessive. Inadequately housed prisoners escaped wholesale. Sentences too often were influenced by the lack of facilities for the confinement of prisoners. A few of the first sentences handed down in Utah, for example, were of necessity calculated in terms of the whipping post. The extreme penalty was arrived at the easier in other western areas because of the same deficiency.22 Occasionally Judge Carter's own employees were involved in escapades that brought them into court. There was such an occurrence in the employees' mess house on the night of September 26, 1866. That evening after supper the quiet talk of the men lounging about the quarters was suddenly interrupted by a commotion at the card table. John Robinson and Ed Costeller had thrown in some seventy-five cents worth of chips when Robinson suddenly raised the bet by boldly pushing forward three dollars in silver. This was more money than Costeller had in his pocket, but sensing that his opponent was playing "a blind," he sent George Ford to get fifty dollars from Scott, declaring that he was going to raise Robinson out of it altogether. But Scott could not be found and Ford returned without the money. Robinson then reclaimed his three dollars. Costeller reached for the chips. At this Robinson jumped onto the table and shouted at Costeller to leave the stakes alone. The latter acting as if to give in, Robinson returned to his seat. But when Costeller made another move for the chips, the infuriated Robinson leaped again to the tabletop and kicked viciously at his opponent's face. Falling backward to escape the blow, Costeller scrambled for cover behind the nearby stove. At the same time, Robinson, a spirit level grabbed the commanding officer of the Department of New Mexico a clipping from the July 11 issue of the Cleveland, Ohio, Plain Dealer, wherein was printed a letter from Salt Lake City, dated June 8 and signed "Justice," reporting the murder of Harris; an investigation of the matter was requested. Headquarters, New Mexico, replied on August 25, 1860, that it had not been able to ascertain that any such grievances as those described had been brought to the notice of the civil or military authorities; it believed no further action necessary. Headquarters, Department of New Mexico, Misc. Letters Rec'd., 1860-63, Box 95, Letters Sent, Vol. 10, p. 458, MSS., Army Section, War Records Branch, National Archives. 22 John Nebeker, "Early Justice," 4-6, MS. (1884), Bancroft Library.


120

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

up in his hand, jumped from the table onto the stove and followed through with a wicked swing at Costeller's head. Costeller caught the blow with upraised wrist and then closed in to grab the less powerful man by the arms and hold him helpless. Several bystanders interceded to separate the scuffling pair. 23 The aroused Costeller now went outside and walked around to the window of the back office of the sutler's store, asking for one of his friends, but not finding him, returned to the mess house to learn that Robinson had just buckled on his revolver. Costeller gave him a stern warning against drawing the weapon and then falling to his knees in a melodramatic gesture of oath-taking, spoke out in a loud voice that it was not his intention to hurt Robinson, but so help him, the dispute over the stakes would have to be settled before morning. The challenge thus thrown down, Costeller demanded that Robinson pay him the seventy-five cents for the chips and the latter, somewhat shaken by the ultimatum, reluctantly complied. One more condition and all would be forgiven; Robinson must confess to having been wrong in the whole matter. Robinson said he would be damned if he would. The tension instantly returning, Costeller seized his adversary by the arms and pushing him up against the wall shook him hard. Then, wondering for a moment whether to hit him or let him go, he released his hold. Quickly Robinson's right arm came up and plunged a blade into Costeller's abdomen. Costeller went reeling for the door, falling against the cartwheel outside, all the while screaming that he had been "cut in the guts." The tormented Robinson, following a step behind, began to slash at the fallen man's left shoulder blade but was speedily pulled away by the gathering crowd. Fortunately Costeller's injuries proved to be only superficial and were soon patched up by Surgeon W. E. Waters at the post hospital. W h e n the judge's court opened on October 22, Costeller was present to swear a complaint that Robinson "feloniously and of malice aforethought, did make an assault, with a knife" upon his person. And so began the case of People of Utah v. John Robinson. 2S Complaint of Edwin E. Costeller, Testimony and Evidence of John G. Fiero, Alfred Graham, W. E. Waters, Edwin E. Costeller, John Robinsoa Martin Forbes, October 22, 1866, MSS., P-M 221:8, Brancroft Library. Where the case was tried, or what the outcome was, the writer has not been able to determine.


W E S T E R N JUSTICE

121

Among the less exciting though nevertheless important functions of the probate court at Fort Bridger was the work of registering or recording such papers as anyone wanted to make a matter of permanent record. In Green River County the entire responsibility for this work devolved upon the probate court, for no county clerk's office was as yet operative in those days. Claims of all kinds, pre-emption declarations, mortgages, indentures, deeds, articles of incorporation or partnership, bills of sale, and other business records were from time to time presented for copying into the court records. This not inconsequential labor fell upon the clerk of the court, an appointee of the judge who was holding down a job at the store or working at some other of Carter's enterprises at the same time. When, for example, Clerk Samuel Dean recorded the chattel mortgage of the Central Overland California and the Pikes Peak Express Company to Benjamin Holladay and Partners, dated at Atchison, Kentucky Territory, November 22, 1861, it required the better part of nine pages of writing in the Fort Bridger record book. An indenture of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, filed in the court in January, 1869, full of twists and turns of geographic detail, ran from page 99 to page 117 of the same. But it was when a land claim was filed jointly that the clerk knew that he was in for more than a little extra work. On August 3, 1864, for instance, Clerk John Sharp recorded the claim of eight local men to 160 acres of land some five miles south of Quaking Ash Station. That eight Westerners would remain very long together in such a speculation was not to be expected, and at each change of a claimant's status the clerk was obliged to copy the corrected document anew. On one occasion a partner sold one quarter of his oneeighth interest; and the ink in the record book scarcely dry, he bought it back again. 24 "In the name of God, Amen," read the beginning passage of the last will and testament of John Sharp, as it was entered in the records of the Fort Bridger court on April 6, 1866. Though 2i Acts, Several Annual Sessions, Legislative Assembly, Utah Territory (1855), 125, 133, 134, 170; Records of the Probate Court, Green River County, U. T , 1861-1871, Book A, 59-67, 73, 77, 78, 99-117, MS., Office of the Uinta County Clerk, Evanston, Wyoming. The following men served successively as clerk of the Fort Bridger court during the 1860's: W. C. Sample, James Johnson, Samuel Dean, John Sharp, L. B. Scott, J. Van Allen Carter. The fees of the clerk were prescribed by law.


122

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the court kept a file of such documents "duly sealed up and endorsed," the record shows that very few persons in the area bothered to take advantage of it. An unrecorded will was brought into court at the death of the testator and given a public reading, Where no executors to administer the estates of deceased persons had been named by will, the court proceeded to designate them, Here the law required the appointment of the wife of the deceased, or the next of kin, or the deceased's creditors, but if none of these was available, as was so often the case on the frontier, the court selected some person of known integrity to be the executor. One of the biggest and most complicated estate cases ever handled by Judge Carter was that involving the accounts of Michael Martin, a Green River country trader who was killed in December, 1860, by an Indian he had been mistreating. The judge's first act in the matter was to safeguard the large amount of property left by the deceased in order that all just claims might be properly settled and the balance, if any, sent the heirs. In this particular case it was almost certain that Martin had received his trade goods from the St. Louis wholesalers. Carter therefore wrote to Robert Campbell & Co., the St. Louis concern with whom he himself had strong business and personal ties, to report Martin's death and to offer to collect on any of his notes it or its associates might have. Meanwhile Charles E. Fortier was appointed special administrator of the estate, with instructions to make "a true and perfect inventory" of the goods, chattels, rights, and credits of the deceased, and this done, to have the same appraised, reporting back the findings to the court. The appraisers, R. H. Hamilton, William Ashton, and Lafayette Granger, after examining the five pages of listings thus submitted, placed a value of $8,357.87 on the estate, which consisted mostly of general merchandise and some $2,500.00 worth of accounts due Martin. From St. Louis shortly came letters with two claims, the only ones ever presented. The Marine Insurance Company sent Martin's note of $1,547.91 in favor of Thomas and Passin of St. Louis, asking the judge to collect if he could. Robert Campbell & Co. sent papers for a $130.00 claim. Carter notified them that the estate was more than adequate to meet their demands. But as the winter lull was on, with too few persons at hand to support much of an auction, he postponed the sale until spring, when returns


W E S T E R N JUSTICE

123

somewhat nearer the value received could be realized. The goods were finally auctioned off at Millersville, twelve miles east of the fort, on May 17, 1861. John Robertson was the new administrator of the estate and, with Clerk Dean keeping a record for the court, cash sales of $3,587.13 were made that day. Now the problem of securing exchange for the redemption of the Thomas and Passin note, a transaction made difficult by the unsettled conditions of the times, had to be met. Near the end of the year the judge inquired of the Marine Insurance Company if it would accept drafts on the Central Overland California. The St. Louis house wrote back saying that it was unable to obtain any satisfactory information on the strength of the stage company's finances and so preferred some other species of exchange. The account therefore remained unsettled until March 25, 1862, when H. and R. B. Whittemore of St. Louis, another supplier of Judge Carter's store, paid off the note on the judge's instructions. Campbell & Co. had received their $130.00 through ordinary business channels long before.25 The court's final act respecting Martin's estate was recorded on August 15, 1864. Administrator Robertson then presented a statement showing that the balance on hand, including the accounts due the estate, totaled $4,425.03, of which $1,394.82 were cash. The judge had to improvise a bit in awarding the money, for the territorial law did not extend beyond the deceased's wife, children, father, and mother. Martin had outlived his parents and left neither wife nor child. Surviving him were one full sister a;~d several half-brothers and sisters, however. The judge ruled that since the mother had remarried after Martin's father's death, the children of the second marriage were not entitled to any part of the estate. Robertson was ordered to pay over the whole sum to Annie Rascoe of St. Louis, "the full and only full sister." Thus, "Records of the Probate Court, Green River County, U T , 1861-1871, pp. 84, 85; Acts, Several Annual Sessions, Legislative Assembly, Utah Territory (1855), 150-52; Charles E. Fortier's Statement, January 1, 1861, MS., C-1051/4, Wyoming State Historical Department, Cheyenne; Appraisers' Report, January 12, 1861, Report of Sale, May 17, 1861, Records of the Probate Court, Green River County, U. T , 1861-1871, pp. 5-9, 17-25; Marine Insurance Company, St. Louis, to Carter, January 15, December 3, 1861, Martin's Note, favor of Thomas & Passin, March 28, 1860, with endorsements, MSS., Fort Bridger Museum; Robert Campbell & Co., St. Louis, to Carter, December 11, 1862, MS., W. A. Carter Folder # 6 , University of Wyoming Archives.


124

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

after almost four years of intermittent court action, Martin's estate was at last disposed of.28 Another bit of miscellaneous court work is indicated in the statement sworn before Judge Carter on November 12, 1860. It began, "I, John Schlecht, declare on oath that I intend to become a citizen of the United States." The court was acting here in lieu of the inoperative federal district court, in whose charge naturalization proceedings normally belonged in the territory. The conditions of society being what they were, the judge only rarely officiated at a marriage ceremony. One of those memorable moments came on August 6, 1866, when, in the presence of L. B. Scott, R. H. Hamilton, and the local Indian agent, Luther Mann, Oscar Jewett of the post and Fanny Tomlinson, formerly of Perth Amboy, New Jersery, were married by the judge. Miss Fanny was the teacher Judge Carter had brought out in 1864 to instruct his children on the family's new piano. On this, her wedding day, her account in the Carter home was paid in full and the books on it formally closed.27 The Fort Bridger court, under the authority vested in it by the territorial statutes, granted at least one divorce. In this instance, Nicholas and A. W . Walke, after little more than a year of marriage, came before Carter on November 14, 1866, to affirm the unhappy state of their relationship. Of the seven different grounds for divorce recognized by territorial law, the petitioners were suing on the condition, "when it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction and conviction of the court, that the parties cannot live in peace and union together, and that their welfare requires a separation." The judge was quite evidently familiar with the facts of the case for he did not delay in declaring that the divorce petition was a just one and so "doth this day dissolve ze Robertson's Statement, August 15, 1864, Court Order to Robertson, August 15, 1864, Records of the Probate Court, Green River County, U. T , 1861-1871, pp. 26-28; Acts. Several Annual Sessions, Legislative Assembly, Utah Territory (1855), 153. 27 A True Copy of Schlecht's declaration, November 22, 1860, MS., Fillin Collection; Acts, Several Annual Sessions, Legislative Assembly, Utah Teritory (1855), 39, 42; Court Record of Tomlinson-Jewett marriage, August 6, 1866, MS., W. A. Carter Folder # 6 , University of Wyoming Archives; W. A. Carter, Accounts Journal B (2), 1864-1873, p. 183, MS., Fort Bridger Museum. For many years there were no territorial laws on marriage.


W E S T E R N JUSTICE

125

the matrimonial bonds." Mrs. W a l k e was granted permission to resume her former name of Whittall. 28 In this way the administration of justice in Bridger Valley went forward, and in this way a significant phase of the building of the West. And of the local judge near the center of it all, the annals of the region might well remember that William A. Carter, like many another of his kind, kept faith with high principle to place the priceless stamp of integrity on the law and justice of his locale. It scarcely needs saying that physical security for the individual, for one's family, and for the community in the pioneer W e s t did not spring up all in a moment or come about simply as a matter of course. Rather, it had to be built consciously and deliberately, through years of unfailing devotion to the public interest, by men like the judge at Fort Bridger. The Utah territorial statutes respecting the judiciary included the statement, "The Judges of the District and Probate Courts shall be conservators of the peace in their respective districts and counties throughout the Territory, and it is their duty to use all diligence and influence in their power to prevent litigation." 29 The Fort Bridger court was faithful to that requirement.

28 Records of the Probate Court, Green River County, U. T., 1861-1871, pp. 90, 91; Acts, Several Annual Sessions, Legislative Assembly, Utah Territory (1855), 163.

<">Ibid., 1 2 8 .


MEDICINE OF THE PIONEER PERIOD IN UTAH BY JOSEPH R.

T

MORRELL*

pioneers in Utah provided an interesting chapter in the history of American medicine. There were problems to be met, in relationships with which other frontier groups were not concerned. The Mormon religion taught dependence on faith in a Divine Power in the care of their sick, and the people, therefore, made little use of physicians. Many of the members held a resentment against all doctors, while some felt that to employ them, even in an emergency, indicated a lack of faith. HE MORMON

There were a few medical graduates among the pioneers. A larger number who were treating the sick belonged to a cult known as the Thomsonian doctors. These latter had a higher rating in the communities than the physicians, some holding high rank in the priesthood of the church. They practiced a system of treating disease with mild herbs, and naively referred to their medical competitors as "Poison Doctors." The combined influences reacted strongly against the doctors, and practice for them was never agreeable and smooth. The Thomsonian cultists early organized a Council of Health, into which were admitted many of the church leaders. Regular meetings were held in which officials of the church participated actively. This gave the council a place of prestige, and the members used it to advantage to dominate the medical men. The result was a general suspicion of both the integrity and ability of the physicians. Their services were limited largely to the treatment of emergencies and the care of some who were considered of weak faith. The handicaps thus imposed restricted medical practice to a minor place in community life. And such it remained, in fact, for many years, until progress in the knowledge of disease, and its prevention and cure, had reached a point where it could no longer be kept in the background. *Dr. Morrell is a retired physician and surgeon of Ogden, Utah.


128

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Many of the early converts to the church were poor, and often victims of chronic disease. They were brought into a wilderness unfamiliar to them, far removed from the nearest civilization. They had little knowledge which would protect them from the ravages of the many diseases prevalent at that time. How they met and solved their health problems, and built up strong communities, is, therefore, an interesting phase of pioneer history, At the time of the migration to Utah the world was menaced with epidemic diseases. Cholera, typhus and yellow fever, diphtheria, and influenza made periodic invasions, with disastrous effects. Malaria, typhoid fever, and tuberculosis were prevalent at all times. The diarrhoeal diseases of infancy were always a source of anxiety. Of all the killer diseases only smallpox in any way was under control, through the recently discovered immunization by vaccination. The fear of vaccination, however, kept the people from reaping its benefits, and smallpox took a heavy toll of life for many decades. Many of the emigrants from England and Wales, and from New England, were victims of tuberculosis. Many brought malaria from Nauvoo and the Mississippi Valley. The over-all death rates were high, variously estimated at twenty to thirty per thousand of the population per year, and about half the deaths were infants and children under ten years. The health problems alone would seem to us, at this time, to have been serious enough to discourage the strongest of them. They were used to discouragements, however, and they felt that in time the climate, which they praised in letters to their friends back home, would rid them of their health worries. Their leaders gave them advice in health matters, as they did on all other phases of pioneer life. Brigham Young and many of the elders were constantly discussing health from "the stand." They advised as to diets, hygiene, and health generally, and urged the people to "boil the water you drink." They had implicit confidence in their leaders, and the advice given usually was carried out. There were only a few physicians among the early pioneers, and these were converts, some of whom had practiced in the East or in Europe. Medicine was of little practical value. Little was known of the causes of disease, and even less of its prevention or cure. The old theories of Hippocrates, of the fourth century B. G , still dominated medicine. The "humoral theory" of the ancients


MEDICINE OF THE PIONEER PERIOD

129

was still accepted. The humors were the body fluids, the blood, phlegm, yellow and black bile. W h e n the humors were in balance, the body was in a state of health. W h e n the balance was disturbed, disease appeared. Treatment was directed toward a restoration of the normal balance, and this was done by bleeding the patient, purging, inducing vomiting, and flushing the bowel with enemas. The cultists used mild herbs, emetics, and warmed the blood with cayenne pepper. The fear of bleeding, the standard method of treating most diseases, was intense. The fear of purging the sick patient was only slightly less. N o method of treatment used inspired confidence, and many felt that they were safer without the doctor. They were constantly warned from the pulpit to "let the doctors alone." That the fear of the doctors was not confined to the Utah pioneers is illustrated by an incident of that period which occurred in New York City, soon after the establishment of its health department. The city was threatened with an invasion of cholera. The mayor was urged to call the Board of Health for consultation. He replied: "I will not call the Board of Health for discussion, as I think it more dangerous than the cholera." 1 The attitude of the pioneers toward the doctors is shown in a letter written in 1848, by Orson Spencer to Orson Pratt, who was in England. Spencer was on a Mississippi River boat with a company of immigrants from Scandinavia. Many of these passengers were afflicted with cholera, and some had died. He wrote thus: " W e are now within a few miles of St. Louis, without any apprehension of another death unless a Gentile doctor aboard kills them with his favorite dose of calomel, laudanum, camphor, and brandy. This dose was given to our dead brother and sister, contrary to my wishes, and to many others who died immediately. Several I have rescued from the dose who were mortally seized, and they now live."2 That the doctors themselves were well aware of their limitations is apparent from an article in the Salt Lake Sanitarian, a little health magazine published in 1887-89, by the Doctors Shipp: Address by Raymond B. Fosdick, given at the Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, in American Journal of Public Health, XXXVIII (January, 1948). 2 Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, XI (June 15, 1849). 184.


130

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Is medical practice a failure? As a business it succeeds in about the same proportion as other groups. Professionally, personality plays a greater part than ability in most cases. Is medicine a therapeutic failure? Banish hygiene from the modern management of disease, and how far have we advanced since Hippocrates? Can we cure measles? Can we cure whooping cough? Can we cure scarlet fever or any of the specific or continued fevers any better than he did? W e are as limited as Boerhaave was, to "keep the head cool, the feet warm, and the bowels open." Can we do more than Boerhaave enjoined? Can we do as much. Records of that period would cast much doubt on any great success or improvement over Boerhaave or Hippocrates. About 1878 the reaction against phlebotomy set in, and the candidates in medicine didn't dare to use it. The success achieved by the charlatan today is about the same as the graduate M. D. so far as the statistics show, and little better than nature, unaided, is capable of doing. 3 It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the people held themselves aloof from the doctors. They shared with the rest of the world the feeling that the doctors often did more harm than good. In the light of our present knowledge of disease, the common procedures of bleeding and purging, which drained the body of its protective fluids, was definitely harmful. W e now transfuse new blood, and often infuse great quantities of nutritive fluids into the patient's body to give him added resistance and strength. The patient, already depleted of his fluids by cholera or dysentary, might easily have had a fatal outcome to his illness immediately following the doctor's treatment. A good doctor of that period was not satisfied merely to bleed his patient; he bled 3 S. S. Turner, "Is Medical Practice a Failure?" Salt Lake Sanitarian, April, 1889.


MEDICINE OF T H E PIONEER PERIOD

131

him until he fainted from loss of blood. He must be sure he had done an effective job. The people felt much more secure in depending on the administrations of the elders, and their own resources, in the care of their sick. They felt, too, that their new environment would ultimately rid them of most of their afflictions. They wrote enthusiastically of the climate, which they considered the most healthful they ever found. In spite of their high death rates, which they considered unavoidable, they were satisfied. The people were encouraged in this attitude by their leaders. They were admonished to exercise their faith, and in addition to use all other means of help available to them in the care of their sick. President Young expressed his attitude clearly as follows: "It appears consistent to me to apply every remedy that comes within the range of my knowledge, and to ask my Father in Heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ, to sanctify that application to the healing of my body; to another this may appear inconsistent . . . . But it is my duty to do when I have it in my power. Many people are unwilling to do one thing for themselves, in case of sickness, but ask God to do it all." 4 The church leader, however, left no doubt that he had little confidence either in the ability or the integrity of most doctors at that time. He made his ideas clear in a correspondence with Doctor David Adams, of Fairfield, Illinois, 1851. The doctor had asked him, in a letter, some questions regarding medical practice in Utah. He expressed a sympathetic attitude toward the doctrines of the church, and said he would bring "one hundred persons, good and true" with him, providing he could make a living here in the practice of medicine. Among other things, he asked specifically, " W h a t are the prevailing diseases in Utah? Do you think a physician, well qualified in his profession, (a regular graduate, and some twenty years experience), can support a family there?" President Young, in answer, narrated the experiences of the recent years in Missouri and Illinois, "drinking the cup of poverty, yea, even to drain it to the very dregs," living in wagons and holes in the ground, and even, in this condition, leaving their families to serve their nation in war, and going into foreign countjournal of Discourses (26 vols., Liverpool, 1854-86), IV, 24, 25.


132

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

tries to carry their Gospel message. This they did cheerfully, deeming it an opportunity. "Shall we then offer inducements of earthly prosperity to any man to come and unite his destiny with ours?" He then advised him, if he cared to come, taking his chances, and obeying the laws of the Gospel in sincerity, he would be welcomed. "The Church, however, does not beg anyone to come and join with them. Those who come, however, and are deserving, will be blessed." President Young answered his specific questions as follows: People die in all countries, in this as well as all others, although there is a difference in all countries in relation to sickness, and in the manner of their deaths. I do consider this a healthy country, as healthy as any in which I have ever lived or traveled; and yet when once a disease gets hold of a person, it is rather apt to terminate one way or the other sooner than in those low countries where a man may always be dying and yet be alive, yet never alive but always dying, until some friendly physician shall interpose and quietly put him away according to the most approved and scientific mode practiced by the most learned M. D.'s. The most prevalent diseases here are fevers, which are not very common, and childbirths. These diseases are easily managed by intelligent physicians. As to supporting a family by medical practice, we have physicians who find considerable employment, yet it is no uncommon thing to see them at work in the canyons getting out wood, plowing, sowing, or harvesting their crops, which, I think, betokens a healthy state. As an individual, I am free to confess that I would much prefer to die a natural death to being helped out of the world by the most intelligent graduate, new or old school, that ever scientificially flourished the wand of Aesculapius or any of his followers.


MEDICINE OF THE PIONEER PERIOD

133

I have given you a sketch upon a few items contained in your letter, which, though hasty, may give you an idea or two of our notion of things, and whether it shall prove satisfactory or not, it makes no difference to me, inasmuch as the truth will appear and triumph in the end . . . . W e have health and freedom, and as long as we have these blessings from God, we shall flourish in our enterprise. I do not wish to discourage you or your company of "one hundred good and true," of whom you speak, but largely to disabuse your minds of what may be a disappointment to you. 5 There are several reasons to account for what may seem to be an unnecessarily harsh answer to Doctor Adams' letter. In the first place it was an unusual request that one hundred converts be permitted to come in in such a manner. Converts usually came one at a time, or only in small groups, and after much labor at conversion. These could have had other motives, and little or no knowledge of the Mormon religion. They could prove an embarrassing problem later as a dissonant body. Then again, the recent experiences in Illinois and Missouri would serve as a warning that caution was necessary. The insinuation that a doctor would end the suffering or the life of a patient by "putting him quietly away," seems to have been a prevalent opinion of that time, as it is found occasionally in the writings of the pioneers. It also comes to light occasionally in our own time, and we are shocked by a confession that such a procedure has been carried out. The practice could have been only an isolated one, and then done in violation of recognized medical ethics. There probably was no more justification for the charge made in the letter, than for a blanket charge made against doctors of today. It indicates the fear and suspicion with which doctors were regarded. This was Brigham Young's common manner of expressing himself, probably a necessary procedure in many of the problems with which he had to deal. But such bluntness of speech, perhaps not intended to offend, yet did produce reactions, and they were frequently encountered. ^Deseret News, December 13, 1851.


134

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

These opinions, so freely expressed in pioneer literature, leave no doubt as to the feeling regarding doctors and medical practice generally. The doctors made little defense of themselves, perhaps realizing their limitations too keenly. It must not be assumed, however, that they were entirely incapable of any useful service. There were some among them who were graduates of the best medical schools, and who were men of sound judgment. They were honest in their convictions and devoted to their patients. They could give sound advice in many conditions, even though limited in their ability to cure infectious diseases. They probably felt that they were often unfairly judged. It must have been humiliating to them to read such comments in the Deseret News as the following: "Two physicians have moved to one of our most distant settlements, and gone to farming; three have gone to California to dig gold; three have taken to traveling and exploring the country; one has gone to distilling, and we are beginning to get some alcohol, which is desirable for gentlemen's shoe blacking, hatter's waterproofing, chemical analysis, washing the bodies of the well to prevent sickness, and the sick that they may become well, when such there be. Those physicians who remain have very little practice, and will soon have less, we hope."6 Opinions regarding medical practice could be improved only by the doctors rendering a better service. The means for doing this were slow in coming. Progress was being made in Europe through medical research, but the new knowledge of disease had not yet found its way into medical practice, especially into such remote regions. Virchow, the great German pathologist, had demonstrated the cellular structure of the tissues and organs of the body, and new and more accurate conceptions of physiology had been learned. Pasteur was proving the soundness of his research with microorganisms in their relation to infectious diseases. A new medicine was in the making. As the new facts of medical research were published, they met strong opposition from physicians generally. The established ideas regarding disease were not easily dispelled. Aristotle and Hippocrates were strongly intrenched in the medical minds. It was many years before doctors generally accepted the basic facts of Pasteur's work as sound. It was many additional years before mid., September 18, 1852.


MEDICINE OF T H E PIONEER PERIOD

135

they could be applied effectively in curing disease. But the new truths as they reached the people inspired hope of better things to come. When the bacterial cause of infections was definitely proved, the world was electrified by the feeling that now a way would readily be found for the prevention of the epidemics which were still creating havoc over the world. Indirect methods of prevention were begun at once through the establishment of health departments, and the application of hygienic and sanitary methods of control. Protected water supplies were installed, and sewage systems built. A definite lowering of death rates from the infections established new confidence in medicine. But an effective, direct attack on the bacteria was not available, and was not to be realized for almost a century, and only after tremendous effort. The first comment found in Utah writings regarding the new medical research was an editorial in the Deseret News written by George Q. Cannon in 1870. This was an enlightening discussion of the invasion of the body by the bacteria which had recently been described. The need for learning all the available facts, by all the people, was emphasized. The editorial concluded as follows: "The subject is one which cannot fail to command the attention of scientific men, and may be found to have close connection with the diseases which prevail here sometimes late in the summer when the atmosphere is more likely to be charged with organic matter which would make itself manifest more quickly in the tender constitutions of children than in those of adults." 7 One would think that with so clear a conception of the cause of infectious disease as early as 1870, that the world was on the brink of emancipation from the epidemics. However, in 1920, fifty years later, our communities were still fighting the application of standard control measures based on this fundamental knowledge so clearly presented in the editorial. Little further comment was noted in the local literature regarding the infections for several years. The Woman's Exponent, official organ of the Relief Society, made appeals for relief in limiting the ravages of diphtheria and the intestinal infections of infants in 1875. This magazine also appealed to the doctors to 'Ibid., February 23, 1870.


136

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

help to allay the existing prejudice against vaccination, as a means of lessening the danger from smallpox. A pathetic appeal came in an editorial in the Exponent in 1876, for help in relieving the infant diarrhoeas. The prevailing methods of infant feeding were attacked in an article entitled, "Death in the Nursing Bottle." Artificial feeding of infants was carried on at that time with a small bottle to which a rubber tube was attached with a nipple at the end. The bottle was put into the bed with the baby, where it would be kept warm, and the nipple put into the child's mouth. "Cleaning the bottle many times a day with a brush will not be done by many people. Wire brushes "were used. These are not successful. A vacuum is created in the bottle, and the child becomes exhausted sucking the milk out."8 T h e editor then advised the use of a widemouthed bottle, with a nipple which could be turned inside out and cleaned. Nipple and bottle were to be boiled before each feeding. This was the first blow struck at the cause of this fatal malady in Utah. The same magazine carried an earlier article on the danger involved in the practice of kissing. "The practice is a pestilential one, murderous is the proper word, did the kissers know what they do. Diseases that can be readily transmitted by kissing are colds, sore throat, diphtheria, and many others, and often with fatal results. No surer means of spreading contagion could be adopted than the mingling of breaths and mouth secretions by kissing." 9 The Deseret Weekly News, commenting on the transmission of contagious diseases, suggested that doctor's beards be restricted to "modest and sanitary limits." 10 It had been charged that the beards carried diphtheria germs. This could be true, no doubt, as contacts with the diphtheria patient were frequently intimate, the beards were luxuriant, and adequate renovation would be no simple matter. The appeals for relief from these marauding diseases, and the obvious improvement in knowledge, in time brought a change of sentiment to the leaders. Brigham Young saw a need for training young men in medicine, and approved their going to eastern 8

Woman's Exponent, September, 1876. "J. L. Barfoot, "Kissing the Babies," ibid.. February, 1875. "Deseret Weekly News, January 18, 1896.


MEDICINE OF THE PIONEER PERIOD

137

colleges for study. 11 Eliza R. Snow, who at the time was in charge of all women's activities in the church, visualized a means for allaying prejudice by educating young women in medicine. She made an appeal to President Young and the General Authorities for support of such a plan. This support was forthcoming and the president made a public appeal, in an address in the tabernacle, for young women to volunteer for such training. 12 Eliza R. Snow also asked the legislature of the territory for funds with which to establish a medical college for women, where women could be trained at home in medicine. This plan failed, but women were sent to eastern schools, the expense being met largely by the Relief Society of the church. In time about twenty women were given such training and took up practice in the territory. These women physicians played no small part in the removing of prejudice against medicine in Utah. There could be no complaint against their treating women patients such as had been made against the male doctors. The charge had been made that a woman who employed a male doctor to wait upon her in illness was possessed of an adulterous spirit, "and the doctor who delights in nursing women, instead of advising them how to wait on themselves and each other, is possessed of the same spirit."13 Better obstetric care was soon apparent through the training the women doctors provided for the midwives of the territory. Neonatal deaths and puerperal infections began to decline. The service these medical women rendered was an important factor in the progress of medicine in Utah. 14 The women doctors often brought their male associates into consulation. As better trained men were coming into practice, confidence was established and fear was lessened. No phenomenal results were yet achieved in the cure of many diseases, but a more sound and rational attitude was taken, and some of the obnoxious practices in treatment were eliminated. Other articles appeared occasionally in the magazines of the territory indicating the progress in medical knowledge. Doctor "Millennial Star, XXIX (May 25, 1867), 331. 12 Woman's Exponent, IV (October 15, 1875). ^Millennial Star, XIV (September 18, 1854), 473. 14 The part they played has been told by Claire Wilcox Noall, "Utah's Pioneer Women Doctors," Improvement Era, XLII (January, 1939), 16.


138

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Milton H. Hardy wrote of the need for establishing a territorial health department. Health departments had been established in many large cities of the East, and there were health departments in some of the states. Doctor Hardy gave a clear picture of the need for such service in Utah. "The excuse is commonly made that the expense attached to the workings of a health department in a small place is too great to justify the attempt at having such an organization . . . . They fail to realize the enormous price they pay for failure and neglect." He also advocated the enactment of sensible laws covering community health.15 That article probably stimulated the thinking which resulted in the appointment of a health commissioner on the acquiring of statehood in 1896, and the establishment of a health department in 1898. The objectives of Doctor Hardy's article, however, were not realized until more than fifty years after it was written. In 1887, Professor J. T. Kingsbury wrote an article on the waters of the streams supplying Salt Lake City. He made chemical analyses of all waters used for culinary purposes, and concluded that "the water of Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, on account of having the lowest quantity of sulphuric acid, lime, and magnesia, it was the softest and best suited for most purposes." He said the solids are retained in solution largely by the carbonic acid gas, which escapes, "thus liberating the substances as the stream proceeds down the canyon and across the Bench, so that by the time it reaches the residents of the 21st Ward, it is improved both in its economical and healthful conditions." 16 This report was written seventeen years after the editorial by George Q. Cannon warning against germs was published, and yet no mention was made of the danger from bacteria for the residents of the 21st Ward, who dipped up the water and drank it. A second article, by Professor James E. Talmage, told of an experimental study of the waters from the streams and wells around Provo. He found all the water used in the homes of that vicinity to be badly contaminated with organic matter, which he identified as "free and albuminoid ammonia." He warned of the 15 Milton H. Hardy, M. D., "Sanitation," Parry's Monthly Magazine, IV (May, 1888), 314. "Joseph T. Kingsbury, "The Waters of Salt Lake Valley,' The Contributor, IX (November, 1887), 19.


MEDICINE OF T H E PIONEER PERIOD

139

danger as follows: "I would be inclined to view with suspicion a water yielding a considerable quantity of free ammonia, along with 0.65 parts of albuminoid ammonia per gallon." 17 Doctor Talmage found much diarrhoeal disease in families using the water which showed the greatest contamination with albuminoid ammonia, and advised against its use. He did not mention germs or bacteria specifically, but doubtless the article received careful consideration, as an editorial in the same issue of the magazine called attention to its importance. The Salt Lake Sanitarian, of the same year, contained several articles specifically warning of the danger from typhoid fever in using water from wells, and from streams running through the towns. Communities were advised to install protected systems of water of known purity. These were installed, however, only after the greatest effort to convince the people of the need, which required many years of patient explanation. Better water supplies were made available, but few gave complete satisfaction. The State Board of Health passed an ordinance early in 1900, requiring vaccination of all school children before entering school in the autumn. This aroused an immediate, state-wide opposition, and a demand that the ordinance be rescinded. The editor of the Deseret News took up the fight for the opposition, and a long series of editorials was published attacking the ordinance, the health commissioner, and the Board of Health responsible for its passage. Many others joined in protest with letters to the editor. Mass meetings were held and speeches delivered with unrestrained charges of incompetence and abuse of power by the health commissioner and the Board of Health. They were condemned as unnecessary evils in the community, and an encumbrance to progress. The legislature was induced to pass an ordinance which would rescind the vaccination ordinance. The bill was vetoed by Governor Heber M. Wells, but was passed over his veto. T h e heroic efforts to control smallpox were thus nullified, and for another twenty-five years the price for neglect was paid in needless suffering and many deaths. Confidence in public health supervision "James E. Talmage, "A Drop of Water," ibid., IX (December, 1887), 64.


140

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

was undermined, and was re-established only after many years, and with painful effort. During the time of this controversy a physician of Brigham City wrote a letter to the editor asking his opinion regarding the cause of prejudice which had always existed in Utah against the doctors. 18 He felt that there was an unwarranted opposition still prevalent against medical practice, and that harmful remarks were occasionally heard from the pulpits. He was anxious to know the true attitude of the church toward its members who practiced medicine, feeling that they were in line of their duty, and were also loyal to their church. Many other doctors had doubtless been similarly troubled, but had not expressed themselves openly. The editor answered frankly, to the effect that the doctor was too sensitive to criticism, and misinterpreted statements made against his profession. He said the church was not opposed to learning in any field, but rather encouraged it. Some people belonging to the church "give expression to their notions in rough and ready and offensive manner to sensitive minds, but they are not the Church." He further said to the enquiring doctor, "Hostility is sometimes aroused by the airs of superiority assumed by the Professionals . . . and a style and bearing which they seem to think is so overwhelmingly imposing as to strike all their former associates with awe and aduration." He did not accuse the doctor of such an attitude, but said it was prevalent "in some well-understood directions." This probably expressed the real feeling toward medicine on the part of the editor, and as he had written much on medical subjects for many years, the effect was perhaps a potent factor in the general feeling which was prevalent against medicine, and about which the physician complained. Many doctors of territorial days doubtless endured the difficulties they encountered in silence, because of the regard they had for their church and its leaders. W h a t the reaction was of the doctors who were not members of the church is not known, Some, as Doctor Washington F. Anderson, who practiced for fifty years in Utah, were close personal friends of President Young, and were occasionally called into consultation in his 18

Deseref News, November 20, 1900.


MEDICINE OF THE PIONEER PERIOD

141

family. An illustration of the sincerity of one doctor, who was a church member, is given in the diary of his daughter. Doctor George W . Hickman was one of the earliest doctors of Utah County. He was a graduate of Oberlin College, from which he also received a degree in medicine. He planned to practice in California, but remained in Utah, a convert to Mormonism. He settled near Payson, but was destined not to practice for long. "President Young counselled father not to practice medicine because he wanted to teach the people faith and dependence upon God . . . . This was a stunning blow to a young man who had spent years in preparation for a profession suddenly to have his staff knocked from under him." 19 He was poorly fitted for the life of a frontiersman or rancher, and he knew nothing of agriculture. He ceased practice, as he had been counselled to do. In time he began to practice a little, but he felt that he had no right to make a charge for his work. If any patient chose to pay him a fee voluntarily, he accepted it. There probably could be no better example of humility and devotion to disprove the charge of arrogance and egotism. There was probably no more reason for such a charge against the doctors than could be made against any other group. As medical education improved, better trained doctors came into practice, and adverse sentiment began to subside. Better support was accorded to physicians, although the people maintained devotion to their religion, with dependence on administrations of the elders. These administrations still are carried on in harmony with the services rendered by the doctors, in both the homes and the hospitals. Some hospitals were built during the last quarter of the last century. The first established were used largely for emergency purposes. Some were simply converted homes, and provided beds for the patients of one or only a few doctors. The hospital for the care of patients suffering from mental diseases was the first regularly built hospital in the territory. It was approved by the Salt Lake City Council in 1869, but was not built until 1872. It was located in Salt Lake City near where the pioneer monu19 From the journal of Josephine Hickman Finlayson, daughter of Dr, George W. Hickman, in chapter entitled, "Pioneer Medicines," Heart Throbs of the West (12 vols., Salt Lake City, 1939-51), VII, 211.


142

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ment now stands. It was financed by the city, but provided care for the mentally afflicted of the entire territory. It was transferred to the care of Doctor Seymour B. Young, a private physician, in 1876, and was sold to him in 1878. Doctor Young conducted the hospital, which was known as Doctor Young's Insane Asylum, and commonly called the White House on the Hill, until the State Mental Hospital was erected at Provo in 1885. The general hospitals at first were extremely primitive. The St. Mark's Hospital in Salt.Lake City was established in a converted residence at Fourth South and Fifth East streets. It was used largely for the care of miners who had developed lead poisoning. The Holy Cross Hospital was built in 1875, on Fifth East Street, between South Temple and First South streets. The W. H. Groves Latter-day Saints Hospital was not built until 1905, and the Salt Lake County Hospital in 1912. These hospitals have been described in detail by recent writers. 20 The Deseret Hospital had a unique experience in pioneer history. It was established by the Relief Society in 1882, in the old Twelfth W a r d , at Fifth East Street, between South Temple and First South streets. It was conducted for the Relief Society by the group of women physicians whose education they had largely financed. The hospital was abandoned in 1890, when it became too great a financial burden. Only when the general hospitals established training schools for nurses did the women doctors in charge discontinue the training of practical nurses, which service they had provided from the beginning. The services rendered by these early hospitals were substantial, and marked a definite advancement in medical care, even though they were limited in equipment and modern conveniences, Elective surgery was not very general until the turn of the century, although some surgery was being done. The old hospitals throughout the world had been sources of infection, until knowledge of control of bacterial diseases had become available, and there was a general fear of them. They had been used for the most part when hospital treatment was inescapable, and patients submitted usually with a feeling that they would never leave the hospital alive. 2 °lbid, I, chapter entitled, "Hospitals of Utah," 319-41; Ralph T. Richards, Of Medicine, Hospitals, and Doctors (Salt Lake City, 1953).


MEDICINE OF T H E PIONEER PERIOD

143

The doctors, at the turn of the century, were getting a much better training. The medical schools were graded, and the poorer schools eliminated. The doctor still could not cure many diseases, but he was becoming better equipped. There was a personal devotion, however, on his part, which established greater confidence, and compensated, in some measure, for his deficiencies. Pioneer medicine merged slowly and almost painlessly into the scientific medicine of our own recollection. It lost the controversial aspects of treatment as improved research developed the new facts relating to all diseases. More effective methods of treatment came rapidly into use, the new replacing the old with constant improvement in therapeutic agents and in techniques. The obsolete practices, so repulsive to the patients, could well be spared. More effective methods were gratefully accepted. With improved methods of treatment, however, complications arose which created new problems. Treatment became more expensive. World conditions changed, and these were reflected in medical care. Methods of rendering medical service changed so rapidly that adjustment was not easy. Relationships between doctors and patients often were strained. While many more patients could now be cured, the treatment was complicated and much more expensive, and many patients complained. Most nations solved the problem by the state assuming control of all medical service. The results have been extremely controversial, and remain so to the present time. Only in the United States, and a few of the smaller countries, is a "free" type of medicine still possible. Even here, the present system has its difficulties, and there have been demands from the federal agencies, and some other sources, for some form of state medicine. Under the present administration, the demands have lessened to some extent, but the President twice has requested Congress to pass a law which would improve the medical service for certain groups. The controversial problems are those of costs of the service rendered, and what has come to be known as "mass medicine." Medical care has passed gradually from the general practitioner, practicing in isolation, to the clinics. These are made up of specialists, or groups of specialists, and general practitioners. Specialists in many fields are being called into consultation much more frequently. As a result, diagnosis has become complicated and more


144

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

expensive. Far better results are possible to the patient, but many, even though cured of their ailments, are unhappy with the results. Lack of close contact with the doctor of their choice, insufficient explanation of the conditions found, and the costs of the service, hospital and medical, are the commonest complaints. These problems must be solved to the satisfaction of all classes of patients before the present fine medical service available will be appreciated fully. Experimental methods of prepaid insurance of various kinds are becoming popular, and are solving some of the problems. Intensive study of public relations by the clinic and the individual doctors, as well as by the public generally, each trying to learn the other's point of view, also is having a good effect. There is still a general feeling, however, that further changesin relations will be necessary. The clinic must come nearer to the ideals of the old family doctor. He had little to give but his interest and sympathetic contact, but these created a feeling of security in the family. The lone practitioner, while he still exists in many places, is slowly becoming as obsolete as the frock coat he once wore. He still can function in the clinic if he has a full understanding of the need. The matter of the cost of service to the patient will remain a controversial problem until a way is found to make medicine available to him at a price he can afford to pay, without affecting the security of his home. Far too many are convinced that that happy state has not yet been reached. It will require concessions by doctors, patients, and local and national governments to achieve that end. There must be an honest and unselfish effort to understand all the problems involved. Only then can the splendid medical service now available become applicable for the general good.


BYRON C U M M I N G S , CLASSIC S C H O L A R FATHER OF UNIVERSITY BY W A L T E R A.

B

AND

ATHLETICS

KERR*

was born at Westville, New York, September 20, 1860, the youngest of seven children of Moses and Roxana Headley Cummings. His father, a Union soldier, was killed during the Civil W a r . After graduating from the Oswego Normal School in 1885, Byron entered Rutgers College, one of the most outstanding institutions of that day, receiving his A. B. degree in 1889, and his A. M. degree in 1892. In following years he studied at the University of Chicago (1896), and the University of Berlin (1910-11), and went on to receive his LL.D. from the University of Arizona in 1921, and his Sc.D. from Rutgers College in 1924. YRON CUMMINGS

Byron Cummings learned the fundamentals of school teaching in the public schools of New York and in the Rutgers Preparatory School. He came to the University of Utah in 1893, as instructor in Latin and Greek. A series of promotions raised him to assistant professor, 1894-95; professor, 1895-1915; dean of the school of arts and sciences, 1905-15; and dean of the medical school, 1910-11. Fate never did a better service for athletics in Utah than when Byron Cummings came to the university. T o many, a professor of Greek would seem far remote from college athletics. The life of Byron Cummings, however, combined an admiration for the Greek way of life, a love for athletics and a love for culture. He considered the development of one's body as vital as the development of one's intellect. He personified the ancient Greek scholar and citizen. Although he would have liked to have been a discus thrower or a marathon runner, his small frame 'Walter A. Kerr, professor emeritus, University of Utah, was a Latin student in one of Professor Cummings' classes, and his intimate friend for many years. He often helped Dean Cummings sort and put together his bits of pottery. Professor Kerr served for 21 years as chairman of the Athletic Council, which Dean Cummings organized and headed for many years.


146

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

forbade it. However, he did appear on the athletic field in homemade football togs and running pants. In 1898, students arranged a race between a student, Nelson Dickerman, and Cummings. Of course, the professor was no match for his tall, agile opponent, but with true sportsmanship the two participants were able to joke about this interesting race fifty years after its occurrence, at a reception given by Neil Judd, in Washington, D. C. Professor Cummings organized the Athletic Association of the University of Utah in 1894, and served as its first treasurer, From 1894 until 1910, he was actively engaged in the athletic program, with the rolls of the Athletic Association frequently carrying his name. Each year he was among the first to pay his dues, to make liberal contributions to the athletic fund, and to aid athletes and other students in need of financial help. W h e n the University of Utah moved to the east bench in 1900, Professor Cummings and Coach Harvey R. Holmes led the movement to plow and level the football field, and later to enclose it. Prior to this time, the townspeople had been able to watch the games free from the side lines. It was not an unusual sight to see the professor walking along the side lines with a little, black leather bag, into which the spectators put their admission price. In the emergency, the kind professor dismissed his Latin and Greek classes and led his students to the athletic field, where he gave them hammers, nails, and lumber, and joined them in building the fence enclosure. But the Athletic Association had its financial problems, too, and Professor Cummings was the first to help solve them. On June 6, 1900, he wrote to the Board of Regents of the university: "The Athletic Association has struggled hard for the past few years to build up healthful athletic sports. They have fenced and prepared the athletic field and have maintained teams against great discouragement. The expense in bringing the Nevada team here was $275. The attendance at the meet was rather small. We find ourselves without means to meet the $275 necessary to pay the expenses for the Nevada team. W e respectfully request that the Board of Regents advance the $275 and wait until our association can reimburse them." The author is happy to report that the money was advanced—and paid back. Professor Cummings encouraged interclass games, and it was through him, also, that Harvey R. Holmes, the University


BYRON C U M M I N G S , 1940 Pottery found in the ruins at Kinishba.


BYRON CUMMINGS

147

of Utah's first paid coach, was brought to the campus. In 1901, Byron Cummings had the pleasure to award the first "Silver U and Crimson Sweaters" to the University of Utah football team, and in 1902, a beautiful silver and crimson pennant was hung in the Library Building, his gift to the team that won the interclass meet. Professor Cummings continued to serve as a member of the Executive Committee of the Athletic Association for many years, and as faculty representative to that organization from its inception until 1910. It was especially fitting, then, that the University of Utah Chronicle should name him "The Father of Athletics." Like the Greeks, Dean Cummings also was interested in civic and religious affairs, and was a devoted and active member of his church. He was a prominent member of the Board of Education of the Salt Lake City schools, 1902-10; of the Utah State Park Commission, 1909-15; and a member of the managing board, School of American Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico. He sponsored a Boy's Home Club in Sugar House, and for this service, the boys presented him with a beautiful gold medal consisting of a pendant on a gold scroll. Cummings Field was named in his honor sometime around 1902-03, and as long as football teams and members of physical education classes play on this field, it will be known by that name. Regardless of his interest in civic and athletic affairs, however, it was not in these areas that Professor Cummings was to make his mark. Sometime in 1900, after the University of Utah had relocated on the east bench, he was given a small office in what was known as the Library Building. It was here, in 1906, that Byron Cummings taught his first classes in archaeology. Soon his office became the gathering place for students, who told him of countless prehistoric ruins in southeastern Utah, mounds near Willard, artifacts on the flat land near Plain City, and of the great mounds near Paragoonah. He learned of the many box canyons of southeastern Utah, with their hundreds of cliff dwellings, and he knew that in prehistoric times the valleys of Utah had prospered with Indian communities. His first venture in "Utah Archaeology," according to Neil Judd, one of his students, was a brief horse and buggy trip, in the summer of 1906, through Nine Mile Canyon, on the northern border of Carbon County. That particular holiday may have


148

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

been prompted by student descriptions of cliff dwellings and petroglyphs, or by Dr. Henry Montgomery's paper, "Prehistoric Man in Utah." In either case, the chance to visit Nine Mile Canyon won a champion for Utah's prehistory. Thereafter, as long as he remained on the University of Utah faculty, Professor Cummings dedicated each summer to archaeological work, with the exception of those spent in Europe (1910 and 1911). The summer vacation of 1907 was an especially fruitful one, Neil Judd, Malcolm, the professor's son, and one or two others, made up an exploring party to the White Canyon natural bridges in San Juan County, Utah. According to Mr. Judd, the trip to the San Juan country was extremely difficult. The party left the train at Thompson Springs and "travelled by a four-horse freight wagon a day and a half to the cable ferry at Moab; thence two more days to Monticello." There was no auto road from Monticello to Bluff, so the trip was made on horses and mules. Cliff dwellings and ruins were found in great abundance, and when, in early September, they camped on the site of present-day Blanding, on their way back to Monticello, a lone sheepherder's wagon, parked beside a juniper, proclaimed the town's beginning. The White Canyon bridges had been known by cattlemen for some time, but first attracted national attention in 1903 and 1905. The Cummings' party located the bridges and other points of interest, and furnished the data for the General Land Office. The report of Professor Cummings, and the material sent by him, had great influence, and was a deciding factor in President Theodore Roosevelt proclaiming the Utah Natural Bridges a national monument. Each summer the Cummings' expeditions returned to the campus with dozens of boxes filled with Indian and cliff-dwelling artifacts. In all the excavations. Dean Cummings was very careful not to lose a single bit of broken vase or bowl; everything was collected. Later, in his office, he could be seen putting the hundreds of bits of pottery together. Many of the beautiful bowls in the University of Utah collection were put together by his skillful hands. The Cummings' exploratory expeditions were no pleasure trips, however. Life, for the members of the party, was not an easy one. The trips meant hard work, self-sacrifice, often a mile or two walk from camp to the excavations, and "eight hours or


BYRON CUMMINGS

149

so on the shovel," dragging oneself along sandy Indian trails over the roughest hills, crossing treacherous quicksand, and climbing to almost inaccessible sandstone cliff dwellings. Money allotted for archaeological work by the state legislature was very limited. Although Dean Cummings received money from friends (Col. E. A. Wall was a most generous contributor), he accepted much of the financial responsibility himself, and, "He shouldered an additional chore." Although he was an exceptionally competent cook, cooking over an open fire for a dozen men was not an easy undertaking. Then, too, the Dean was never one to ask assistance. If student companions were not sufficiently adult enough to see when water and wood were needed, he fetched them himself. On top of all this, night and morning he had to "suffer the camp jesters," in spite of his perfect Dutchoven biscuits and delicious fried potatoes and coffee. Many have wondered why Dean Cummings and his immediate successor did not write more of the scientific facts of these early expeditions. W h e n asked once, he replied: "I am anxious to get as much for our museum as I can before the large eastern schools fill their museums with our material. Writing can be done later. I say let's get what we can before it is too late." His later prolific writing justified this attitude. Neil Judd explained it in another way, however, "Only a life too filled with service for others repeatedly postponed the writing of those more detailed papers on special features promised in his first pamphlet, The Great Natural Bridges of Utah." During his lifetime, Dean Cummings was a member of many scientific and educational societies and fraternities, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Anthropological Association, the American Geographical Association, the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society, Delta Upsilon, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Sigma Xi. His name appeared in Who's Who in America, American Men of Science, and other scholarly biographical dictionaries. In a letter from Neil Judd, July 11, 1954, we find that "He was leader of the party that discovered Betatakin, Inscription House, and other famous Arizona ruins now administered by the National Park Service, He was leader of the National Geographic Society expedition that laid bare the lava-covered pyramid of Cuicuilco, in the Val-


150

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ley of Mexico, 1924-25. His major archaeological contribution was at Kinishba, a great ruin on the Apache reservation, Arizona ft

Professor Cummings married Isabel McLaury, August 12, 1896. The young, attractive eastern bride adapted herself to the new community life and became an efficient, intelligent and active Salt Lake City clubwoman. Malcolm, their only child, accompanied his father on many of his archaeological expeditions. Mrs. Cummings died November 11, 1929. On October 17, 1947, Dean Cummings married Miss Ann Chatham. It was Miss Chatham who first told him of the extensive pueblo ruins of Kinishba, the excavation and exploration of which he supervised. The publication of his last two books also was greatly due to her help and encouragement. From 1915 until 1953 he contributed many articles of archaeological value too numerous to mention. His three books, Kinishba, A Prehistoric Pueblo of the Great Pueblo Period (1940); Indians I Have Known (1952); and First Inhabitants of Arizona and the Southwest (1953), constitute a great scholarly contribution to Southwestern archaeology. The latter volume, published on the eve of his ninety-third anniversary, is a wonderful climax to a richly spent life. Byron Cummings, director emeritus of the Arizona State Museum, died May 21, 1954, at Tucson, Arizona, at the age of 93. Retired from administrative work at the age of 86, he served as a teacher for over fifty years, twenty-two of which he taught at the University of Utah, and the remaining years at the University of Arizona.


T H E R E M I N I S C E N C E S O F JAMES H O L T A N A R R A T I V E OF T H E E M M E T T

COMPANY

EDITED BY D A L E L. MORGAN

P A R T II INTRODUCTION

I

N PART I of James Holt's reminiscences the focus of interest was the period 1844-46, during which he was a member of the company James Emmett led into the Iowa wilderness. This party made its way up the Iowa River and across country to the Missouri River, which was reached at last near the mouth of the Vermillion, in what is now South Dakota. Emmett's company was never entirely out of contact with the church back in Nauvoo, and it got back into the main stream of Mormon history when, in the spring of 1846, it came down die Missouri to rendezvous at Council Bluffs with the migration Brigham Young was conducting across Iowa. With its absorption into Bishop George Miller's detachment of the Mormon immigration, Emmett's company largely lost its identity. But it was the fate of its members to share at once in the experiences of another remarkably interesting party, and before we pick up the thread of James Holt's narrative again, it is desirable to review briefly the history of Bishop Miller and his company. George Miller joined the Mormon Church in the spring of 1839. Born in Virginia in 1794, he removed with his family to Kentucky in 1806, and learned the trade of carpenter and joiner. 1 He was living in McDonough County, Illinois, when the Mormons a See a fragmentary autobiography by Miller published from the manuscript in 1917 by H. W. Mills, under the title, "De Tal Palo Tal Astilla," in Annual Publications of the Historical Society of Southern California, X, Part III, 86172 (printed separately under the title, A Mormon Bishop and His Son). The autobiography breaks off in 1819, but continues as an actual diary for the period October 13, 1842-February 2, 1843. Though most of the manuscript was unfortunately destroyed, much of the information it contained was preserved in the form of a series of seven letters Miller contributed to the St.


152

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

were expelled from Missouri in the winter of 1838-39. He befriended the family of Joseph Smith, and, soon afterwards baptized into the church, became an important figure in its councils, being named bishop by a revelation of 1841. Miller was never quite reconciled to what was done in working out the problem of succession after Joseph Smith's death. Nevertheless, he was still prominent in the councils of the church when the evacuation of Nauvoo began in February, 1846. Despite some friction between himself and Brigham Young, Miller with his "pioneer" company led the way for the Saints across most of Iowa, reaching the Missouri River nearly opposite Bellevue on June 13, 1846. Here it was necessary to pause and build a ferry, a labor not completed until June 29. While the work was in progress, on June 18, the Mormons were advised that the American Fur Company "wanted 40 waggons & teams to go 250 miles after fur." Miller was asked to see the company's agent, Peter A. Sarpy, who "offered about $1000 to [have] about 90,000 lbs peltry brought from the head of grand Island & 15 or 20 barrels of Provisions also a horse Bishop Miller took the job." John D. Lee adds that the Twelve "wrote to . . . John L Butler & the Mormons with him [Emmett's company] to come to the Ferry Point immediately to go after the fur."2 According to William C. Staines, just as the wagons were ready to start, a messenger arrived from Sarpy's traders, advising that they were bringing their robes and furs down to his post by water and had no use for teams. Sarpy told the Bishop to send his wagons to the trading post and he would pay a forfeit. "The Bishop protested that under the circumstances he had no claim,

James, Mich., Northern Islander in the summer of 1855, which take up his story in the fall of 1838. The draft versions of these letters were preserved among Miller's papers and were printed by Dr. Mills in the article cited above, though not in altogether correct order. Almost simultaneously with their publication in California, the letters were reprinted by Wingfield Watson from the pages of the Northern Islander as Correspondence of Bishop George Miller (Burlington, Wis.? 1916?), a pamphlet of 50 pages. The latter text is cited hereafter when reference is made to the letters. 2 John D. Lee, MS. diary, June 18, 19, 1846, typed transcription in the library of the Utah State Historical Society.


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

153

but [Sarpy] insisted and the wagons were sent and returned loaded with corn." 3 The episode got Emmett's company into motion again. Meanwhile an entry in the diary of Hosea Stout has an important bearing on the history of this company. Stout was en route to the Bluffs, when, on June 20, 1846, a few miles west of Mount Pisgah, he fell in with James W . Cummings, then returning to Nauvoo for his family. Cummings, it will be remembered, on March 27 had been sent with John L. Butler with instructions for Emmett's company about meeting the main body of the Saints, and he had reported back to Brigham Young on June 11 near the Bluffs. Cummings now told Stout that when he got to the Vermillion he found "that Emmett was absent having gone to some of the neighbouring Indians to trade off some horses and consequently he had no trouble with him. But some of his company were yet strong advocates for him & some as hard against him among the latter was his wife who was tired of his oppression & tyranny. "The two parties were about equally divided. Some of the party however having gone before to the settlements near or above Fort Leavenworth. 4 They managed to get all of those who were yet there to move down to where we were to cross the Missouri at the Bluffs not however without considerable opposition from Emmetts adherents. Suffice it to say that they all left and came off and brought every thing with them and left Emmett to guess at what had happened & follow on or do whatever else he thought best. They had come to the Council Bluffs & Emmett followed an [on] and was here strip [p]ed of his kingdom and him & all his followers put under Bishop Miller and sent on to Grand Island."5 3 This part of Staines's narrative is quoted in a biographical sketch printed in Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah (4 vols., Salt Lake City, 1892-1904), IV, 118. 4 Lyman Hinman apparently was one of these, having separated from Emmett as early as February 19, but he does not say that he went down the river as far as Fort Leavenworth. See the January issue of the Quarterly, p. 33, note 66. 6 Hosea Stout, M S . diary, typed transcription in the W P A Collection of the Utah State Historical Society. William Clayton, on June 10, 1846, also talked with Cummings. "Soon after we passed the bridge we were met by Jas. W . Cummings and the brethren from Shariton Ford (i.e., the brother sent from Chariton Ford] with John L. Butler to bring Emmet's company to


154

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

It so happened that on June 27, 1846, a party of Presbyterian missionaries and government employees who had been laboring among the Pawnees at a station on the Loup Fork of the Platte arrived at Bellevue to report that the Sioux had attacked their establishment; they had had to abandon their crops and most of their possessions, and were anxious to salvage them.6 A working arrangement with these refugees exactly suited the convenience of the Saints. "I made a bargain to haul them and their effects down," Miller says, "and forthwith started (the distance 120 miles) with thirty-two wagons, and the families thereto belonging, intending to unload the families and camp, and let the teams return with the missionaries to the Bluffs. " W e started on the expedition on the 9th July, and on the 18th we arrived at the mission station, and on the 22nd July we sent them to Council Bluffs. W e received in payment for hauling the effects of the missionaries their standing crop of wheat, oats and garden vegetables, together with a lot of old corn, which was all better for us than money. While the teams were gone with the missionaries' goods, we harvested and threshed our grain, shelled the corn and sacked all ready for a move on return of our teams." 7 Although the mustering of the Mormon Battalion chiefly preoccupied Brigham Young during the first three weeks of July, 1846, he did not immediately give up his project of sending an advance company across the mountains, or of getting a considerable part of the Camp of Israel to the head of Grand Island for meet us. The cattle have been with Emmet's company from the time they left Nauvoo . . . . From Cummings we learned that Emmet had left his things belonging to the company with him. Part of the company has crossed at St. Louis [Fort Leavenworth?] and are now on the line here. The agent of the U. S. refuses to let them pass. The other part of the company are thirty miles below the bluffs expecting us to cross there." William Clayton's Journal (Salt Lake City, 1921), 45. 6 See "Letters Concerning the Presbyterian Mission in the Pawnee Country, Near Bellvue, Neb., 1831-1849," in Kansas State Historical Society Collections, 1915-1918, XIV, 570-784; Annual Report of Thomas H. Harvey, Superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis, to Commissioner of Indian Affairs William Medill, St. Louis, Sept. 5, 1846, printed in 29th Congress, 2nd Session, House Executive Document 4 (Serial 497), pp. 282-88; report of Indian Agent John Miller to Thomas H. Harvey, dated Council Bluffs Agency, Sept. 10, 1847, printed in 30th Congress, 1st Session, Senate Executive Document 1 (Serial 503), pp. 857-64; and George E. Hyde, Pawnee Indians (Denver, 1951), 135-64. 7 Correspondence, 32.


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

155

the winter. On July 14, he suggested to the Twelve the propriety of the main body's going up the east side of the Missouri River to winter (later the west bank was selected); of sending a small company only to Grand Island "to build a fort etc., and prepare a settlement"; and of dispatching Miller's company on over the mountains.8 In furtherance of these plans, on July 22-23 he started off to Grand Island some 150 wagons detached from his own and Heber C. Kimball's companies. 9 But shortly afterward seven wagons arrived from Miller's camp laden "with Missionary and government property, which had been removed from Pawnee village through fear of the Indians"; 10 and when the men and teams started back to join Miller, they carried a letter from Young revoking the previous directive. " W e think it would be wisdom for as many teams and saints among your companies to winter at the Pawnee village as can well be sustained, the balance to winter at Grand Island, or some point near by . . . . A small company, say from twenty to thirty wagons, can go on to Fort Laramie and winter there, if you choose, but we do not think it advisable for any of you to undertake to cross the mountains this fall. Use your own judgment with regard to wintering . . . ." The suggestion was made that it might be desirable for the company which wintered at the Pawnee village "to put in some fall wheat, and also to buy all the grain and other property in that place which may be for sale on reasonable terms, for most likely we shall want to make a permanent location there." 11 Three days later another letter was sent to Miller: " W e are satisfied that it will be impolitic for any company to attempt to cross the mountains . . . . According to the best knowledge we have, we are now disposed to recall our recommendation of making Fort Laramie or the island this fall, for there is danger of the fires cutting off supplies for your stock, and we would like to have you so near us that we may visit each other occasionally 8

Journal History, July 14, 1846. Biographical sketch of Anson Call, Tullidge's Histories (Salt Lake City, 1889), Biographical Supplement, 278-79. Call was a Captain of Ten in this company. "Journal History, July 27, 1846. "Ibid., August 1, 1846. 9


156

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

through the winter." It was suggested that a council of twelve be organized to superintend affairs, with Miller as president.12 During the absence of the wagons detailed to haul the effects of the missionaries down to the Bluffs, Miller's camp was visited by the principal chief of the Ponca Indians and several other braves. The Ponca chief told Miller that Brigham Young's orders would not do, "that the Pawnees wintered their horses at Grand Island, and that our immense herd would eat up all the feed before the winter was half gone, and when the Pawnees came in from their winter hunt they would kill all our cattle, and drive us away." He proposed that Miller "go with him to his village, on or near the Loquocore or Running-water River, [saying] that there was rushes abundant to winter all our cattle, and to spare; that it was his country, and he had the granting of privileges "13

The Saints in council agreed to accompany the Ponca chief to his village, and on August 13 they set off for the Niobrara, arriving August 23. This information, derived from Miller's narrative, is backed up by a letter he wrote the Twelve on August 13, which letter also advises that Jacob Gates, Lyman Hinman, and 12 others, with their families, were to remain at the Pawnee village.14 It appears that about 30 wagons were left, and that "Ibid., August 4, 1846. Ibid. W . C. Staines, in "Among the Poncas," a narrative he published under the initials W . C. S. in the second volume of the Faith-Promoting Series, A String of Pearls (Salt Lake City, 1880), 1-34, backs up Miller's version of these conversations with the Poncas. T h e river to which they proposed to go, the Niobrara, in northern Nebraska, had been called by the French "I'eau qui court," or the water which runs, i.e., rapid-flowing river. Sundry versions of the name, corruptions or translations, appear in the literature of the West. "Journal History, August 20, 1846. In his Correspondence, Miller does not refer to this company left at the Pawnee village. On September 9, Brigham Young received a letter written on the 2nd b y Jacob Gates reporting that 14 families "after much persuasion" had volunteered to stay at that point. "That they had moved into the houses at the mission and were comfortable, that the Pawnees returned from hunting six or eight days after the brethren left them and most of the Indians appeared friendly, though some were displeased because considerable of their corn had been destroyed by Bro. Millers company as they passed along. T h e brethren however had held a council with the Indians and agreed to lay them in some corn, which they expect to get from the Missionaries, this seemed to satisfy the Indians and they expressed a willingness that the brethren should stay and promised to use them well. Their thievish propensities however, were so often manifested that some of the brethren were almost disheartened and a few were leaving." Gates asked whether his company should sow fall grain and whether any of them 13


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

157

from 160 to 175 went on to the Niobrara. 16 The site Miller's company selected for wintering is located by one account "on the west side of the mouth of the Running water River," by another "about one mile from the Missouri River, and near the mouth of Swift or Running-Water River." Two men from Miller's camp who journeyed down to the Mormon headquarters reported on September 15 "that the camp were in good health, one death had occurred and one man sick, that there were an hundred and seventy five wagons, besides some who had dissented and were returning, that they had found buffalo within a hundred miles of their camp, that there were rushes on the islands of the running water and bottoms of the Missouri, and that they held some things in common." 16 In October Miller came down from the Niobrara with some wagons and other articles, which he proposed to exchange for provisions. He reported, Hosea Stout says, "That they were on the nearest and best rout to the pass in the mountains That it was a level road all the way to Fort Larame That James Emmett Joseph Holbrook and Joe Mathews were sent as a committee to look out a road to the pass and report in time to start in the spring."17 had better accompany the Pawnees on their fall and winter hunt. The Twelve considered that the situation of these few families was rather precarious, and Hosea Stout records on September 15, "The council dispached messengers to the Pawnee village to bring down the families left mere by Miller." These families got back to the Camp of Israel on October 10. Journal History, September 9, October 10, 1846; Stout, op. cit. Lyman Hinman sums up by saying, "on the 2 of September myself wife and youngest child Helen were taken with the chill fever and 3 or 4 days after the rest of my family Eveline['s] husband [Gardner G. Potter] and all not one able to wait on the other shortly the whole camp was sick but 2 women and three or four men able to do any thing in this condition we were ordered back to this place [Winter Quarters] which is on the west bank of the Missourie River just above what is now called Council Bluff . . . ." Lyman Hinman to "Brother & Sister Taylor," Winter Quarters, June 27, 1847, unpublished document in the Coe Collection at Yale. " T h e total, 160 wagons, is given in a letter from Brigham Young to the officers of the Mormon Battalion on August 20, 1846, but on September 15, 1846, two arrivals from Miller's camp gave the number as 175 wagons "besides some who had dissented." See Journal History for these dates. Miller himself, in his Correspondence, 32, gives the whole number of wagons before the separation at the Pawnee village as 240, which seems somewhat high. 16 Journal History, September 15, 1846. "Ibid., October 24, 25, 26, 29, 1846; Stout's M S . diary, October 25, 29, 1846.


158

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Miller returned north again November 15. A few days later Young sent off a message asking him to come back to Winter Quarters, bringing Emmett with him, for councils respecting the future movements of the Saints. 18 A little rebelliously, Miller came down at Christmas for these discussions. It was then decided to get off a pioneer company early in the spring with a view to reaching the headwaters of the Niobrara by the time grass appeared, prepared to cross the Black Hills "& put in a crop of grain somewhere on this side of the mountains near the head of the Yellow Stone." 19 On January 14, 1847, Brigham Young brought forth a revelation concerning the intended migration of the Saints. E. T. Benson and Erastus Snow were delegated to carry this revelation to the camp on the Niobrara, and they presented it for their sanction on February 7-8. On Benson's return to Winter Quarters he reported that the camp was organized "comprising ninety-eight men, including three hundred and ninety-six souls."20 The plans to travel to the mountains via the Niobrara proved unworkable. On March 25, 1847, Brigham Young wrote the camp at Ponca, "By your report sent by Elder Benson we understand that you have not provision as a people, to fit you for this journey and it is not wisdom for you to separate into small parties surrounded as you are or attempt to plant or sow where you are . . . therefore our council to you is, that you return to this place, or somewhere in this vicinity as speedily as your situation will permit and retaining your present organization, put in crops sufficient to sustain yourselves, and prepare you to go at a future day . . . ." 21 18

Journal History, November 25, 26, 1846; Correspondence, 35. Stout's MS. diary, December 27, 1846. ^Correspondence, 36; Journal History, January 27, 28, 29, 30, February 8, 15, 1847. Erastus Snow in his journal, providing an account of this mission to the Niobrara, gives the only thing like a description of the route employed for intercourse between the two camps of the Saints. "We were accompanied by Brothers O. P. Rockwell & Sam. Gulley—We had light waggons and horses carried our Profission and horse feed with us. We bore Northwest on to the Elkhorn River and followed up the same several days and then struck North again and struck the Missouri again a few miles below the mouth of the Running Water . . . . We found it to be about 170 miles." Erastus Snow, MS. diary, typed transcript in Utah State Historical Society library. "Journal History, March 25, 1847. 19


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

159

The Saints at Ponca, as James Holt records, came down the Missouri in April, most of them going to farming. Before their arrival, Bishop Miller came to a final break with Brigham Young and the Twelve. Friction between the two men had been of constant occurrence, irritating to both, and Miller had finally been asked to bring his family down from Ponca and take up his duties as bishop at Winter Quarters. This he did in February. Things did not improve afterwards, and the breaking point was reached April 2. W i t h the Saints in the midst of preparations to get the Pioneer Company off to the mountains, Miller that night raised for the last time the ghost of his Texas project. Hosea Stout, who was present, says that Miller "wanted to go and settle between the Rio Grande and the Neuses river and make treaty with Mexico & have them give us the land &c. But this was in dispute now between the United States & Mexico and was the great thoroughfare for both armies." Stout adds, "A very few words from different ones on the subject caused him to confess the impracticability of his plans." 22 But now let us return to June, 1846, and the east bank of the Missouri River. There we may take up the narrative of James Holt, who has just received word that he and the other members of Emmett's company are to join Bishop Miller's company and journey with it to the Rocky Mountains. LIFE O F J A M E S

HOLT

W e came back [to Keg Creek from upper Missouri] and got our families and crossed the Missouri River in July, joining Miller's company, and made for the Pawnee, which was a trading station.23 But the men of the station had been driven out by the Indians previously, and had started to return. W h e n they fell in with our company, Brother Miller had promised to haul their effects. The day before we were to arrive there, those men went on ahead to arrange things at the fort for our reception. 22 Stout, op. cit. Compare Correspondence, 36-38. Miller made his way south to the Indian Nation and eventually went on to Texas. A few years later, he came north again to join James J. Strang on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. Strang was killed in the spring of 1856 and Miller then set out for California but died later that year at Marengo, 111. 23 The Pawnee mission station was not a trading post, nor was it what Holt also subsequently calls it, a fort.


160

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

About noon Emmett came to me and said he was impressed that something would happen to those men, and he wished to get my horse and go and overtake them. I let him have the horse and he went on to the fort. He found that the [Ponca] Indians had all collected to kill them. He told the men to make a feast for the Indians and treat them well, and they would not be harmed until he could go back to camp and return with help. He got back to our camp about one o'clock at night and called for a few men to go back to the fort with him immediately. About twenty-five or thirty [19] men responded to the call, including myself. It was about fifteen [20] miles to the fort. W e were in a wild Indian country, and nearly all of our able-bodied men were now called on to leave their wives and children, the aged and infirm, to the mercies of the savages. It was quite a perilous time. Women were clinging to their husbands, and trying to prevail upon them not to go and leave them in their dangerous position, but we commended them to the Lord and departed on foot in the dead of night. W e arrived at the fort just at the first glimmer of dawn. We found the Indians all asleep in a circle around the dying embers of their camp fire. W e carefully approached, surrounding them, pointed our guns and [made] ready to fire at them at a given signal. Emmett spoke to the chief in his own tongue.24 The chief arose to his feet, with the well-known Ugh!, at which the Indians all arose. Finding themselves in such a trap, they shook hands with us all around, led by the chief and silently took their departure, and thus we saved the fort without the shedding of blood.25 24 William C. Staines, "Among the Poncas," 4, says that Emmett 'understood a little of the Sioux language, and one of the Ponca chiefs could converse in this language." 25 Compare Holt's story with that of one of the Presbyterian missionaries, Samuel Allis, written about 1876: "A Mormon bishop by the name of Miller had started with about forty families for Salt Lake, as the first company across the plains. We accompanied them back to get the remainder of our things, and when we arrived at our houses we had been gone just one month. During that time no Indians had been there to molest. The last day of our trip we went eight miles ahead of Miller's camp. Soon after we arrived, however, two companies of Poncas met, one direct from their village, the other a war party that had been south-about thirty in number. There were only five of us and three from Miller's camp. The Indians did not behave very well. Most of our men lay down to sleep, but two of us concluded the safest the best policy, so stood guard. They told me to sleep, they would not harm anything. I told them all right, they could sleep, I was going to stand guard. They laid down and were soon asleep. In the night we started two messengers back to Millers


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

161

W e went back and met our teams, which had been hitched up by the men and women of the company, and started on the way to the fort. W e took charge of our teams and reached the fort during the day. T h e station men were now afraid to stop at the fort any longer, for they knew that when we were not there, the Indians would come upon them again and massacre them. So they gave Brother Miller all the corn and grain they had to take them and their effects back to the Bluffs. W e stopped here about two weeks and harvested their grain, loaded up, and were ready to start again on the journey, when a dispute arose as to the leadership. W e had been increased by this time by two companies. One was led by Kimball, and one company [was] called [the] Brigham Company. Although they were all under the direction of Brigham, Miller wished to have the honor of being chief captain because he had started out first. Some of the brethren wrote to Brigham at the Bluffs to settle the dispute and know what to do. He wrote for us not to go any farther this season, as it was too late, but to find a suitable place and winter, and he would advise us further in the spring. 26 W e turned off on the Missouri Bottoms, camped at the mouth of Puncaw River, and went to work building shanties to camp for reinforcements for we did not know what they might do. The men arrived about daylight and came so still they were upon them before they knew it, being asleep. The Indians were so surprised and agitated in their hurry, were plagued to get their traps. But they soon left and went over to Mr. Renney's [Ranney's] (the house) that had been occupied. They went upstairs, cut open some sacks containing wheat that we had stored there and let the wheat run down through a loose floor, then took the sacks with them. We did not know it until they had got so far away we could not overtake them. That day Bishop Miller arrived with his company. W e sold them the wheat, loaded up, and the next day started for Bellevue." Samuel Allis; "Forty Years Among the Indians and on the Eastern Borders of Nebraska," Transactions and Reports of the Nebraska State Historical Society (Lincoln, 1887), II, 16768. From various Mormon journals of 1847, it would appear that Miller's company was encamped 20 miles below when word was received of the straits of those in advance, and that the force sent in their support was made up of 19 men. See in particular George A. Smith's MS. journal for April 23, 1847, the original of which is in the Historian's Office of the Church at Salt Lake City. For descriptions of the mission station and the Pawnee villages nearby, see in addition the MS. journal of Thomas Bullock, which is also in the Historian's Office; Hosea Stout's MS. diary for October 13, 1847; Clayton, op. cit., 89-101; and Howard Egan, Pioneering the West (Salt Lake City, 1917), 28. 26 The defective information in this and the preceding paragraph will be evident from the contemporary sources quoted in the Introduction.


162

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

winter in.27 The grain we brought with us from Ponnie Fort was now all divided up by Brother Miller among the company. Six bushels of corn, forty pounds of flour, and a few oats fell to my share. W e made the oats into meal and tried to eat them, but it was very poor stuff. Now, the way we pulverized our grain, most of the time in our travels, was to pound it in a mortar, and make it into soup, seasoning it with squirrels' legs, or a small piece of any other meat we might happen to obtain. W e tried many experiments with different things to see if they were eatable. We searched out everything we could to sustain life. W e even tried to make biscuits with elm bark but it was a poor substitute. At one time we were poisoned by eating some gar eggs, and we concluded that these were not food for man. A great many roots we obtained were good for food, such as the lion root, artichoke, and hog potatoes. The rations which I received at Puncaw were very small for my family. I had at that time five in the family, including myself, but [by] going down the river to work, and getting a few jobs around home, and straining all my energy, we made out to live through the winter. Many things turned up for our sustenance, which would look almost like a miracle to some. There was one time during the winter that the Lord opened a way for me to get a few pounds of flour without much exertion on my part. It was but a small amount, but the Lord opened the way for me to obtain it. It was as thankfully received at that time as fifty times the amount would have been at different times since. There was a man by the name of Dalton who had lost a cow, and had been hunting for it two or three days. He came to me one evening and offered me sixteen pounds of flour if I would get her for him, so I arose early the next morning, preparatory to getting ready to start out on the hunt for a cow. I looked out, and it seemed a dismal day to take a tramp in the snow. While I was looking out, I heard a cow bellow close to my shanty, and I saw Dalton's cow close by. She seemed to be waiting for me to drive her home, which I soon did, and obtained twelve pounds of flour. He thought I shouldn't have the full amount, as I had 27 The journey to the Niobrara, like the experiences among the Poncas afterward, is described in Correspondence, 33-35, and Staines, op. cit., 3-34; By "Puncaw River" Holt refers to the Niobrara, not to the northern affluent now called the Ponca.


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

163

not been to any trouble to hunt for her. However, I was very thankful for the small amount. The next spring Brigham sent for us to all come back to the Bluffs. W e were now all without provisions, and Emmett took a horse and started on ahead to obtain means for us to get provisions. He agreed to meet us at a certain place, but he did not meet us until we got to Mosquito Creek, which was near our journey's end. W e had suffered greatly for the want of food, but by dint of much labor and fatigue in hunting wild animals and fowls, we made out to keep from starving. W h e n we got to the Bluffs our company was broken up. Emmett and a few of us went down on the Waupause [Waubonsie] Creek in Fremont County, Iowa, and took up farms. W e sowed some buckwheat and planted some potatoes, and raised a crop. There was a settlement close by where we obtained employment enough to get provisions to keep us from starving until our crops matured. M y first child by my wife Parthenia died here, on the 15th of August, 1847. After our crops were raised, we began to do very well.28 I stopped here for several years and began to accumulate means until I became very comfortably situated. One great drawback with this place was that it was very unhealthy. W e had a great deal of sickness in our family, but otherwise it was a rich place. There was all manner of wild fruit, such as grape, raspberry, blackberry, mulberry, strawberry, and nuts of every kind which would grow in a cold climate, and a great amount of wild game, such as the deer, elk, coon, turkeys, and all kinds of fowls and fish, and the honey bee, and any amount of all kinds of timber, and the land was very productive for everything but wheat, which didn't do very well. I generally raised other kinds of grain and bought what flour I wished by the barrel, which was brought up the river from other places. The Church went on to the Rocky Mountains, the first company arriving in Salt Lake Valley on the 24th of July, 1847, 28 Meanwhile, Brigham Young having returned to Winter Quarters from the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, on November 8, 1847, he met with the Twelve, "when it was voted that the saints vacate Winter Quarters in the spring and go westward. Elder Hyde informed the council that fellowship was withdrawn from George Miller, also James Emmett and his company; which was approved." History of the Church, VII, 618. When Hyde had done this, and why action was taken against "Emmett and his company," is not explained.


164

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

being led by Brigham Young. He was now [December, 1847] installed as President of the Church, with Willard Richards and Heber C. Kimball as his counselors, and others were chosen to fill their places in the Quorum of the Twelve. The Church was again organized according to the original pattern, and installed in the hearts of the Rocky Mountains, or the valleys thereof, in the midst of the savages of the forest, in a desert place among alkali and sagebrush, over one thousand miles from any town or village, in a land which looked as if nothing would ever grow in such a barren waste. But years later, the valleys of the mountains were filled with most beautiful vegetation and all manner of grain and fruit of every kind. In 1849 Brother Emmett started for California. He had some difficulty with his family, and he declared he would go where they would never hear of him. He left all his family but one daughter. 29 He stopped a few days in Salt Lake Valley and Brigham had a long conversation with him, trying to get him to stop with the Church, but for some cause unknown to me, he had rebelled and would no longer follow the Church. He went on to California, where he died in 1854 or 1855.30 His family never heard a word from him until his death, although his daughter had written over twenty letters to them, thus fulfilling his famous prediction. In 1850 Simpson Emmett, the son of Brother Emmett, started to Salt Lake Valley, taking with him his father's family.31 SimpZ9 Her name was "Lucindy" or Lucinda, and she is described as being 17 years old. See Addison Pratt's journal, October 18, 1849, printed in LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen, eds., Journals of Forty-Niners, Salt Lake to Los Angeles (Glendale, 1954), 74; as also a letter from Addison Pratt to Brigham Young, San Francisco, April 15, 1850, quoted in Journal History for this date. 30 Emmett and his daughter traveled to southern California in Captain Jefferson Hunt's party in the fall of 1849, as above noted. Emmett stayed with Hunt throughout, not straying off into Death Valley as did many others. Holt's remark here is the only indication as to what finally became of him. The California State Library has searched the records of the special census made in California in 1852 without finding him listed. 31 Mr. Stanley S. Ivins has kindly examined for me the original 1850 census returns for Utah to develop information about Simpson Emmett. Since this census was not made in Utah Territory until 1851, it fortunately corraled him in Weber County, under the name Moses S. Emmet. The data there appear as follows: Moses S. Emmet, age 26, born in Kentucky Catherine D. 28 Indiana


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

165

son Emmett had married Catherine Overton, sister to my wife. I took his farm, giving him $200 for it and if I could sell it in the future for a larger price, I was to give him the remainder when I met him in the Valley, as I contemplated going there as soon as I could conveniently. In the spring of 1852 I made calculations to go to Salt Lake Valley where the Saints were gathering. I tried to sell my place, but could only get $350 for it, including the farm I had got from Emmett. I sold to William Holloway, but he was to pay me extra for everything else that I left and couldn't sell, but when I got ready to start he would not pay me another cent, and I had to leave about 300 bushels of corn in the crib, a stack of oats, a smoke house full of meat, seven stands of bees, and several other things. But he never received much benefit from it himself, for he bought a band of horses and started with them a year or two after to California, thinking to get quite a sum for them, but when he got on the Humboldt a little over half-way, he was killed by the Indians.32 Iowa was a very unhealthy place, my family was sick a great deal, and I myself was greatly afflicted with the ague [malaria], I don't think that I could have survived much longer had I continued to stop there, but the Lord saw fit to bring upon me those afflictions in order that I might be gathered with the Saints. W e started about the middle of July and went on Keg Creek about Dorcas E.

Ellen

James S. Phoebe Marinda Catherine

4 2 8/12 44 6 2

Indian Territory Iowa Deseret [Utah] North Carolina Illinois Iowa

[Nebraska?]

Presumably Phoebe was the wife of James Emmett, and Marinda and Catherine were his two youngest daughters. Mr. Ivins adds that in the 1880 census Moses S., now 56 years old, was living in Kane County with his wife Catherine and a young wife, Electa J., age 27, no children. In another house was Emma J. Emmett, age 27, born in California, with two small children. According to the MS. journal of James L. Bunting, James S. Emmett was living in Kanab, Utah, during 1893-95. Perhaps this was the grandson of James Emmett. 32 The massacre of the Holloway Party on the Humboldt was a celebrated event of 1857; see the account in William Audley Maxwell, Crossing the Plains, Days of '57 (San Francisco, 1915), 62-75. Holloway was killed, and his wife was scalped alive. Maxwell, who reproduces a picture of Mrs. Holloway obtained through "the kindness of Mr. William Holloway, of Fairfax, Missouri," identifies her as "Mrs. Nancy Holloway, wife of Smith Holloway." Perhaps Holt was mistaken in the name, or the man's full name may have been William Smith Holloway.


166

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

eight miles. I left some of my stock, including a yoke of steers, and my three eldest children, who were to stop and see to things until the next morning. I was calculating to go back after them, but somehow I felt a presentiment that something would happen to tbem and I couldn't rest, so I took my team, just previously unloaded, and started back about dark; I got back before day, and I learned that William Alma, the youngest of the three, had broken his arm. Those steers before mentioned were yoked together and left in the corral, and while his sister was milking the cows, William got to climbing upon their backs (they being of very gentle disposition). He was thrown off; his arm was broken between the wrist and elbow. His wrist and elbow were both put out of joint. The joints had both been set and the arm splinted by those who had bought the place. I now started back to Keg Creek taking my children and all my effects which I could take. I arrived before night. The next day I got an old lady to attend to my son's arm. In a day or two I started again, and got as far as Mosquito where I stopped about one week waiting for Dr. William Smith to get ready to accompany me. This Smith was not a Mormon; he was going to California and wished to cross the plains with as small a company as possible on account of sickness, as it was a very bad year for cholera. W e were also joined by a brother, Levi [Lewis?], who was going to the Salt Lake Valley. W e now, being all ready, started on our long and tedious journey of over one thousand miles across the great plains where there was no civilization, in a country that was infested by savages. There were only three families of us nearly the whole of the journey. W e crossed the Missouri River on the 27th of July. W e got to Ash Hollow in two days, having traveled all night the second night, as there was a camp of Indians on the South Fork.33 The doctor thought it wiser to travel in the night in order to get as far from them as possible. The next day we traveled only seven miles. On the next morning, which was the 31st, my son Franklin 88 There is an obvious inaccuracy in Holt's memory here. It was 188 miles from Fort Kearny to Ash Hollow, to say nothing of the distance from the Missouri River to Fort Kearny. The road usually taken west of Fort Kearny, along the south bank, went up the Platte and South Platte, then across the latter river and 19 miles north to reach the North Platte at Ash Hollow.


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

167

O. was born, and on the next day, August 1, we continued our journey. Most of our traveling this year was on the north side of the Platte, 34 so we took the south, thinking it would be the most healthful, as there was a great deal of cholera on the north route. W e had no sickness to amount to anything during the whole trip (although a great many of those ahead and behind us were dying of cholera, and it was more serious on the other route), and we had no trouble with the Indians. One morning after we had got under traveling way, there was an alarm of Indians, and looking to the left on a hill, we beheld a large company of Indians. W h e n we arrived opposite them, they came down ahead of us blocking the road. There were about 500 of them, and many of the people began to fear that this was their last day, and I expect the doctor began to see, in imagination, his scalp dangling in the belt of some dusky savage, for he was a natural-born coward; but his scalp was safe for the present hecause the Indians, seeing our small number, thought we were brave and they have always got a great respect for a brave person.35 Therefore they spread down their blankets and we gave them a little flour, sugar, and coffee, and a little of such things as we could spare. They then opened the road for us to pass. Some of them went with us for a day or two and helped us drive our cattle, and treated us with great respect. There was another alarm of Indians when we were in a very unsafe place, as the Indians in that part of the country were a very bloodthirsty set. It occurred one evening after we had camped. In the distance we saw a lone horseman making his way toward us. W e soon found it to be an Indian so the doctor thought he would start a little strategy to frighten him away, for he had no doubt but what he was sent for a spy. There was a boy in the camp, one of brother Lewis's sons, who had a very freckled face. The doctor had him get in the wagon as quick as possible, he then put a little flour on the boy's face, and put him in bed 34 A special effort was made in 1852 to vacate the Mormon lands in Iowa and bring to Utah all the Saints not yet "gathered," with the result that the immigration this year was extremely large. Down to this time most Mormon companies traveled up the north side of the Platte, as far as Fort Laramie. 35 The Indians were probably Pawnees but may have been Sioux. Neither tribe was up to much mischief along the trail at this period, contenting itself with minor pilfering, and Holt, here unable to speak with the Indians, was reasoning from false premises about their intentions and attitudes.


168

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

between two sheets. He looked almost like a corpse. The Indian came up and the doctor told him we had smallpox in that wagon. The Indian took one look at the boy and struck for the plain for dear life. He thought sure the boy had smallpox, and they were afraid to death of the disease. The doctor gained his point and we never saw the Indian after that for two or three weeks. W e never had trouble with Indians while we were on our journey. W e had nothing serious occur any further, but it was a very serious journey. Many times we had to travel way into the night and sometimes all night to reach water. W e finally arrived in Salt Lake Valley and went about 45 miles north of Salt Lake City, to the bend of the Weber River, in Weber County, where Simpson Emmett lived. W e arrived there on the 27th of October, being just three months on the way. 3 built me a house close to the Emmetts, where we stopped during (the winter. W e had not been here long when my wife took sick with the mountain fever, and continued to be [sick] most of the winter, being so low that her child could not nurse and had to be raised by hand. My eldest daughter, Mary Ann, was also taken sick with the same complaint, and the rest of us had our hands full. It kept me busy tending the sick; my son, LeRoy, did the housework, and William tended the smaller children. My wife's sister, Simpson Emmett's wife, did what she could for us, but she had small children and she didn't have much spare time. My wife hung between life and death for several days, but the Lord again blessed us with health when the spring returned. Before spring I went up to North Ogden and bought a farm from Aaiff [Asa or Ira?] Rice, for three hundred and fifty dollars, selling some cattle to make the first payment. The place was about ten miles from where I wintered and six miles from Ogden City, which at that time consisted of only a few farms, with people living upon their own farms. I raised a very good crop. In the fall [1853] the people of different parts of Utah (which was the name of Salt Lake County) ,36 were counseled by Brother Brigham 36 A curious remark. "The Valley," meaning the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, was more or less synonymous among the Mormons outside Utah with the Utah country, but "Utah" as a name has never been restricted to Salt Lake County, nor did Brigham Young's advice about fort-building apply very largely to that county.


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

169

to build forts, in order to protect themselves against Indians. The people of North Ogden selected a place which was north [of] and joining upon my farm, so it didn't put me to the trouble of moving. This place was presided over by Bishop Thomas Dunn. The people of the place began to gather, and it was not long before we had a settlement, but the wall around it was never built because the Indians around here were not considered very troublesome, and the settlement was laid off in the form of a town, with building lots and streets of right angles. 37 Along sometime in the fall of the same year, which was 1853, my children took the whooping cough, and Joseph succumbed to the disease and died in November, after much suffering. He was a very bright boy for his age and we missed him greatly. In a week from his death our youngest child also died from the same disease. It was a girl of two months. During the winter, I was ordained to the office of a High Priest, under the hands of Bishop Dunn, and appointed as one of his counselors. In February, 1854, we had another girl who only lived one week. During the summer of 1855 I built a more comfortable home. In October the same year, my eldest daughter, Mary Ann, was married to William Barker. During the summer there was very little grain raised, a great deal of the wheat being smut, and 37 For some account of North Ogden, see Utah Historical Records Survey, WPA, Inventory of the County Archives of Utah, No. 29, Weber County (Ogden, 1940), 12, 18, and Milton R. Hunter, ed., Beneath Ben Lomond's Peak (Salt Lake City, 1945), 175-89. It was settled in the fall of 1850 and spring of 1851; twenty families wintered on the site in 1851-52, including Thomas Dunn and Ira Rice. In the work first cited, Thomas Dunn's journal is quoted as follows concerning the fort at North Ogden: " . . . A site was selected in our W a r d convenient to most of the farms; yet the task of building a fort was considered hard by many, consequently the work progressed rather slowly . . . . In the summer of 1855 considerable was said in regard to the breaking up of our fort and moving to Ogden City but in the latter part of the summer. President Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Jedediah M. Grant and about twenty others called at my house and dined, they being on their way to Malad Valley to establish a territorial line . . . . President Young said to me: 'Go to and build your fort and build good houses, then I will come up and give you a new name.' This put the question at rest with regard to our moving to Ogden and most of the people seemed satisfied." All the people moved their houses to the fort site, arranging them in a square, but the fort wall was never fully completed. After a visit to the settlement in December, 1854, Wilford Woodruff wrote that the fort wall was to enclose 140 rods by 47, and to be built of stone, to be 4 feet thick, 10 feet high, and laid in mortar. Deseret News, December 11, 1854, p. 157. It was characteristic of most of the forts north of Utah Valley that the fort walls were never completed.


170

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

a great amount was destroyed by crickets and grasshoppers, and many people suffered greatly for want of food before another harvest. During the winter the snow fell quite deep, causing thousands of cattle to die. I lost all of mine but one yoke of oxen, one heifer, and a horse. That winter has been known as the "hard winter," and it surely deserves the name, for it was hard for both man and beast. 38 In the fall [summer] of 1857 the government sent an army to destroy the Saints. Our President (at that time Governor of Utah), Brigham Young, called out an army to prevent them from coming into the Valley. They were not to go against them in battle, but to act as skirmishers to prevent the enemies from coming in. My two eldest sons were out in most of those skirmishes. Finally, Brigham gained his point, and kept our enemies from entering until spring. W h e n the difficulty was amicably settled by the peace commission sent to him by the government, Brigham agreed to let them enter if they would not stop within forty miles of Salt Lake City. But as we had been betrayed many times by government, Brigham couldn't trust them, so he issued a proclamation to the Saints in the north to move south. They were all required to move sixty miles south of Salt Lake City, a group of men were left in each settlement to set fire to every thing, at the word of command from our headquarters, which should be given if our enemies should break their promise. But for once they kept faith with us and passed through the deserted Salt Lake City and went west forty-five miles.39 I moved my family to Springville, which was about fifty-five or sixty miles south of Salt Lake City. Here my son, George A., was born on the 28th of May. After the army passed through, we were permitted to return to our homes. I found a very good crop of volunteer wheat growing on my farm. Although not having saved much grain, the Lord did permit me to reap a good harvest. During the previous 38 The winter of 1855-56 is still remembered in the annals of Ogden as "the hard winter"; see Utah Historical Records Survey, WPA, A History of Ogden (Ogden, 1940), 34; Hunter, op. cit, 182. 89 This account of the "Utah War" of 1857-58 is characteristic of the Mormon memory of the affair, but is not otherwise valuable. See, e.g., Utah Historical Quarterly, XIII, xii-xiii, 1-30; and XXII, 297-320. Or, for a more general account, Dale L. Morgan, The Great Salt Lake (Indianapolis, 1947), 261-68.


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

171

winter, my eldest son, LeRoy, married Ellen Lowe, daughter of John and Ann Lowe. In July, 1859, my son William A. married Sarah Wardle, daughter of John and Sarah Wardle. During this summer I resigned as the Bishop's Counselor. I will here state that I responded to every call in the line of my duty while I was acting in that office and many times I have neglected my own work to attend to tithing matters and also the Bishop's individual work, while he was neglecting his duties and spending his time in pleasure. My house was also a home for the poor, having kept at my house and provided for many people. There was never a winter that I did not have one to one-half dozen people to provide for besides my own family. In the fall of 1860 I concluded to sell out, as it was getting very hard to get wood, and not having any team but a yoke of young steers which, with a few other things taken in consideration, I concluded to sell my place and the following spring went to Ogden Valley, eastward about fifteen or twenty miles, and took up a farm, and moved to the same.40 I put in a crop, but I was very late. I soon sold this place and bought another in the north end of the valley [Eden vicinity] upon which I moved. I cut a few tons of hay, but during the winter it rained very severely for several days and spoiled almost all the hay in the valley. The snow also fell quite deep, and the cattle suffered greatly. This valley was very cold, and the grain all got frosted before it was ripe, so I thought this no place for me, and there having been a call for volunteers to go south about 350 miles where the climate was warm enough to raise cotton, I concluded to go.41 40 Ogden Valley, which had been known to the mountain men as Ogden Hole, was used as a herdground by Weber County settlers from about 1856, but permanent settlement was not begun until the fall of 1859, when a few families came in by way of North Ogden Canyon and located on the site of Eden. A year later, a toll road having meanwhile been completed through Ogden Canyon, Jefferson Hunt and some other settlers established themselves on the site of Huntsville, which became the chief town in the valley. Some seven families are said to have wintered at Huntsville in 1860, joined by at least twelve others the following spring. Utah Historical Records Survey, WPA, Inventory of the County Archives of Utah, No. 29, Weber County, 21-22; Hunter, op. cit, 239-65. 41 The outbreak of the Civil War, which cut off the supply of raw cotton from the South, led the Mormon authorities in the fall of 1861 to send a "Cotton Mission" to the Virgin River Valley in southwestern Utah, where cotton had been grown experimentally since 1855. St. George was founded by this mission. In the fall of 1862, additional volunteers were called for, and it was at this time that Holt responded.


172

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

So I sold my place here, and started in the summer of 1862, my son, William, taking his family and going with me. I bought a farm and settled in Washington, but only farmed here two seasons, having very poor land, also having to haul our cotton and molasses fifty or a hundred miles north to exchange for grain, as this was a very poor grain country. Here I also lost another child, a girl of about two years of age. 42 W e had another son born here on the 26th of October, 1864, whom we called Henry D. 43 Having heard a great deal about Long Valley, which was situated east about eighty miles, I went to take a look at it, and it seemed to be a very good place which the people were just settling up. I took up a farm, sold out in Washington, and moved to Long Valley in February, 1865. I cleared off a few acres of land and built a house and put in a crop. 44 In the summer there was quite an excitement about the Indians, 45 and we were required to fort up, so I moved to the fort, which was about two miles from my place. 46 I lived there two months, then as the Indians seemed to be peaceable, I moved back upon my farm. During my spare time I built myself a house in the fort. I harvested a good crop and in February, 1866, I moved my family back to the fort. I rented a farm and put it in also, in my own land, which was cleared, having no help but my son Franklin, who was only fourteen years [old]. 42 The fearful infant mortality that prevailed on the American frontier is well evidenced by James Holt's story. This is the ninth death he has recorded3 among his children. * A biographical sketch of Henry Davis Holt, written by Donald K. Walker on the basis of an interview with him in 1941, is in the WPA Collection of the Utah State Historical Society. 44 Long Valley, the upper valley of the Virgin River, was first settled in 1864; in June of the next year, Erastus Snow found 28 families scattered along the river over a distance of 15 miles. James G. Bleak, Annals of the Southern Utah Mission, MS., typed copy in Utah State Historical Society library. Book A, 130, 175. *5The Black Hawk War with the Utes, which broke out in the summer of 1865 and continued intermittently for three years. It forced the temporary abandonment of a number of settlements on the Sevier and Virgin rivers in south-central Utah. *eThis fort was at what was then called Berryville, now Glendale. The settlers were instructed to build such a fort in a circular ietter sent by Erastus Snow from Virgin City November 12, 1865. John W. Berry reported,at a conference in St. George on May 4, 1866 "that the Fort which President Erastus Snow, six months ago, instructed the settlers of Berryville to build, was completed two weeks before he, Berry, had left there to come to conference." Bleak, op. cit, 190-91, 207.


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

173

In June we got a letter from Erastus Snow, who was one of the Twelve and the President of the southern part of Utah [i.e., the Southern Mission], to move out where we would be safe from the Indians, as they were again at a point of breaking out, so we all moved out.47 I moved to Virgin City, and camped on the river and under a cottonwood tree for eight weeks. During that time I built a house in Virgin City, and moved in. Now we wished to go back and harvest our grain, and I hauled one load out and went back after another, and gathered the rest of my crop, such as squash and other produce. My son Franklin was with me. In company with the others we started out with another load. W e had only got about twenty-five miles. W e camped on the river on the foot of the big hill. W e had got all the wagons up it the day before, all but the provision wagon, and on this morning we were getting these down and up the next hill, when the Indians came upon us. There were three wagons going down with three span of horses to each wagon. The teamsters only had time to get out three horses before they were run away. The Indians then unhitched the rest of the horses, and took them, but while they were unhitching, the men went toward them and fired and shot one man, giving him a flesh wound, which caused them to return to camp. Along about noon Indian Mose (who professed to be a friendly Indian), was back there fighting the Navajoes, 48 which we then 47 On May 2, 1866, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Daniel H. Wells wrote Erastus Snow and the Bishops and Saints of Washington and Kane counties that many of the southern settlements were too weak to resist Indian attack or to prevent the running off of their stock. They urged that these small settlements be abandoned, the settlers to repair as soon as possible to places that could be readily defended, and possessing the necessary advantages to sustain a heavy population. On receipt of this letter in St. George, about May 20, it was decided that Long Valley should be vacated. "Consequently the settlers there were advised to cease planting corn Go, and the settlers of that Valley who had previously resided in Washington and Kane County settlements were advised to go back to these settlements." Under the direction of John W . Berry and Lorenzo H. Roundy this evacuation of Long Valley was carried out in June, 1866. Ibid, 209-12, 221-23. 48 According to a statement by Erastus Snow in 1869, the first Navaho raid on the Mormon settlements was made at Kanab, in the fall of 1864, and a second raid, at Pipe Springs in January, 1866, was so successful that many others followed. See Erastus Snow to Capt. R. N . Fenton, St. George, November 17, 1869, in National Archives, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Letters Received, N e w Mexico Superintendency, filemark J-205/1869. But James G. Bleak has an allusion in March, 1864, to Navaho horse-stealing during the previous fall and winter, before the founding of Kanab. T h e theft


174

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

believed to be the Indians creating all the disturbances, and he wished some of us to go back and help him. Six men started back, and when they got about half way they stopped to listen. All was still, and fearing they were being led into a trap, they returned to camp. Along about dusk, Mose came again and told us we would be killed if we stopped here during the night, for there were a heap of Navajoes coming, and we had better take the trail. I told them that if there was a lot of Navajoes coming, they would surely watch the trail. John Berry, being captain, advised us to go down the creek to Virgin City, so we started. Mose now shouted to another friendly Indian to go and get some buckskin, and he said something else which our interpreter, William Berry, could not understand. W e had not gone far when we spied a fire on the mountains to our right. William Berry asked the Indian Mose what it meant. He said it was where the Indians had camped and had left a stick burning. After we got opposite the light, we heard a dog give a yelp as if it was struck, and we had not gone far until an oppressive feeling came over me. I asked Brother Smith how he felt, and he said about the same as I did. I then asked William Berry who was ahead of me how he felt, and he said he did not feel like all was right. I told him to tell John Berry, who was ahead, to stop. He did so. I then told them if we went much farther on this route we were going, we would all be massacred, for I felt like it was going to be a slaughter house. I then told them that if we would only go back to the fort there would be help sent to assist us before another day passed. Berry did not want to go back to the fort, but he concluded to turn back, take another trail and go by [way of] Colob. W e did so and arrived home safely, after traveling all night and three days. But as I had predicted, if we had gone any farther down the creek, we would have been massacred, 49 for Mose, the Indian, at Kanab apparently occurred about April, 1865. There was another raid in this locality in December of the same year, and one on a ranch near Pipe Springs January 8, 1866. Bleak, op. cit. 134-36, 167, 193-95. Some of the other Indian incursions after this time appear to have been carried out by Utes and Paiutes who were glad to let the Navahos bear the onus, as Holt indicates. 49 The memory must have weighed on the minds of all these men that on April 2, 1866, two brothers of John W. and William Berry, Joseph and Robert (together with the latter's wife, Isabella), were murdered by Indians


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

175

was a traitor, and also, as I predicted, a company came to the fort next day to our assistance, but not finding us there, they went to where we had left our wagons and emptying our wheat all out on the ground, they hitched up our teams and took everything else we had brought to the settlement. They seemed to think our goods was public property, for I never got anything but my team and wagon, but I felt that the hand of the Lord was over us, and I felt to thank him for preserving our lives. In the month of February, 1867, I moved to the Mountain Meadows, which was north [northwest] of Washington about forty miles.50 I rented a farm from Simpson Emmett, who had moved from the north some years previous and lived there. [Thus ends the story of the first sixty-three years of James Holt's life, as told to his son, William. The remaining twentyseven years are told by a granddaughter, Mary Ann Cottam Miller.] When James Holt moved to the Mountain Meadows in 1867, there had been established a small settlement named Hamblin in honor of Jacob Hamblin who, in the early 1850's, established a ranch at the north end of the Meadows to care for his cattle interests and to assist emigrants passing on their way to California.51 These people, when reaching Cedar City, traveled the route which turned west onto the Escalante Desert until reaching while en route from Spanish Fork to Berryville via Pipe Springs and Kanab; they were killed soon after leaving Short Creek. Bleak, op. cit., 207. 50 What had been known in the days of the Spanish Trail as the Vegas de Santa Clara became the Mountain Meadows after the Mormon occupation of Utah. A famous recruiting place on the trail to and from southern California, the Meadows became tragically famous for the massacre which took place there in September, 1857; see Juanita Brooks, The Mountain Meadows Massacre (Stanford, 1950). Overgrazing in subsequent years, and consequent erosion of the Mountain Meadows, has been examined in Walter P. Cottam, "Man as a Biotic Factor, illustrated by Recent Floristic and Physiographic Changes at the Mountain Meadows, Washington County, Utah," Ecology, October, 1929; and in Walter P. Cottam and George Stewart, "Plant Succession as a Result of Grazing and of Meadow Desiccation by Erosion Since Settlement in 1862," Journal of Forestry, August, 1930. "See Pearson H. Corbett, Jacob Hamblin, The Peacemaker (Salt Lake City, 1952), 96-97. Hamblin obtained the grant of the Mountain Meadows as a herdground in 1856; it was his purpose "to care for his cattle interests," as also those of the Southern Indian Mission, but not necessarily "to assist emigrants passing on their way to California."


176

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

what was called Pinto Canyon, then along the water course to where later the town of Pinto was located. From there the road turned west, crossing over the divide52 into the Meadows. It was along this highway route that the town [hamlet] of Hamblin was located. T o the east of the town was a small spring, which had spread over the Meadows and now was used by the settlers for culinary purposes and to irrigate gardens and orchards. The Meadows extended five or six miles, divided into two distinct parts by a higher body of rich soil forming the dividing line. This line was about the center of the valley and divided the flow of water, that to the north running out a draw, or canyon, later known as Holt's, onto the Escalante Desert; while the south drainage formed the head of the Magotsu, a tributary of the Santa Clara Creek. At the extreme end of each of these fertile valleys were large meadows where travelers, on their way to California, often stopped to rest and graze their teams, to prepare them for the long hard trip over the desert just ahead to the south and west. On these meadows great quantities of wild hay were cut by the travelers to carry on their way and by the farmers and stock growers to provide feed for their cattle and teams during the winter. James Holt was one of these farmers. The Meadows like all other places where the farmers extended their acreage, plowing up that which nature had provided for preserving the soil from erosion, had reached down to the narrow channel of the canyon. The loose soil began to give way to the runoff waters carrying away the precious soil. Soon deep gullies were formed by drawing off the water which had provided underground irrigation for the meadows. At Hamblin no effort was made to stop this continual washing until all of the fertile farm lands were gullied deeper and the land became unproductive. James Holt, who had been a renter of the farm of Simpson Emmett, saw the inevitable result, and realizing what would eventually come to the town of Hamblin, he followed the water down the canyon to the north, where it opened out onto the desert. He diverted the small stream onto a garden plot along the stream and planted an orchard of apple trees. By 1875 the stream of water had increased to such an extent that he prepared to establish his home at what was to be known 52

The divide here was the Rim of the Great Basin.


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

177

as Holt's Ranch. First he built a log house but later he built a fourroom rustic lumber house. W h e n his two younger sons married, they built nice, red brick houses. Here was to be carried on the extensive farming, cattle, sheep, and horse growing operations of James Holt and sons, "Whose place by the side of the road was to become a friend to man"; and here were cared for the many travelers who passed this way. Many passed by who were not able to pay for the southern hospitality extended to them. As the flow of water increased in the creek, a large reservoir was made, collecting all the runoff water. Canals were provided, conducting the streams of water to large tracts of land out on the desert. Here huge crops of grain were raised. The production increased to the extent that at harvest time a group of harvest hands had to be hired for cutting and binding the grain crops. At threshing time the threshing machine would come from Pinto and as the yield increased this service was provided from Pine Valley. The crew of hired men and the large teams which ran the horse power had to be cared for, sometimes for a week. With a large supply of grain and hay, the ranch was able to care for the hundreds of travelers going to and from the mining camps of Nevada, also over the desert road which was used by the teams hauling freight from the [then] railroad terminal of Milford to the towns in Washington County. A large number who sought the hospitality of the ranch were those passing between the noted mining camp of Pioche, Nevada, and Silver Reef. Coming in contact with these travelers, James was imbued with the idea that there was more wealth in searching for the hidden mines than there was on the farm. He became very much interested in a ledge he felt sure was a mine of rich gold. He was anxious to tell people coming his way about his find. One day a man came to the door and was invited in, as was the Holt custom. The host in the course of conversation told his visitor about the possibility of a fine mining district. The visitor listened with interest then asked to give some advice. He said for James Holt to have nothing to do with mines or mining, for if he did, his sons would leave him and he would lose them; but if he kept the farms and farm interests, they would stay with him and become prominent citizens, leaders, and bishops. W h o the visitor was, where he came from, or where he went no one knew. As long as James Holt lived, he was convinced the


178

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

visitor was a divine personage 53 sent to warn him, as he stressed the fact that wealth was to be found in the family with their vast herds of cattle, bands of horses, productive farms and miles of pasturage; and later he saw the fulfillment of the promises made relative to the accomplishments of his sons. He was so impressed by the visit he had received that he never again gave thought to mines or mining. Instead he turned to the work of his fine orchard of apples, peaches, plums, and currants, the grain and lucerne fields, the fine garden of vegetables and melonsall of which had been neglected. Now he thought of the many things to be done to improve his home. He and the boys built better corrals and sheds with pens for his sheep and all animals which should be protected from wild animals; they built a fine large granary for the grain, a nice cellar for the milk, butter, and cheese, a pit in which to store the vegetables for winter, and a potato pit. He could spend more time teaching the group of Indians which lived on the ranch. He gave them a piece of land and taught them to make a garden similar to his, he furnished them the seed and helped them to plant and irrigate until they could do for themselves. He talked their language to them and they loved him. During the boom days of Pioche, hundreds of teams hauling to and from the camp made Holt's Ranch the main stopping place. Here teams were fed and drivers could buy milk, butter, cheese, eggs, at times beef and pork, and during the summer, vegetables, fruits, and melons. There was no cafe, but many a hungry person was given a meal. During the summer months many cows were milked and butter and cheese was made. In the 1880's when the ranch was doing a good business financially the Holts spent much means on genealogy. They purchased a Holt family book at a great price. This book contained the list of the Holt ancestors back to early Massachusetts days. 53 This divine personage was construed by the family to have been one of "the Three Nephites," believed by Mormons to have been ancient apostles of Christ left on the American continent to await the Second Coming. See Hector Lee, The Three Nephites: The Substance and Significance of the Legend in Folklore (Albuquerque, 1949). The Utah State Historical Society has in its files two somewhat more extended versions of James Holt's singular experience, written by his granddaughters, Ada Cottam Pace and Maggie Cottam Petty.


REMINISCENCES OF JAMES H O L T

179

After purchasing the book, they paid large sums to have the families it contained assembled into large record books. 54 The temple in St. George had been completed,55 and during the winter months James and wife left the ranch in the care of the sons while they spent their time doing work for their kindred dead in the temple. Few men are privileged to live a life of near ninety years so full of hardships, pioneering, home building and farm making as James Holt. However, he did not live to see all the promises made by the stranger he felt to be a divine messenger, relative to his three youngest sons, fulfilled. The eldest son married and lived at Hamblin a short time, when he was called to Gunlock to preside over the people there as bishop. Franklin Overton Holt became as a father to the people of Gunlock for many years. George Albert was called to Hebron to preside as bishop. He was later asked to move to Enterprise, a new town,56 where he helped the people financially in addition to being bishop and adviser for them. Hundreds of people have received of his help and generosity. Henry Davis, the youngest, helped pioneer the town of Central and was its bishop. Thus all three sons of James Holt became leaders and bishops among the people. James Holt died at his ranch January 24, 1894. He was buried in the family cemetery on the hillside overlooking the ranch home.

"Baptisms for the dead, "sealings," and vicarious marriage ceremonies, to bring dead ancestors within the pale of church membership and invest them with all privileges of the hereafter, are a strong motive force in the Mormon pursuit of genealogical information. 55 It was completed in 1877 in time to be dedicated by Brigham Young, the first Mormon temple to be completed in Utah. 56 The abandonment of Hebron in favor of a new site at Enterprise is one of the most dramatic tales in the history of Mormon community-building; it has been well told by Nels Anderson, Desert Saints (Chicago, 1942), 383-86.


REVIEWS A N D RECENT

PUBLICATIONS

The Buffalo Hunters; The Story of the Hide Men. By Mari Sandoz. (New York, Hastings House, 1954, xii + 372 pp. $4.50) This book is distinguished by a literary tone that may mislead readers into the belief that it consists only of stories of fictional adventure. The smooth prose, sometimes poetic in quality, does not read like sober history. The reported conversations of longdead buffalo hunters, gunmen, and army officers represent an old technique to give force to the narrative. Colorful similies and vivid descriptions heighten the feeling that this may be fiction. These etchings of imagination and style do not conceal the fact that the book has much of historical value. It presents brilliant accounts of life on the plains from the close of the W a r of Secession to the beginning of the sod-house frontier. Life of the buffalo killers and skinners during this short period has seldom, if ever, been so sharply drawn. Bitterness of the Indians over destruction of their food supply is tragically and sympathetically depicted against the ruthless killings of Wild Bill Hickock, Charlie Reynolds, Buffalo Bill Cody, Buffalo Bill Brooks, and others. Army intervention generally was against the Indian trying to protect their treaty rights. Comments on Generals Phil Sheridan, Custer, and his brother Tom, and other officers are scathing regarding incompetence, unfairness, drinking, and women and reflect gossip of frontier settlers who followed the destruction of the buffalo. The story swings from Hays, Kansas, to Dodge City, and south through Indian Territory into Texas, then north to the Platte and upper Missouri. Much of it goes into skirmishes and battles with the Indians, notably the Battle of the Adobe Walls. The upper Missouri and Platte account is shorter and gives a more systematic account of the buffalo trade. Coming of the railroads and the effect on both Indians and whites is discussed in connection with many incidents. The royal hunt of Duke Alexis of Russia takes a whole chapter. Another chapter gives a detailed and picturesque description of the buffalo herds. Hurricanes,


182

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

blizzards, prairie fires, drouths, and grasshoppers receive large consideration. The sources are largely local histories, biographies, and autobiographies. Not indicated, but of much interest, appear to be old newspapers and stories by old timers, which the author uses effectively. This "popular" book makes an important contribution to this little-known period of frontier history. Montana State University

Paul C. Phillips

Wyoming's War Years, 1941-1945. By T. A. Larson. (Laramie, University of Wyoming, and Stanford University Press, 1954, 400 pp. $6.50) Too many histories of community and state enterprises are written as if the author had the Chamber of Commerce and other leading citizens breathing down his neck. Such works frequently turn out to be mere recitals of statistical material interspersed with platitudes. In recording Wyoming's war experience, Dr. T. A. Larson, who is head of the University of Wyoming History Department and a specialist in western history, avoids the usual pitfalls. His scholarly and authentic account is a remarkable contribution to the story of World W a r II. Though he served in the Navy during the war, Dr. Larson kept an eye on his home state, and Wyoming's War Years was planned long before he was discharged. Then for years he painstakingly collected material from official files, bound newspaper files, and personal interviews. The late William Allen White once said that, "State lines mark differences in Americans." Wyoming, like other states, has its own distinctive history, notably of the early days. During the war years, however, its communities must have followed a pattern general to Inland Town, U.S.A. As the national defense program progressed, sparked by actual hostilities, most of the able young men went off to war, with patriotic fervor or reluctance, and some older men and young women somehow got into uniforms. Many others went away to work in war industry, but the great mass of people stayed home, and Wyoming's War Years is, in the main, their story. It includes


REVIEWS AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS

183

many instances of courage, unusual service to country and community, and also some cases of dodging and chiseling. This is a valuable source book on population trends, health statistics, selective service operations, and the miracles that were wrought on farms and in coal mines and oil fields. More important, it is a warm and vitalized story of people and how they reacted to price controls, scrap drives, bond sales, blood collections, and practice blackouts. The vast majority were a credit to the 1,096 Wyoming men "who gave their lives in the cause of freedom" and the nearly thirty thousand persons who served in uniforms. But there were also some draft dodgers, some "black market" operators, and a few peddlers of hate and fear. Dr. Larson tells the home-front story of the war with admirable restraint and understanding, relating each event to the crosscurrents of mass emotion engendered by the death, the destruction, and the atrocities so far away and yet so close to the people's hearts. He quotes extensively from newspaper editorials and spur-of-the-moment observations of public officials. This adds to the flavor of the narrative but demonstrates that curbstone fulminations and unseasoned editorial office observations are not reliable for the final summing up, unless they are balanced with each other and skillfully evaluated by a solid historian. Perhaps the only real black mark against Wyoming's people during World W a r II came from the establishment of a relocation center in the Heart Mountain Irrigation District in northwestern Wyoming. Some 10,000 of the 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, who were moved inland from their homes on the Pacific Coast during the confusion and hysteria following Pearl Harbor, lived at this camp throughout the war. They suffered no less from the antagonisms of their new neighbors than from Wyoming's harsh winter climate. The author makes it obvious why plain people were unable to distinguish between these Orientals and those killing their sons and brothers and why there was fear of sabotage or worse. This community at one time was the third largest in Wyoming. The author may have been unduly gentle, however, in his treatment of the politicians and journalistic sensation-hunters who exploited these fears and misunderstandings to the hilt with charges of coddling and food-hoarding at the camp. Actually, the evacuees proved to be surprisingly well-behaved; many served with distinc-


184

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

tion in the army and the others contributed enormously to the production of food, both inside and outside the barbed-wire fence of their compound. And none were found guilty of any sabotage. Wyoming's War Years also might be the story of the war years of many Utah, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, and Nevada communities, told with sensitivity and clarity, in today's perspective. It is a credit to any historical library. Salt Lake Tribune

Ernest H. Linford

The House Next Door. By Virginia Sorensen. (Strength of the Union Series, edited by Erick Berry.) (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1954, 223 pp. $3.00) This is one in a series of books dealing with the situation existing in each state at the time the state received its admission into the Union. Naturally, since polygamy was the question that kept Utah from statehood for so many years, Virginia Sorensen has placed a good deal of emphasis on this subject. But she has handled it deftly (as the book is intended for teen-age readers), through the eyes of two teen-age girls, one a Mormon, the other the "heroine" of the story, a Virginia pastor's daughter who is visiting in the territory. The story is told through the diary of Gerry McGill, whose Aunt Harriet had come to Utah from Boston in order to do "missionary work," converting the Mormon women from polygamy. She is a very busy person, editing a newspaper, "The Female Anti-Polygamy Deliverance," lecturing, establishing non-Mormon schools, and in general working to keep Utah out of the Union until "the Mormons could be got rid of." Next door to Aunt Harriet lives a large polygamous family, the father of which is in hiding from the "deps." Aunt Harriet, of course, has nothing to do with these people, but young and sympathetic Gerry is soon involved with them, and through this association, Aunt Harriet is brought to a somewhat better understanding of the Mormon point of view. It is a very simple plot, simply told, saved from mediocrity by the author's facility of expression and deftness of characterization. The idiom has a somewhat modern tone; Gerry's diary might have been written by a high-school girl of today, with its "absolutely*s"


REVIEWS AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS

185

and "simply's." But it is probable that Mrs. Sorensen did diis purposely, with the thought that today's teen-agers would find such expressions more convincing than the conventional speech of the 1890's. Actually, the book gives a pretty fair picture of the situation in the territory in the nineties, with eastern busybodies spreading exaggerated stories about the Mormons. Mrs. Sorensen has aimed at impartiality by including a few friendly nonMormons, but the honest convictions of men of integrity like Lincoln and Fremont have been played down or made ridiculous. Salt Lake City, Utah

Olive W . Burt

Arid Domain; the Santa Fe Railway and its Western Land Grant. By William S. Greever. (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1954) Arizona. By Joseph Stocker. (New York, Harper and Bros., 1955) Bent's Fort. By David Lavender. (Garden City, New York, Doubleday and Company, 1954) The Butterfield Overland Mail. By Waterman L. Ormsby. Edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum. (San Marino, The Huntington Library, 1954) Camel Express: A Story of the Jeff Davis Experiment. By Olive Burt. (Philadelphia, The John C. Winston Company, 1954) The Denver Westerners' 1953 Brand Book. Volume IX. Edited by Maurice Frink. (Denver, The Westerners, 1954) Four Stares Corner. By Leondine M. Pelmounter. (San Antonio, The Naylor Company, 1954) Geology of Dinosaur National Monument and Vicinity, UtahColorado. By G. E. Untermann and B. R. Untermann. (Salt Lake City, Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey, 1954) Glory. God and Gold. (The American Southwest.) By Paul I. Wellman. (New York, Doubleday, 1954)


186

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The History and Posterity of Robert and Elizabeth Boyack McKell (McKail). Compiled and/or edited by Charles Robert McKell. (Springville, Utah, Art City Publishing Company, 1954) Incidents of Travel and Adventure in the Far West. By Solomon Nunes Carvalho. Edited and with an introduction by Bertram Wallace Korn. (A centenary edition, Philadelphia, The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1954) Jedediah Smith and His Maps of the American West. By Dale L. Morgan and Carl I. Wheat. W i t h an Introduction by Carl I. Wheat. (San Francisco, California Historical Society, 1954) Journals of Forty-Niners: Salt Lake to Los Angeles. By LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W . Hafen. (The Far West and the Rockies Historical Series, 1820-1875, Volume II.) (Glendale, Arthur H. Clark Company, 1954) Little Engines and Big Men. (Narrow-gauge lines in Colorado.) By Gilbert A. Lathrop. (Caldwell, Idaho, The Caxton Printers, Inc., 1954) Mapping the American West, 1540-1857; A Preliminary Study. By Carl I. Wheat. (Worcester, American Antiquarian Society, 1954) Matthew Cowley, Man of Faith. By Henry A. Smith. (Salt Lake City, Bookcraft, 1954) One Hundred Years of Chamberlains, 1854-1954. Compiled by Francis A. and Annie C. Esplin. (N.p., n.d.) The Oregon Trail. By Margaret Long, M. D. (Denver, Kistler Stationery, 1954) The Other Side of the Mountain. (A history of Arizona in picture and text.) Edited by Su Plummer. (Tucson, Southern Arizona Bank and Trust Company, 1954) Pictorial History of the Wild West. By James D. Horan and Paul Sann. (New York, Crown Publishers, Inc., 1954)


REVIEWS AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS

187

Stalwarts of Mormonism. (Sixty-one biographical sketches.) By Preston Nibley. (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book Company, 1954) Trails West and Men Who Made Them. By Edith Dorian and W . N . Wilson. (New York, Whittlesey House, cl955) Yuma Crossing [of the Colorado River], By Douglas D. Martin. (Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 1954) Clarence C. Clendenen, "Southwestern Chronicle; A Little More on Sylvester Mowry," Arizona Quarterly, Winter, 1954. Edgar N. Carter, "The Old [Gen. William S.] Harney Carriage," Los Angeles Westerners The Branding Iron, December, 1954. Dale L. Morgan, ed., "The Diary of William H. Ashley, March 25-June 27, 1825; A Record of Exploration W e s t Across the Continental Divide, Down the Green River and into the Great Basin," Part II, Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society, January, 1955. John Shea Enright, S. J., "The Breens of San Juan Bautista" (members of the Donner party), California Historical Society Quarterly, December, 1954. William Mulder, "Mormonism's 'Gathering': An American Doctrine with a Difference," Church History, September, 1954. Ross Thompson, "Utah: The Mormon Church and that [Reapportionment] Amendment Fight," Frontier, January, 1955. Andrew F. Rolle, "The Riddle of Jedediah Smith's First Visit to California," The Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly, September, 1954. Ruth Savage Hilton, "Damming the Little Colorado," Improvement Era, February, 1955. Robert R. Hubach, "They Saw the Early Midwest; A Bibliography of Travel Narratives, 1673-1850," Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Winter, 1954.


188

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Otis E. Young, "The United States Mounted Ranger Battalion, 1832-1833," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, December, 1954. Paul F. Sharp, "Merchant Princes of the Plains" (Fort Benton), Montana Magazine of History, Winter, 1955. Beverly Smith, "The Job No Senator W a n t e d " (Sen. Arthur V. Watkins), Saturday Evening Post, November 13, 1954. "Latter Day Saint Pioneers; Biographical Sketch of Samuel Wood and Jonas Wellington Chatburn," TM, December, 1954. David James Harkness, "The Southwest and W e s t Coast in Literature," The University of Tennessee News Letter, October, 1954. "Manufacturing and Marketing Utah's Portland Cement," Utah Economic and Business Review, November, 1954. "Utah's 'Other' Minerals," ibid., December, 1954. David H. Mann, "Brigham Young: Patron of Farming in Utah," The Utah Farmer, January 6, 1955. David H. Mann, "Goodyear and Wells: Utah's First Farmers," ibid. David H. Mann, "Utah's Pioneers W e r e Farmers Too," ibid. "Review of Princeton Surveys' Study of Utah's Tax System," Utah Foundation Research Report No. 117, January, 1955. Loy Otis Banks, "Haun's Mill," The Western view, Autumn, 1954.

Humanities

Re-

Ephraim E. Ericksen, "William H, Chamberlin, Pioneer Mormon Philosopher," ibid. M. R. Merrill, "The 1954 Elections in the Eleven Western States," The Western Political Quarterly, December, 1954.



HISTORICAL

A

NOTES

T

LONG LAST the State Historical Society is going to have a home. This much-hoped for dream is going to turn into reality through recent action of the Utah State legislature. House Bill 225, passed with practically no opposition by both houses and promptly signed by the governor, provides that: "The Utah State Historical Society is authorized to use the present official governor's residence and grounds at 603 East South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah, for their offices, library and archives after February 1, 1957, or after the governor in writing advises the Society that he and his family have vacated the premises, whichever occurs first."

For many years after its founding the Utah State Historical Society struggled along with very little financial support and small, inadequate quarters. A search through the Society's minutes, biennial reports, and official publications shows constant pleas for money and housing. As far back as 1903, and again in 1919, requests were made to the legislature for funds for a site and a building to house the Society, all to no avail. In 1928 a very modest appropriation permitted the publication of the Utah Historical Quarterly, but after a few years the great depression dried up even those first small sums, and during the middle thirties the affairs of the Society lapsed again into a moribund condition. In 1937 the Society was granted an appropriation of $4,500 for the biennium, a full-time secretary was employed, and a small, dark room in the basement of the State Capitol housed its few collections. From this time on the Society has never ceased to grow. When die offices of the Society were moved to the third floor of the Capitol building, it was felt that great strides had been made. But even though these rooms were bright and cheery, the Society soon outgrew them, and in recent years valuable books, manuscripts, and documents have been stored away in musty vaults, on top of book shelves, and on the floor, where they have been inaccessible to the research worker and student of Utah history.


190

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

W h e n the governor and various legislative committees determined that the Governor's Mansion, the Thomas Kearns home on east South Temple Street, was unsuitable as a residence, the Utah State Historical Society immediately went into action to obtain this building as a home. Spacious, dignified, and really a relic in itself, this magnificent building is one of the few remaining landmarks of the fabulous mining tycoons who made their fortunes in the silver, gold, and copper mines of Utah in the years before the turn of the present century. Even though it may be some little time before the actual moving process begins, yet a most important step in the progress of the Society has been accomplished, and a new era of prosperity and growth has been launched. The 1955 session of the legislature, concluded March 10, saw a considerable number of important bills passed, the transfer of the Governor's Mansion to the Historical Society being only one of them. Another bill made the sea gull the official state bird of Utah. For years, because of its significance to Utah and Mormon history, the gull mistakenly had been considered by most citizens to be Utah's state bird. The Sea Gull Monument in historical Temple Square, "Erected in Grateful Remembrance of the Mercy of God to the Mormon Pioneers," has been a favorite visiting place for thousands of tourists, and has been chosen to appear on a 1956 calendar dedicated to "Notable Monuments in America." W e are happy to see that proper steps have been taken to honor the gull and its connection with Utah's history. The legislature also appointed the following new members to the Society's Board of Control for a term of four years: Louis Buchman, retired official of Kennecott Copper Corporation, Salt Lake City; George F. Egan, controller, Newspaper Agency Corporation, Salt Lake City; and William F. McCrea, Public Relations Director, Amalgamated Sugar Company, Ogden, Utah. These members were appointed to replace C. Henry Anderson, A. B. Gibson, and William R. Palmer, whose terms expired April 1, 1955. Reappointed to the Board for four-year terms were Charles R. Mabey and Levi Edgar Young. W e are happy to welcome our new Board members, but at the same time wish to thank our retiring members for many years of faithful service.


HISTORICAL N O T E S

191

On Sunday, May 29, 1955, Mr. Nicholas G. Morgan, Sr., Board member of this Society, will be awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities, at the annual commencement at Lincoln College, Lincoln, Illinois. Mr. Raymond Dooley, president of that institution, in a letter to Mr. Morgan, says: " W e believe that in so honoring you we recognize one whose significant achievements make it an honor to Lincoln College and a privilege for us to award this degree. Your devoted service and support in a wide variety of philanthropies (in some cases known only to yourself), your keen loyalty to the highest ideals of American citizenship, your intense interest in American history and conviction that its study by the youth of America will contribute to their deeper understanding of our American way of life, the exemplary manner in which you have conducted your business affairs in the highest interest of the public you serve illustrating the value that freedom and opportunity play in creating leadership in the world of American business enterprise, and the role you play in collecting and preserving historic Americana and particularly Lincolniana, all combine to bring you in close kinship to the particular ideals of Lincoln College." Mr. Dooley's words express, far better than we could, Mr. Morgan's great patriotism and civic pride. His immediate services to the Utah State Historical Society are only a small part of his greater contributions to the cause of local, state, and national history. The Louis Knott Koontz Memorial Award for 1954, for the most deserving contribution to the Pacific Historical Review, has been awarded to William Mulder for his article, "Mormons from Scandinavia, 1850-1900: A Shepherded Migration," which appeared in the August, 1954 issue of that magazine. The award, offered annually, carries with it an honorarium of one hundred dollars. Mr. Mulder, a staff member of the English department at the University of Utah, has served as managing editor of The Western Humanities Review for a number of years and has contributed to the Utah Historical Quarterly. W e have received many fine comments and much encouragement on our bibliographical series, "Utah, the Mormons, and the West: A Bibliography," additions to which will appear in future Quarterlies. These guides and check lists should prove of great


192

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

value to research workers and students, for unless material is made known, it is worthless. W e hope that through this series we will bring to light much new information. The writing of all the fine articles which appear in our own Quarterly, as well as all other scholarly magazines, depend greatly upon the use of such reference works. As a follow-up to his Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West, Dale L. Morgan, in collaboration with Carl I. Wheat, recendy finished a volume entitled Jedediah Smith and His Maps of the American West (California Historical Society, 1954). In a recent issue of that Society's "Notes," we see this latest volume went out of print in December, the month of its issuance. The Utah State Historical Society counts itself fortunate in having a copy in its library, and invites students interested in tbis particular phase of western history to use its facilities. Dr. Leland H. Creer, the Society's Vice-President, has been elected to the Council of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association for a three-year term. Of interest to the student of Utah history is the action of Governor Lee who, on February 26th, transferred to the Archives Division of the Utah State Historical Society "the Records of the Governors now in the vault in the Capitol." These records consist of the correspondence of six of Utah's governors, from 1896 to 1948. Unfortunately, the correspondence of Utah's fourth and fifth governors, Simon Bamberger and Charles R. Mabey, is missing from these historically rich documents. Despite this void, the record holdings of the Historical Society have been greatly enriched by the acquisition of these valuable records. Readers of Don D. Walker's review of Comstock Commotion, the Story of the Territorial Enterprise, by Lucius Beebe, which appeared in the January issue of the Quarterly, may get a chuckle from the following letter:


HISTORICAL N O T E S

193

The Territorial Enterprise Virginia City, Nevada January 18, 1955 Dear Mr. Walker, I take no exception to your review of "Comstock Commotion" in the Utah Historical Quarterly, still less suggest resort to split infinitives at thirty paces. It is written as must be written in the grove of academe and represents a purely academic familiarity with the subject. I must, however, protest your saddling me with any pun in the matter of Fred Hart. I frequently, as one who would more naturally do so than yourself, encounter the name spelled Harte and usually identified as a "brother of Bret Harte." It is one of the fairly well establish errors of Western legend and I was attempting to deny it, nothing more. The notion of a pun never entered my alleged head. W i t h all good will, / s / Lucius Beebe For contributions to our library we wish to thank S. S. Ivins, L. H. Kirkpatrick, Abram Hatch, J. Cecil Alter, Claude T . Barnes, Mr. and Mrs. Dell H. Adams, Orde S. Pinckney, Jacob Heinerman, Mrs. R. T. Stites, Hamilton Gardner, Olive Burt, Lamont Johnson, Bert J. Silliman, Robert G. Dust, Charles R. McKell, William Mulder, C. Corwith Wagner, Mrs. Flora Belnap, D. James Cannon, Dean Brimhall, Ora Pate Stewart, the Jesse N. Smith Family, Mrs. Bernice Gibbs Anderson, Mrs. Betty B. Bearse, Miss Beatrice M. Berner, J. Neilson Barry, and C. W . Lockerbie. Special thanks are due Mr. Ray Nilson for presenting to the library volumes of the Times and Seasons missing from our files, and to Mrs. Josephine Chase Bradshaw for volumes of Times and Seasons and the Journal of Discourses. Mrs. Edith Young Booth, granddaughter of Brigham Young, very kindly allowed us to photostat some original letters of her grandfather (handwritten and dictated) to his son, Oscar Young, and his wife, Harriet Cook Young.


A J O U R N A L OF J O H N A .

WIDTSOE

Colorado River Party, September 3-19, 1922, preliminary to the Santa Fe Conference which framed the Colorado River Compact. EDITED BY A. R. MORTENSEN W I T H A FOREWORD BY G. H O M E R D U R H A M *

FOREWORD

D

URING THE hearings before the House Committee on the Colorado River Storage Project in January, 1954, Mr. William R. Wallace inserted statements in Salt Lake City newspapers calling attention, among other things, to the role of Dr. John A. Widtsoe in the development and formulation of the Colorado River Compact, signed at Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1922. Dr. Widtsoe represented the state of Utah, with R. E. Caldwell and others, in arriving at this historic decision. During the public debate on the Echo Park Dam controversy in 1954, Mr. Wallace called attention to the "foresight" of Dr. Widtsoe at Santa Fe, in framing the Compact so that the upper basin states of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah might retain and not lose their rights. Said Mr. Wallace later that month in an address January 29, 1954, at the Hotel Utah for the John A. Widtsoe Memorial Foundation: In my mind's eye I can see Dr. Widtsoe sitting in council in 1922, in Santa Fe, with the men of the seven states of the Colorado River basin. They had decisions to make. They were to divide the waters into seven unequal but equitable portions and to remember Mexico. They had insufficient data. They were not even sure of * Vice-President of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.


196

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the amount of the river flow. Estimates were made that the river ran 20,500,000 acre feet. Some decision must be made otherwise the states of the lower basin would establish great "first in use" rights. Time and time again formal meetings were recessed to permit of informal consultation. Finally the wisdom of Dr. Widtsoe prevailed. Only 80% of the estimated river flow was allocated— 7,500,000 acre feet to upper basin states and 8,500,000 acre feet to the lower basin states—leaving an estimated 4,500,000 acre feet reserve against the fact that no one was sure of the future volume of river flow. As of today the estimated river flow is 17,700,000 acre feet— 2,500,000 acre feet less than the estimate of 1922. Dr. Widtsoe is justified in his warning. Had his warning been accepted in good faith by all the states of the lower basin then all these years and the coming years of law suit and contention would have been avoided. In his autobiography, Dr. Widtsoe refers to the matter in the following brief account: The Colorado River cuts through a corner of the State [of Utah], and the Green, a tributary, runs many miles southward through the State. In those mighty streams is water for many a thirsty acre, as well as power possibilities for the founding of great industrial enterprises. In the years near 1920 the feeling crystallized that a great dam, perhaps several, must be built to hold back the flood waters which had damaged and was always a threat to the Imperial Valley farms. This led to frequent discussions of the value of the river in the building of the West. A trip was authorized to look over the most suitable dam sites. The U. S. Geological Survey and Reclamation Service had already made careful surveys. The trip was to enable representatives from the Colorado River Basin states to see the results of the surveys with their own eyes. State Engineer R. E. Caldwell, with the approval of Governor [Charles R.] Mabey, invited me to accom-


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. W I D T S O E

197

pany him on the trip. On September 7, 1922, we took boats at Hall's Landing, and floating down die river to Lee's Ferry, we saw several excellent damsites in Glen Canyon of the Colorado. It was a great trip. 1 W h a t follows below, then, is an eye-witness account not only of the trip, but observations on the attitudes and personalities of some of the men who were influential in making policy for the Colorado River. Following the passage of the river, the party also toured the region of Hoover Dam, by land, before proceeding to Santa Fe for the official conference. Dr. Widtsoe characterized the Santa Fe sessions and their long-range results as follows: Following the inspection there was a long conference in Santa Fe, where the famous Colorado River Compact was formulated and signed. This compact was later ratified by the legislatures of all the Basin states, excepting Arizona. The compact is the best existing protection for all the states respecting the use of Colorado River water. Nevertheless, if the upper states do not secure early construction, their rights may be seriously impaired. The role of Dr. Widtsoe at the Santa Fe Conference is a story for other telling. Suffice it to say, as repeated by Mr. W a l lace, he was instrumental in revising downward the amount of water guaranteed by the upper states for annual delivery to the states of the lower basin. The margin, in the revision, represents Utah's potential for future industrial growth. The journal which follows was Dr. Widtsoe's daily account of the pre-Santa Fe exploratory party. Its insight into the beauties of nature, into men, and into the forces that shape policy, as well as its interest as a literary document, mark it for careful reading. The material was discovered among Dr. Widtsoe's private papers after his death, November 29, 1952. —G. Homer Durham ^ohn A. Widtsoe, In a Sunlit Land (Salt Lake City, 1952), 178-79.


~*J


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. W I D T S O E

199

JOURNAL Sept. 3rd, Sunday, 1922.—Left [Salt Lake City] on 10:30 A.M. D. & R. G. Train for Richfield, with R. E. Caldwell. 2 C. C. Stetson joined us at Hotel Utah. On train also Dennis, Kayler and Thomas. Director A. P. Davis came on train at Provo. LaRue, Stabler, and Birdseye came in by auto during evening. Reached Richfield about 5:30 P.M. Day perfect. Somewhat cool, sunlit. Put up at Johnston House. Pres. Christensen of Stake Presidency called. Later Pres. R. D. Young of Sevier Stake Presidency. He accepted Mr. Caldwell's invitation to become the third member from Utah, Many smaller items of business at Richfield. The town was decorated with flags—not in our honor, I fear. The Press Association of the state has just met here. Restless night from something I had eaten. Sept. 4th, Monday.—Left Richfield about 8:30 A.M. Delay due to one machine breaking. One big truck for equipment and three of our party. Two passenger autos for the remainder. Drove by way of Glenwood over mountains. Clouds in great masses under a blue sky. Stetson wonders if we shall see anything finer. Caldwell doesn't know. Everybody else has opinions. Drove to Grass Valley over mountain*—9,200 feet elevation, down to Loa. The day again perfect, rather cold. Reach Loa about 12:20 M. Dinner at Robinson Hotel. Saw Scott McClellan, Pres. Eckersley and many other friends. Talked with some old pioneers who in 1879 were at Hall's Crossing. 3 Loa was named for Mauna Loa by a Sandwich Island missionary. Left Loa at 1:30 P.M. Our driver was Brother Ivie, former student U.A.C. and now teacher in County High School at identification of party personnel can be found on page 230. Hall's Crossing is at the mouth of Hall's Creek on the Colorado River. It lies directly south of the Henry Mountains and is located about thirty-five miles above the famous Hole in the Rock where the San Juan pioneers crossed the Colorado in 1880. Charles Hall built the ferry used by these people and later moved with his ferry to the crossing at the creek bearing his name. For the geology, geography, and a brief history of this region, see Charles B. Hunt, Paul Averitt, and Ralph L. Miller, Geology and Geography of the Henry Mountains Region Utah (Geological Survey Professional Paper 228, Washington, 1953). 3


200

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Bicknell. In car, Director Davis, Prof. Thomas, Pres. Young and I. In short time the high plateau country opened with its variety of colors, fantastic shapes; aeolian cuttings, buttes, towers, etc. Passed through many little villages—Lyman, Bicknell, near Teasdale, Fruita, 4 where we had fruit. In Fruita met party of young ladies well dressed which caused much favorable comment from the party. Heavy rains yesterday had cut into Capitol W a s h roads. About four miles down road had to be repaired 6 or 7 times. Whole company out making roads—cars swinging at all angles over broken roads. W e got through without mishap. A glorious canyon—approaching at the upper end, Zion Canyon. The day perfect with a few threatening clouds. Caldwell, Stetson and Dennis, on freight wagon, up in the air part of the time. Looked like professional acrobats. Stetson takes photos from top of truck —probably moving pictures. Everybody happy. Out of W a s h a mile or two darkness came. Camped near first ranch on Pleasant Creek. 5 Caldwell, Stetson and I made beds under a branching cottonwood, not far from Pleasant Creek. It rained, or rather sprinkled. Too dark to investigate larder. So bacon and eggs. Butter lost. Full moon—fine evening—Stetson sore and tired. Talks of sleeping. Elev. 5800 feet. LaRue calm, but terribly worried about the butter. A. P. Davis during day told of organization of Geological Survey. W e decided (?) to rename Capitol Wash—Capitol Gorge. Sept. 5, Tuesday.—Broke camp at sunrise and left Pleasant Creek. Still in autos. 8:30 A.M. reached Bowns Ranch on Sandy Creek. 8 A shack or two—headquarters for the ranging crew. Tough automobile roads. Saw two wild animals and squirrels on the trip! The scenery beggars description. See my letter to Leah.1 Changed baggage here from auto to wagons. Two four horse teams. Baggage and bedding and provisions—in wagon; passengers on top. A hot day, with a gende wind moderating the heat. No shade. Drove at about 3 miles per hour. In our wagon, 4

Fruita is now the headquarters of the Capitol Reef National Monument. Probably near Notom. 6 About ten miles south of Notom. 7 Mrs. Leah D. Widtsoe, wife of the diarist.

5


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. W I D T S O E

201

Director Davis, Prof. Thomas and the three Mormons. Everybody in good temper. The scenery continues wonderful. W e travel in gulches and draws. Vegetation very scarce, though at Bowns an abundance of Russian Thistle. (At Bowns an irrigation system— perhaps 1000 acres alfalfa, etc. Promise of big place with the immense range facilities on Henry Mountains). Unusual range of layered rocks, towering, 1000 feet high on one side and equally high red sandstone cliffs on other. Towers, castles and buttes etc., break the level strata. Traveled mostly down the Grand Gulch.8 Camped for noon. A dry camp. Towards evening left red sandstones, into a narrow valley of white sandstone and limestone. No water; no animal life; one mourning dove all day; scanty vegetation; true desert. Here and there, where a flood has washed, there are deep chasms showing soils 20-30 feet deep. Traveled from Bowns about 18 miles. Camped in a dry spot by side of road, near Bitter Creek. Made beds; then supper. Party tired. Our camp is in a valley about 1J/2 miles long; % miles wide. The usual horizontal white and red rocks seem tilted on end. On the side of the valley opposite to the camp east runs Bitter CreeA:—which is not much more than a seep. Over the low ridge west of the camp is a small romantic valley; which, as the full moon filled it with mystery and beauty held me for a long time. On the east ridge is the clear outline of a camel resting. The head is distinct; the neck somewhat depressed, the back with two humps very marked. This is a good land mark. Camp and place called The Camel's Rest. Wednesday, Sept. 6, 1922.—Full moon throughout the night. Warm and balmy until early morning when a wind arose followed by a drop in temperature. All up at 5:30. Breakfast. No water for washing unless we go nearly a mile to Bitter Creek. An unwashed crowd. Everybody happy. Stetson did not sleep well. Mr. Davis loaned me needle and thread and I sewed on button. The rising sun lighted up the yellow west wall with a golden splendor, glorious to the soul. A flock of geese cackled through the gray of the dawn. Some mourning doves were seen at sung r a v e l was down a road immediately to the east of the Waterpocket Fold, which, after reaching Hall's Creek, follows it clear to the Colorado River.


202

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

rise. Crickets here and there faintly throughout the night. W e were off for Muley Twist. No one knows distances from Bown's ranch. Probably about 60 miles to River. The draw narrows and the scenery becomes rougher and more picturesque. About six miles down we pass the Crotch where a branch of die road takes off into Hanksville country. 9 Over hill and dale, skidding on rock and soft earth and making sharp curves we finally come to Muley Twist Canyon (a muley horse died there.) 10 T h e road through Muley Twist Canyon takes off from our road and goes into the Escalante, Hole in the Rock, and Tropic (Bryce Canyon) country. Muley Water Holes are just south of the Canyon. The whole side of the gently sloping mountain is white sandstones with pockets here and there. Water collects in these holes. The lower ones accessible to stock, the higher ones are not. 11 O n the east side of Muley are the red sandstones. One huge dominating red butte, the largest so far, forms a decided landmark. W e are traveling in Grand Gulch. Numerous places here could well be named. Three miles above Muley on west of road is a great red sandstone bluff, which from the north looks like a sphinx. W e named it Sphinx Bluff. A little lower down on the very edge of the western cliff is the outline of a locomotive, furnace and all. W e named it Locomotive Valley. W e stopped about 11 A.M. at Muley Tanks for lunch. W e had lemonade! Also good water!! Davis and Caldwell in discussion about Dam. Clear Davis now prefers Boulder Canyon Dam, though fair to the whole Basin.12 Some cattle seen along road this A.M. Nearly all white faced; sleek and fat. LaRue and Birdseye hunted cotton tail rabbits. Shot four. There is so much magnificent scenery that in spite of our best desires, we are not appreciating it as we should. Marvelous how man becomes callous! After lunch I picked flints 9 This road ran southeasterly, then turned northerly and crossed a pass between Mt. Pennell and Hillers, before continuing on north to Hanksville on the Fremont River. It roughly bisects the Henry Mountains, leaving Mt. Pennell and Ellen to the west and Mt. Hillers, Ellsworth, and Holmes to the east. See Geology and Geography of the Henry Mountains, Plate 17. 10 MuIey Twist lies immediately to the west of the Waterpocket Fold, and, for most of its length, roughly parallels Hall's Creek, before sharply turning east to join it. "Dr. Widtsoe gives an excellent description of the natural water tanks, which the Powell Survey named Waterpocket. 12 This is a reference to Hoover Dam and both upper and lower portions of the Colorado River Basin.


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. W I D T S O E

203

and agates from creek bed and chips from Indian work. Also one spearhead and a beautiful dark red flint knife (skinning knife.) W e traveled down Grand Gulch on the rocky creek bed. The Gulch has narrowed, the scenery has increased in grandeur. About four P.M. we stopped for fifteen minutes at Fountain Tanks hollowed out by wind in spots of soft material. Then on to head of Hall Creek where we camped for the night. 13 At this point on west side of canyon, great sloping mountain sides of gray sandstone or limestone. Pots hollowed out everywhere. Pools of water in river or creek bed, though evidences everywhere that at flood time the water runs 14 to 20 feet or more higher. In one case a Cottonwood stands exposed in six feet of earth, the bark fully down to bottom, showing how earth had been gathered around tree, then washed away again. A fluctuating country wherever the water can reach it. About three miles up from camp passed some high cliffs composed of earth and pebble conglomerate. Weathering wherever a flat rock had fallen had produced high pillars, with the rock on top. Named it Toadstool Curve. Fine moon again at night though late because of 1000 feet of vertical red cliff just beyond our beds, on east side. Fried rabbit for supper. In bed about 9:30 P.M. Camp elev. 3878. Thursday, Sept. 7, 1922.—Up at 5 A.M. Started at 6:30 A.M. Crossed Hall's Divide. Bad road. Then down creek bed nearly all the time until we reached Hall's Ranch at 10:15 A.M. Half of party went through canyon of Hall Creek. Wonderful they declare. Called it Canopy Gorge from overhanging rock. Vast amphitheatre there with perfect acoustics. About six miles of rounding narrow gorge—in places only 30 feet across. Rested horses and had lunch at Hall's Ranch. Old ranch house now moved away. Country continues the same. High horizontal red cliffs to east; high nearly vertical gray cliffs to west. Probably traveling along fault line, now Grand Gulch. Party that went through Canopy Gorge doctoring blistered feet. This whole trip from Loa down has been wonderfully picturesque—more than that: full of magnificent scenery, and a remarkable variety of forms. A good trip for a geological party 13

Hall Creek really heads many miles north near the Bitter Creek Divide.


204

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

or for any lovers of nature. The country is of course similar to that on the road down to Cainsville and Hanksville, but very different in detail. T o go down this way, then up the river and back by way of Hanksville would be one of the great trips of the world. Publicity should be given to this region. Hall's Crossing named from Hall's creek which enters the Colorado River at that point. Hall's Creek named for Hall's Ranch, at which I am now writing. W e have traveled along one of the emigrant trails leading to San Juan County. Mr. Pace, one of the original party to cross the Colorado in 1879 still lives in Loa, where I had a conversation with him as we came down on the trip. All along the road in Grand Gulch, upper portion especially, are small areas that could be cultivated if water were available. Apparently from the flood marks, there is ample water leaving the gulch to care for all the lands and surplus, a big one, if stored. There are numerous places where storage could be effected; the chief danger and obstacle being the shifting conditions at flood time, and the fierceness of the floods when they come. The reclamation of these small areas is not, probably, a problem of this generation. Several long talks with Mr. Davis and Mr. Dennis separately. Great differences of opinion involved in Colorado River controversy. 14 Baker's Ranch to which we are now driving, was first settled by Smith, then sold to Baker. Quite an area, perhaps 15 acres here at Hall's Ranch—with Cottonwood. Hall's Creek runs to one side. A small spring there also. Baker's Ranch elev. 3664. Canyon begins to widen. Left Hall's Ranch for Baker's Ranch at 12 m. Reached Baker's Ranch at 1 P.M. 15 Small three roomed shanty, cistern and corral at Bakers. Now run by two Baker brothers, sons of Brother Baker of Richfield who bought the ranch. Left Baker's at 1:20 p.m. Canyon widens. Can see across Colorado into San Juan Country. Thousands of acres of red sandy soil along first four miles from Bakers. Could no doubt be irrigated from Hall's Creek. From that point soil becomes very gravelly and rocky and of doubtful agricultural value. The cliffs or mountains that have followed us on the east all the way down Grand Gulch—great thicknesses of cholocate 14

H. W. Dennis represented southern California interests. "Baker's Ranch is about eight miles up the creek from the Colorado.


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. W I D T S O E

205

colored rock, in horizontal strata, underlaid by red rock—terminates a mile or two below Bakers. A bold magnificent cliff projects at the end looking towards the Colorado River, and forms a great landmark. Lower down towards the Colorado River we can look back and see the other side of this chocolate capped red rock beneath the mountain. It is as sheer on that side as on the side we have seen from Grand Gulch. The mountain on the west side of Grand Gulch, gray and vertical, also terminates long before the River is reached. As we look back on them they are covered forest like with knobs or nipples. The party suggested we call it Nipple Mountain. On the way we get a magnificent view to the east of the Henry Mountains rising out of the broken country. The one farthest north seems the highest—probably Mt. Ellen. Look up. About four miles from Bakers, where we met Mr. Wimmer, foreman of boat party, Wimmer, Caldwell, Young, Stetson and I walked the three or four miles to the River. Hall's creek has cut deep into the rock, forming a very high and narrow canyon. As we approach the River, two miles away can be seen the sheer, red wall against which the River runs on the east side. Then, great, barren, smooth rocks like those on the beaten shoreline, except a hundred times larger, along which we slide. Suddenly, in a cut in the rocks, we get a view of the River. A long and wide beach, with several fine clumps of trees. Just beyond the beach down stream the River turns sharply to the left, just below the junction is Hall's Creek, between sheer cliffs, 600 feet high, and only 175 feet apart. All along the River, the cliffs to the last sheer and high red sandstone. On the top of the first hill we meet the boatmen, all from Los Angeles and Pasadena: Wimmer and his son; two brothers W . H. and L. C. Ramsauer; Lewis R. Freeman (wild man) and W . W . Jones. Over the cliffs we reach the camp in a beautiful grove of cottonwoods. I go down to look at the River and the boats. Evidences here and there of dredging operation and oil service. The Colorado—yellowish brown, but stately and certain of its own value. Relatively few men have been here. Many emotions arise. The wagons arrive. All well. The first stage of the expedition is over. Just five days from home. The brothers White from Bicknell were our team drivers. Early supper, cooked by the boatmen. Talk and plans. In bed at 9:30. The full moon


206

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

filled the valley with a new beauty. The high sheer wall to the east looked dark and forbidding; the lower range on die west glowed with a living glory. The small valley had its sounds— the sounds of the desert—intense in their stillness. God be thanked for the earth and its beauty; for life; for hope—and now at this moment for our safe journey so far. Friday, Sept. 8, 1922. —Call was promised for 6 o'clock, but the "early birds" of the party began to make noises at 5 A.M. Up and dressed at 5:30 A.M. Breakfast. Packing. Davis shaves; Caldwell half shaves; Thomas sleeps in clean underwear; Dennis puts on a clean shirt—everybody else observe camp proprieties. The sun rises high and warm. The crossing of the Pioneers, Hall's Crossing, was some distance above the landing place of the wagons, up towards the sunken dredge. 16 Elev. at Hall's Crossing 3240 feet. Boats packed. Left in boats at 8:45 A.M. Sept. 8— from Hall's Landing. High red sandstone on both sides—varying in height. Mostly in shades. Green glens here and there. At 10 A.M. stopped at Site of Bedrock Dam. 17 Rock across river—Guertzik [quartzite?]—Red and chocolate sandstone in sides. Left at 11 A.M. Wimmer Sr., LaRue, Davis, and I in rear boat of the first two. Caldwell, Dennis, Birdseye, Kayler, Stabler and Freeman in front boat. Young Wimmer in rear of second two; Stetson, Young and Thomas in front of second "two." Jones and Ramsauer boatmen. Ran the Whirlpool Rapids about 12 M and half filled our boats. Stopped just below for lunch, under overhanging rock. Rested on fine light yellowish gray, almost white, sand. High cliffs, 800 to 900 feet high on both sides. River perhaps 400 feet wide. A few soft layers in rock, but most of it seems very hard. All red in color. From point to point the picturesqueness of the canyon increases. The walls are less vertical. Left lunch camp at 1:15 P M . Stopped at oil seep on right hand side of canyon at 2:45. Pipes driven down there— lf »ln 1901, Robert B. Stanton had brought a $350,000.00 gold dredge to the Colorado for placer operations. It was soon found unprofitable and was abandoned two or three miles above the mouth of Hall's Creek. "This site is six miles below Hall's Crossing and one mile below Lake Canyon, which comes into the river from the east. See E. C. LaRue, Water Power and Flood Control of Colorado River Below Green River, Utah (U. S. G. S. Water-Supply Paper 556, Washington, D. C , 1925), 27, for description of this possible dam site.


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. W I D T S O E

207

an old scraper; dugway, 2 cabins lower down. Oil seeping out of side hill. Stopped only 10 minutes. Three quarters of an hour later stopped to inspect a damsite. 18 Found shale in walls. No further examinations. The scenery is sublime. Great cliffs of magestic proportions and vivid red, and of infinite variety. Immense arches, auditoriums, stadiums, amphitheatres, temples, palaces, nature's writing on the walls. There are hanging gardens, groves and glens, apparently blind alleys that turn everywhere as you come nearer. Occasionally mighty rocks tower out of the river. There is an overpowering quality in the feeling induced by the scenes along the River. One of the most notable days of my life! W e camped about 5:45 p.m. opposite the mouth of Escalante River.19 The sandbars would not permit us to camp in the mouth of the Escalante River. The thrilling moment of the day was when we shot the rapids (whirlpool) and the high waves broke over our gunwales. The next, when our boat struck a sharp rock, and a one inch hole was cut in our boat. The red sandstone cliffs at our evening camp are about 1200 feet high, rising sheer from the river but castellated on top. Saw on the sand at lunch time, tracks of cats, etc. Great blue heron stand and fly gracefully at many points. White heron also at times. Ducks also quite plentiful. Our camp is on a high sandbar thrown against the side of the canyon. The sand is fine, clean and dry. The water from Escalante Creek muddier than the River; and the water of the River a brownish yellow and almost tepid in temperature. Stetson, Stabler, Birdseye and Dennis played cards in boat by candle light until 9:45. No betting, but much seriousness. High Stakes. The others went to bed early and talked themselves to sleep. Saturday, Sept. 9, 1922. —Towards midnight the over the high mountain. A cloudless day. About four ing the light of day began to come. The great wall camp came out of its gray dimness yellow, pink and

moon came in the mornopposite our salmon then

18 About seven miles above the mouth of Escalante River. See ibid, for description. 19 The party had traveled about thirty miles this day with Lee's Ferry, their destination, about eighty-eight miles downstream.


>

o

35

I


rjJtrii-Otrjj cu am/mo


210

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

an intense red, with the culmination of yellow red when the full rays of the morning sun struck them. Breakfast—'morning work. Left in boats at 8 A.M. A cool morning. Traveled 45 minutes. Reached Hole in the Rock20 at 8:40. Landed. Just above, about a hundred feet above River, a bench covered with grass and brush. Clearly a perennial spring there. From the River, the Hole in the Rock is a narrow V shaped valley, running back only a short distance, and then the V sloping steeply upward. At the crotch 1200 feet high, is a hole, U shaped, with a narrow slit lower and to one side made by the pioneers. Nearly the whole party climbed to the top. Just below the Hole in the Rock on the west side of River is the dugway which the pioneers followed in reaching the ferry. Going up, a rock house of red sandstone is seen in a low spot, not far from a little stream. Roof burned. Well built, perhaps 12x16 feet.21 Road is easily seen on right hand side as we move upward. W e try to reach it. It is well marked, though completely washed out in places. Soon it reaches a grade of 3 5 % or more. While steep all the way it is only a bad dugway until 2/3 of way up when it becomes one of the world's wonders. The upper third is made over apparently inaccessible points. In places, the sheer rock or great faces of rock, down which no man could safely go, have been covered from the bottom of the gulch up with rock to form a foundation for the six feet scant roadbed. In other places it was necessary to go over the slick, steep rock. So steps have been cut in the rock to hold the wagons and animals as they came slowly over the road. These steps now make easy stairways for climbing. As we approach the top, the notch becomes so narrow that one wonders if it was really wide enough for a wagon. It really seems incredible that teams and wagons passed over the road. Pickmarks are still visible from the day of making. Blasting was resorted to, and the tops of powder cans were found. A large cast iron wheel had broken, and the rem20 The famous Hole in the Rock crossing is four miles downstream from the mouth of Escalante River. It was here, in the winter of 1879-80, where the San Juan Expedition laboriously hewed a road down the rocky rim to the river, some two thousand feet below. For recent studies on this pioneer exploit see articles by David E. Miller in The Salt Lake Tribune, April 11, 1954, and Deseret News, December 4, 1954. 21 lt was built about 1900 as a store for trading with the Navajos.


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. W I D T S O E

211

nants were lying at the top and down in the gulch. Brother Young broke off a piece of the tire for me. I picked up at the notch itself a broken horseshoe, of what date I do not know. The names of several people were carved at the notch—visitors who had come from Escalante no doubt. O. F. Hunter and C. A. Quigley had registered in 1896. A location notice was just above the notch, held down by the hub of the broken wheel. From the top the open country towards Escalante was seen. Rather regular and without serious barrier. Towards the southeast a huge range of the usual flat topped mountains. W e also picked up two pieces of broken glass of the old type. The evidence of the labor and hopes of the pioneers was on every hand. It was clear that the one possible place for many miles had been chosen, and that the low country on the other side furnished approach to the inner San Juan Country. Moreover, the clear fine water running down the Hole in the Rock valley or crotch, no doubt made the place desirable. Coming down, about half way on a sandy ridge, I found a piece of Indian pottery, and others found chipped flint. Returning to the boats we had lunch. A roadway along the west side of the River was quite evident. Across the River a very distinct dugway up the relatively low (400 feet) mountain. From the top the road on top across the River was clearly visible. The dugway was built under difficult circumstances; the road was built on side rocks, but not so steep. W e left for the Hole in the Rock at 9:45 A.M. and returned at 12M. After lunch we left for the mouth of the San Juan River. On the left hand or west side of the River were remains of a road that seemed to follow the River to the San Juan—at distance of 7 miles. Query: Did the pioneers build such a road? 22 Why? Did they drive cattle there to swim across River? The water of the River all day has been very quiet—like a lake. Huge red rocks on both sides. Blind ends. Countless ravines break the rocks frequently. By 3 o'clock we were at the mouth of San Juan River.23 22

Probably built by miners about 1900. The San Juan comes into the Colorado from the east about six miles below the Hole in the Rock. 23


212

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

I am very proud indeed of the Record made by our people as shown in the Hole in the Rock episode. God has been with the people, and they have left an imperishable record. The trip up to the Hole was the finest sermon that could have been preached to our company. The expressions of admiration of the people were almost extravagant. Our story in the mountains should be told in full and plain langauge. The San Juan enters the Colorado almost at right angles. It is thick and red and discolors the Colorado more than half way across. W h e r e they meet the San Juan is chocolate colored, and the Colorado coffee colored. The San Juan is probably 150 feet wide. Great sandbars show the behavior of the River. The San Juan must carry an immense quantity of silt, etc. "My kingdom for a bath!" As we came down the River, near the junction in the San Juan, we had a fine view of the Navajo Mts. 24 Sunday, Sept. 10, 1922.—Our camp is on a sandbar 20 feet below the land above. Opposite is a length of red sandstone cliff 1000 feet high. Down the river a quarter of a mile a dark red standstone cliff 1200 or more feet high rises transversely to the course of the River where we camp. T o the left just below our camp, the San Juan enters the River. The Colorado turns to the right as it strikes the transverse rock below, and meanders on with the added burden. Last night the full moon flooded the deep canyon. The view revived the deep emotions that accompany the noble scenery of this wonderful trip. The early sun gilded the mountain in front of us. For more than 2 hours the sunlight climbed down the sheer cliff across the River to our camp. The night was cold and the cool of the morning was very acceptable after the heat of yesterday. W e are probably camping on the spot occupied by J. W. Powell and his party in '69, as it is the only camping place near the junction of the San Juan and Colorado. 25 24 Navajo Mountain, the most outstanding landmark in the entire area, lies nearly south of the confluence of the Colorado and San Juan rivers and just north of the Utah-Arizona line. 25 The diaries, journals, and other related material of the John Wesley Powell Colorado River Explorations, 1869, 1871-72, have been published as Volumes XV, XVI-XVII of the Utah Historical Quarterly.


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. W I D T S O E

213

Dennis sings a sacred song. Breakfast over by 6:45 A.M. Stetson's outing boots prove too heavy. He goes into immaculate white sneakers. The Colorado mud decorates them in a few minutes. Caldwell shaves again. A. P. Davis lends me a thin blue shirt, since I have only heavy woollen ones. Prof. Thomas shaved last night. He looks young and handsome. This morning he is sewing up rifts in his clothing. Everybody happy, though Stetson declares that next time he is going to spend the preceding six months walking up every hill in Washington, and cut out cigarettes. About 8 o'clock all but Birdseye and Stabler with help, crossed the San Juan. W e attempted to scale to highest point but found the walls unscalable. This checks with Powell's statement. He tried to do the same thing and failed.26 W e find a notch in the wall, which permits a view of the San Juan and of the upper country in San Juan County. Mountain and mountain and draws between and some open country. Dry and barren, with very little vegetation. Fantastic cliffs everywhere. W e rested in the notch, cut pineaple cactus, etc. told stories. Came over the shady rocky cliffs, where we can see the San Juan pouring into Colorado and also the Colorado swinging around the next turn, and also the high country above the Colorado walls. In the distance the country above the River. The high dark red cliffs that we left in Grand Gulch appear, and the Grand Canyon country begins to appear. Lunch. Every man sings or tells stories. I sermonize by request. Five of the active ones push a large rock down the bleak rocky side. The rock at last moves, rolls and smashes into fragments. W e must keep in shadows, so remain on rocky hillside until sun shifts around and chases us off. The environment is marvelous. There is a Sunday feeling in the air. About 3 P.M. we go down to the River. The engine balks and it is about 4 o'clock by the time we pass the San Juan and make camp. The echo here is remarkable. It magnifies and is distinct. Echoes everywhere. 26

See J. C. Sumner's journal entry for July 31, 1869, in ibid., XV, 117.


214

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Monday, Sept. 11, 1922. —The surveying party finished its work late last night. A fine night, rather cold towards morning. Up by 5:30 A.M. W e pack and are off. High walls on both sides of us; then breaking into lower walls, especially on east side. The water smooth as a lake. Blue heron on the shores; green patches in crevices of the high walls (about 1200 ft. high). Many little side canyons, great arches, caves, amphitheatres; coves; turns, bends; pinnacles; towers, domes; galleries; paths; reflections of wondrous delicacy, broken and softened by the ripples. As the sun rises, the light reflected from the ripples makes the water a golden yellow; where the shadows still lie, the light from the rock walls make the water a lustrous red and gold. It is altogether wonderful. About 1^4 miles down from San Juan junction, an immense amphitheatre, the largest yet seen appears on the right. It is a narrow, high winding gorge, with a small stream trickling down it. Near the entrance are dense groves of scrub oak, and large patches of poison oak. As we enter, the gorge narrows, a blue rift above is the sky. W h e r e the gorge widens a vast overhanging canopy wholly shuts out the light. A little further on the gorge narrows and water fills the passageway. W e find it inadvisable to proceed further. In this twilight-lighted, moist nook, vegetation is profuse climbing up the rocky slopes and fastening itself in really impossible places as it seems to us. Man-high is a shelf carrying a most perfect bed, perhaps 10 to 15 feet long, of beautiful maidenhair fern. W e name the place Maidenhair Gorge." On the way back I am caught knee-high in soft clay or quicksand, but I catch up with the procession. As we voyage down, J4 mile further, on our left is the music hall, so named by Major Powell. 28 W e only see the entrance, for we decided not to explore it. Suddenly to our right a huge promontory appears above the highest walls, of the chocolate colored sandstone. At its very end reclines a huge stone lion, so we call it Lion Promontory. It is a good landmark.

"This is a beautiful description of what is now called "Hidden Passage." For colorful descriptions (by members of the Powell expeditions) of the sandstone grotto, still called "Music Hall" or "Music Temple," see ibid., XV, 117, 128, and XVI-XVH, 96, 244, 340; also J. W. Powell, Exploration of the Colorado River of the West (Washington, 1875), 70-71. 28


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. W I D T S O E

215

The walls now begin to diminish in height. On the left we soon see Navaho Mountain, not more than 5 or 6 miles distant. Its curved outline and dark color, contrasts vividly with the colorful rectangular outlines of the canyon rocks. A quarter after ten we land just in front of Lion Promontory—where a possible damsite exists, the last in Utah, for this trip. Oak Creek site.29 Half a mile above us, on the west side, at the very top of the 1200 foot wall is an immense natural bridge. The segment of blue sky reveals the length of the bridge. W e call it Bill Jones' Bridge, in honor of Bill Jones, our mountain goat. The camp is on rock, just above Bridge Canyon. W e go a few hundred, yards and have a swim in the pool of clear water from the tiny creek that comes down the canyon. W e are now 69 miles from Lee's Ferry—51 miles from Hall's Landing— 10 miles below San Juan Canyon. At Bridge Canyon is perhaps the best damsite yet seen, but the walls are lower than elsewhere, so that a really large storage reservoir would be impossible. The location of camp is most picturesque. A massive dark red sandstone wall in front of us; almost equally massive walls right and left of us; and a massive wall high enough to form the skyline behind us. W e are hemmed in. The river comes out of a hidden bend, and goes out through a similar one. Two high rocky castles look down upon us from the northwest. The light roar of the rapids just below us makes music for us. Willows and other green growths cling to the higher land, above high water, on the side of our camp. It is a delightful spot. Tuesday, Sept. 12, 1922.—We break camp early. W e leave camp about 7:50 A.M. and walk up Aztec Canyon. Aztec Canyon opens on the River. Bridge Canyon is the left hand fork in which Rainbow Bridge is located. 30 W h e r e Aztec Canyon opens on the River it is very narrow and very inconsequential, and might easily 29 This dam site is slightly below the mouth of Oak Creek, seven miles below mouth of the San Juan, and seventy-one miles above Lee's Ferry. See LaRue, op. cit., 27. S0 Rainbow Bridge is one of the great natural wonders of the world. It is about six miles up from the Colorado and is accessible only from the river or by pack trail from Rainbow Lodge some miles to the south.


216

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

be overlooked. In fact Kolb Brothers 31 at first overlooked it; now a sign across the river reads, Bridge Canyon, J. G. Wimmer, and date of 1921. W h e r e Aztec Canyon forks, there is cut in die rock "E. C. Kolb." A small stream runs down the whole canyon. At first the canyon is very narrow and the cliffs high. Everything is shade. W e walk in red sandstone most of the time. Beautiful pools of colored water are found all along the canyon. The sandstone is tipped up a little to form steps. In one place a parallel series of steps are formed very regularly with water running down between. Very beautiful. W e name it Venus' Stairs. The canyon widens and narrows, winds and turns, is sunshiny and shady—filled with water or only a seep, with groves of willows and brush, surmounted by pinnacles and temples, or by sheer walls. In itself it is a place of unusual interest. At length we get our first glimpse of the Bridge. It is a beautiful red sandstone arch, rising 300 feet from its foundation and 277 feet across. Below is the gulch of the stream. It is a sublime sights—unique of its kind—-the greatest natural bridge known. It seems the rock projected up the canyon. The stream beat against it and was turned around it, where it beat against it again. Thus the first hole was made. Then the chasm sank. The Bridge is a marvelous commentary on time. W h a t cannot time do. And! W h a t wonders hath God wrought! I spent an hour dreaming in the shadow of the Bridge. Lunch. Then Brother Young went out scouting, and found an active squirrel which he followed, and found the lost Registry book. Bridge at top—3946 [feet]. Extracts from Register. Parties in at Bridge. Sept. 1909.—Arthur & Helen Townsend, N.Y. Sept. 1910—Mrs. Wassworth & Party of 7 with guide and cook. 31 Emery C. and Ellsworth L. Kolb were pioneer photographers at Grand Canyon, establishing their studio there in 1903, which Emery still runs. In 1911 they made an historic boat trip down the river from Green River, Wyoming, taking motion pictures as they went. See Ellsworth L. Kolb, Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to ^Mexico (New York, 1914); also Lon Garrison, "A Camera and a Dream," Arizona Highways. January, 1953, pp. 30-35.


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. W I D T S O E

217

July 1910—8 with guides—John Wetherill of Oljato, Utah, each time.32 Aug. 14, 1909— Byron Cummings 33 Malcolm Cummings Don Beaureguard Neil Judd Steve Young John Wetherill—Guide also six others — 1 from Washington, 5 from San Juan County and 3 guides. Feb. 1911—3 — Wetherill, Kayenta, Ariz. Oct. 1 9 1 2 - 5 - & Wetheril. Aug. 1913— Theodore Roosevelt with Archie — Quentin & Nick 3 guides. — Wetherill. May 19, 1913. Zane Grey and party of 2 and 3 guides. Aug. 24, 1916—3 and 2 guides. May 18, 1918—4 and 2 guides July 19, 1919 Byron Cummings 15 and 2 guides. May 1917 — 3 and 4 guides with family. Oct. 27, 1921—Trimbles party, 5 incl. help, first boat party. Nov. 4, 1921—J. G. Wimmer, U.S.G.S. Oct. 7, 1921—E. C. LaRue and Ed. Page Aug. 16, 1922—4 and 3 guides. Aug. 12, 1922—Boy Scout party headed by Robt A. Patterson, Ariz. School Hartford, Conn. 12 boys Aug. 5, 1922—2 and 2 guides June 8, 1922—5 and 2 guides. July 5, 1922 4 and 2 guides, also Earl H. Morris of Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. S2 John and Louise Wetherill were early traders to the Navajos in the Monument Valley area. They established their post in 1906 on Moonlight Wash just north of the Arizona-Utah line and a few miles west of the road that runs southwest from Mexican Hat. In 1910 they moved south to Kayenta where they operated a post until their death in the middle 1940's. For details about their rather remarkable life among the Navajos see Frances Gillmor and Louisa Wade Wetherill, Traders to the Navajos (Boston, 1934); Richard E. Klinck, Land of Room Enough and Time Enough (Albuquerque, 1953); and "In Memory of the Wetherills," Desert Magazine, September, 1954, p. 13. 33 Byron Cummings was a professor from the University of Utah and took several archaeological expeditions down into the Navajo Country. See Utah Historical Quarterly, XXIII (April, 1955), 145-50.


218

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Apr. 20, 1922, Zane Grey and party of 6—2 guides. May 10, 1922—2 and 2 guides. Nov. 21 - U.S.G. Party - 4 Nov. 19, 1921 - 2 Oct. 18, 1921 — 8 U.S.G.S. party. Sept. 4, 1921 — 5 Aug. 20, 1918 — 3 July 29, 1921 3 and 1 guide. July 10, 1921 — Bernheiner says "A sense of home-sickness brought me here on a second visit to the arch and the wonders of the journey — 2 and 4 guides Earl H. Morris says "Here hath the Master wrought with consummate skill." July 4, 1921 — Party of 6 from Kayenta and Tuba City, Arizona. Sept. 26, 1920 — 5 — "and there were giants in those days". Sept. 11, 1920 — 2 and 3 guides. Aug. 3, 1920 — Byron Cummings — 8 and 2 guides. July 5, 6 — 4 and 3 guides. "A wonderful work of your God. Remain and worship him in all his glory." June 7, 1920 — May Jacobs — guides. June 8, 1920 — 3 from Arizona. May 23, 1920 — 1 and 3 guides. 187 altogether — not counting guides, but counting some twice. 36 women — outside of Cummings party and this one, very few Utah people. Copies from Register found at Rainbow Bridge, only the covers were found in the bay provided near the left hand end of the arch (looking u p ) . Brother Young went on a hunt and, following a squirrel, found it in the squirrel's nest, under a big boulder. The book is about 9 inches long, and about 3 inches wide, bound the long way. The covers were in the proper places. "Near the Escalante River 8 ^ miles from the Colorado River and % miles up "40 Mile Creek" on the south side of the Escalante is a natural bridge 75 feet high, with a span of 100 feet. This bridge is across the creek and forms a perfect bridge and


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. W I D T S O E

219

not an arch." 34 (Signed by W . R. Chenowith, U. S. Geol. Survey, Nov. 21, 1921.) Came down the canyon gently, as the late afternoon sun was throwing most of the canyon in deep shadow. The mouth of Bridge Canyon proper is very narrow and very striking because of the narrow long slit that it forms. It is quite narrow everywhere, but widens out to quarter of a city block here and there. On two shelves were cliff dwelling remains. Returned to camp about 6:30. Supper. Rest, then a swim in the pool. Long talk with Caldwell. In bed about 10 P.M. The reflections should be recorded. In River, pools and small streams, the highly colored rocks are reflected with a softening and a tempering beauty. In Aztec Canyon notable, with its hundred pools, the succession of reflections form a marvelous delight to eye and brain. The simple beauty of the Bridge approaches perfection. It stands free from all nearby rocks. It spans the whole canyon. Through it from one side may be seen the Navaho Mt. It is perfectly symmetrical, or so appears and of uniform size. It is a perfect bit of the Master's work. Wednesday, Sept. 13, 1922.—Up at 5:20. Cloudy for the first time since leaving Hall's Landing, but only small drifting clouds, which are all gone by 7 o'clock, when the uniform blue dome again dominates the sky. The first rays of the sun make the red wall above us a living deep red. Every one of the party looks on and is thrilled. W e are off early, leaving on our boats before 7:30 A.M. Just below Aztec Canyon is the narrowest part of the canyon—possibly 50 feet wide—and some miles farther down is the longest straight stretch of the canyon. W e are 69 miles from Lee's Crossing and 28 miles from the Crossing of the Fathers. About one mile below Aztec Canyon on west side is a dugway trail from top to River. In places steps are hewn in the rock, and in others holes are bored in the rock and sticks set up to form support for surface of path. Probably used for path for horses to get down to water. 34 The bridge described here is geologically similar to Rainbow Bridge. Herbert E. Gregory and Raymond C. Moore, The Kaiparowits Region (Professional Paper 164, Washington, 1931), 144.


220

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

About 15 miles below Aztec Canyon we see distinct horse trail leading probably to Lee's Ferry. Rock Creek to east of us. Scenery becoming more variegated, especially on east side. Most sheer walls now on west side. Vegetation clings to rock in every possible place. Glens at every turn of River, willows, but no cottonwoods. Do beavers cut them? W e land three times on sandbars. Our lunch place is a mile or two below Last Chance Creek. A mile or two below our lunch camp is the Crossing of the Fathers. There is some dispute as to the exact place. 35 (Look up Escalante Journal). On the west side is a broad bench sloping down to the River, and ]/% miles lower is a cliff in the rock which slopes up to the table land. It is very probable that the latter is the place of the Crossing by Escalante. On the east side for a half a mile the country slopes down to the River with several places of ascent. Opposite the cliff above mentioned is a rock spit in the River, which probably made fording possible at the late date of the Fathers' Crossing. It was with very serious thoughts that I passed this historic spot, and reviewed the hardships of the long trail of Escalante and Dominguez. The beginning of things always cause emotions to arise. W e pass Cottonwood Creek from the west, and several of many side canyons during the day which have not yet been named. About 6:07 we land at the mouth of W a r m Creek. A huge loving cup guards the entrance and the creek itself comes stealing into the river behind the great base of the cup. Why not call it Loving Cup Creek.36 It seems proper that a loving cup should stand practically on the border between Utah and Arizona. Pure water runs down from the highlands. It is said that timber was brought down this canyon and used for the building of a steamer which is now at Lee's Ferry. 37 36 U. S. Geological Survey maps and other publications locate the Crossing of the Fathers at Kane Creek, forty miles above Lee's Ferry. In 1937 Charles Kelly and Dr. R. G. Frazier, with the aid of Escalante's diary, definitely located the crossing a mile downstream at Padre Creek. See Charles Kelly, "At Eighty-Three He is An Explorer," Saturday Evening Post, May 6, 1939. 86 Referred to by the river runners as Incinerary Urn or the Devils Coffee Pot. 37 A brief description of the building and purpose of this boat is in Kolb, op. cit, 171-72.


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. W I D T S O E

221

During the day the country has opened up chiefly on the east side. Great buttes and towers and castles and peaks, etc., etc., etc., rise above the canyon wall, near and in the distance. A very interesting prospect. The red of the rocks is darker than above. As the low sun strikes the rocks they look a clear yellow. W e run on sandbars a dozen times. Our engine stops at 2 o'clock. W e row until 5 o'clock, then the engine decides to start again. All well and happy but tired of canned goods. W h e n we land we find that the cooks have plenty of fresh meat. Thursday, Sept. 14, 1922.—No rain during night. W e have had perfect weather so far. In dawn of the morning the great walls that surround were a tender rosy red. Shall I ever see anything so charmingly appealing again. The clear sky, the firmament of stars and the full moon, have made our nights wondrous in their beauty. This morning about 7:30 we went up W a r m Creek. A narrow, winding, red walled canyon, with a creek of beautiful clear water coming down. In places, the majestic walls stand so high as to darken the canyon. W e climbed out to the top. Open country—perhaps several thousand acres of good land. The high rocks characteristic of the Grand Canyon, projecting here and there, north and east. The Navaho mountain and several landmarks. A most remarkable panorama, but entirely too vast for a kodak or a pen. After descending the canyon again, lunch, Caldwell and I gossipped for an hour or two; then bathed our feet, then slowly walking to camp, arrived there about 5 p.m. just in time for supper. W r o t e and gossiped. My bed is so placed that I look down the River. High red walls on both sides until a slight bend in the River partly obscures one side. Right across at the end is an immense red cliff and on top the faint print of a flattopped mountain. It is a most attractive view. My bed stands on the driest, cleanest sand. Friday, Sept. 15, 1922. —Our trip to the top yesterday was to look over the possible spillway into the Wahweaps. 3 8 It seems 38 The feasibility of a spillway in connection with a dam built below the mouth of Warm Creek was one of the attractive features of this proposed dam site. LaRue, op. cit, 26.


222

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

very feasible that any of the damsites in this neighborhood could spill over at this point into the Wahweaps, and thus reduce the cost of building. The mouth of W a r m Creek is well marked by the loving cup and a hole in the rock. W e leave at 7:30. Soon we pass Navaho Creek on the east; then stop on a sandbar for a short time to examine a damsite in a narrow part of the canyon. Walls high and straight on both sides. River about 500 feet wide. Flow sluggish. Just below W a r m Creek, the red walls slope backwards and large talus heaps. This however changes in two or three miles and the walls are again high and straight. The far prospect is cut off. W e stop at two damsites and make surveys. 39 It seems that neither is equal to Lee's Ferry Site. About 5 p.m. we reach Wahweap Creek. It is marked by a high sentinel rock noted by Powell,40 the only one of its kind in Glen Canyon. Sentinel Rock stands 400 feet high—a massive and imposing monument. The stream comes out as in most of the tributaries at a slight angle with the River—almost parallel. The water is bluish as if it carries alkali in solution and very fine clay in suspension. W e are now between 17 and 18 miles from Lee's Ferry. The river today has varied in width from 500—700 feet. Our camp for the night at mouth of Wahweap is on a smooth sandbar, and entirely surmounded by high red walls to form a small enclosed valley with the river running strong by the bar. Saturday, Sept. 16, 1922. —Up at dawn. Breakfast. Broke camp. W e are more nearly closed in by unbroken high walls than at any other camp that we have had and in any other part of the River. As the light came this morning through the canyon bending from the east, the western wall became a rosy red; the north a dull but decided red, the east black and polished and the south lost in the semi-darkness. The same relation held for two hours 39 The survey of these two dam sites, known as Sentinel Rock Dam Sites Nos. 1 and 2, is related in ibid. The former site is located at mile 23J^ above Lee's Ferry or 7 miles above the mouth of Wahweap Creek, and the latter at mile 1 8 ^ above Lee's Ferry. 4 °F. S. Dellenbaugh, A Canyon Voyage (New York, 1908), 149.


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. W I D T S O E

223

as the light increased without any direct sunshine entering our little wall bound valley. Our sandbar is of two levels, and a third level of rocky talus above the second. Most of us slept on the second level. Prof. Thomas showed me last night a photo of his wife and children. A wholesome family. He is one of the City directors of Pasadena. The captain says we will camp at Lee's Ferry tonight and will remain there until we go to Flagstaff with the truck. Looking back this has been one of the great trips of my life. The scenery has been so vast, varied and awe inspiring. The solitude has been so complete. The beautiful courses of canyons and glens have been so full of beauty. The slow flowing river has been so thought promoting. The clear sky and the starlit and moonlit nights have brought us so near to the meaning of things "as they are". The whole result has been one of continuous, wholesome elevating and especially soul stimulating enjoyment. The "Jimson" weed has been abundant. The flowers are open at night, large white and delicate. They close as the sun rises. W e stop a few moments at the upper Ferry site. Walls over 1000 feet high. W e stop at the Ferry Dam Site. Soon after we land the pirates come. They have hoisted a red bandana in front; a white flag, skull and crossbones, at rear boat; all the pirates had handkerchiefs tied around their heads. Three ducks were hung to the front flagstaff. As they passed our camp they sang viciously. "Yoho and a bottle of rum." One of the pirates in the rear boat has a knife between his teeth. As they land below our boat they sing with blood-thirsty voices—Yoho and a bottle of rum. Then a regular piratical college yell. W e want food! Down with the Corporations! W e ' r e for Public Ownership! Give us free maple syrup! Fifteen men on a Dead Man's Chest Yoho and a bottle of Rum! Drink and the Devil have done for the rest Yoho and a bottle of rum!


224

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Bill is wounded, but the pirates forsake him to dress his own wounds. Down from the hills comes Davis' sonorous voice Oh I am a Pirate King I am a Pirate King It is indeed a glorious thing To be a pirate king. W e cross the river to damsite upper Lee's Ferry—9}^ miles above Ferry. 41 LaRue and Davis go up the hill side after rock samples. Caldwell, abetted and held back by Freeman, pushes big chunks of silt into River and splashes us in rear boat, especially Dennis and Tom. A fight ensues, those on the bank almost defeated when Col. Birdseye appeared and reinforced the enemy. Birdseye caught in the back. Caldwell in front, both like drowned rats. Tom hides from Birdseye. LaRue and Davis appear and truce is declared. W e camp for lunch at spring on east side of River about 8J/£ miles above Lee's Ferry. Note that upper side near curve in River where tunnel may be dug. During the last day the Canyon walls have become higher. Today they rise 100 to 1400 feet above the river. They are very imposing, and the canyon is just somewhat terrible, when both sides are sheer and rising 1200 feet or more above the water. About 4J/2 miles above Lee's Ferry we come to the lower damsite.42 The canyon is straight for 2 miles. The damsite is half way down this straight stretch. The rock looks solid on both sides. Great vertical fissures are observed. They do not seem to lie as horizontal as in most parts of the canyon. This looks by all odds the most promising site that we have seen.43 450 feet "Called Glen Canyon Dam Site No. 2, and described in LaRue, op. cit, 25.

42

Called Glen Canyon Dam Site No. 1, and described by LaRue as the best location for a dam site in Glen Canyon. See ibid., 19-25. *3It should be remembered that E. C. LaRue, the U. S. Geological Survey hydraulic engineer, was a member of the party and had conducted several earlier surveys of Colorado River dam sites. Dr. Widtsoe undoubtedly was concurring in LaRue's choice. See Note 42 above. Today the proposed Glen Canyon dam site is located at mile 15.2 above Lee's Ferry, slightly more than a mile below the mouth of the Wahweap. This choice has been made as a result of drilling and geological surveying subsequent to the LaRue-Widtsoe explorations. Fractured rock and other considerations, economic and scientific, contributed to the abandonment of the earlier site.


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. W I D T S O E

225

at water; 1400 feet at top; 100 feet dam and 3500 feet tJirough mountain from river to river. There is an unusual solemnity about the whole canyon. It grows on you as you remain in the canyon. Another mile or two and the mountains change into peaks and rugged outlines. In a deep canyon the sand has been blown in until die effect is that of a glacier. Then beyond, rise the Vermillion cliffs and the range of sheer cliffs of the Pariah. A hydrographic station comes into view; then, as we round a corner, Lee's Ferry comes into view. W e pass under the cable, turn to the west and camp just below the Ferry proper. A log cabin stands just above the Ferry. Seems to be very old. Half a mile down along a good driveway are 3 or 4 stonehouses with necessary outbuildings also of rock. These were built in part during gold seeking days. Another mile down the River and across the Pariah is the old John D. Lee Ranch. 44 On one side of the main Kanab road which runs through the Ranch, are vineyards and fruit trees. On the other alfalfa, etc. Big cottonwoods around the yard, planted by John D. Lee. Lee's log cabin still stands behind and to one side of the two story frame house which is the main house of the ranch. A large, shingled barn. All water obtained from a ditch from the Pariah. Some apple trees behind the house some 10-15 rods. The ranch was occupied by Price Johnson, who with his brother and their families spend the winter there. The Johnsons are sons of W a r r e n M. Johnson who in obedience to a call came to the Ferry in 1875 and lived there 20 years. Price Johnson is about 30 years of age, very dark; quiet and gentlemanly. He and his brother ran a sawmill on the Buckskin Mt. which did not pay. So now are running the Lee Ranch which really is owned by a California livestock company. Ranch house built by Warren M. Johnson from lumber hauled from Long Valley. In a little 4 *Lee, a participant in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, had established his home, Lonely Dell, near the mouth of the Paria in the winter of 1871-72. He built and operated a ferry a mile or so above its mouth which, until the construction of Navajo Bridge at Marble Canyon in 1929, was an important link in the road between southern Utah and northern Arizona. Lee lived here until his arrest in 1874, and execution in 1877. Many travelers testify to the courtesy and hospitality of Lee and his family, and several members of the Powell expedition, particularly Frederick S. Dellenbaugh and W. C. Powell, recorded their observations of him,


226

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

cemetery lie four children, who died within two weeks of diptheria —gathered from dust from an old travelers chest. Warren M. Johnson after being released from Lee's Ferry fell from hay load at Fredonia and broke his back. Died 6 years later. On the road from the Ferry to the Pariah, lie iron tubes, pipes, joints, taps, etc. In the River a few rods from the Ferry lies a steamboat, half submerged in the sand with steam boiler, two smokestacks, etc., exposed. Another steam engine plant, partly dismantled, lies further on. Wrecks of human ambition lie scattered all about. It is an interesting commentary on how the world is conquered. The surroundings in Lee's Ferry, while barren, are very colorful and entrancing. Young Price Johnson gave us grapes, watermelon, mushmellon, apples and almond nuts. It was a feast especially after two weeks of canned goods and bacon. Sunday, Sept. 17, 1922. —Up before dawn. The morning coloring of the cliffs was extraordinarily beautiful. The vermillion glow illuminated the valley. Then the changes came one after another. The gamut thrilled our souls. At 6:50 A.M. Caldwell, Young and I with the others following about 15 minutes later, began to climb up the mule trail about }/% mile above the Ferry. It was die steepest yet the best trail of its kind tried by me. W e climbed to the top, about 1400 feet above the Ferry in 1 hour and 35 minutes. A panorama of astounding proportions lay on all sides of us. T o the west and south were the windings of the marble canyon, which looked like deep cuts in a flat table land. Far to the south and west loomed Buckskin mountain. Just below us to the west was the deep canyon of the Pariah. North and west was the great table lands of the High Plateaus—rising above each other in three great divisions the escarpments of which were plainly seen. T o the north and east we could see the windings of the Colorado, along which we had come. It seems a bit awful; and we had to shake ourselves and say, we have been down in it, and it's very pleasant there. Far beyond to the north and east were many fantastic remains of the high table lands. The Navaho mountain, now covered with a purple mist still lifted its symmetrical rounded outline out of the plateau. Just below


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. WIDTSOE

227

us, lay vaults like the last few turns of the Colorado through which we came. W e stand on the edge and peer down. The water, silvery at this distance, is flowing quietly; the sandbars look small, the glens dots of green. The excellent site of the dam is distinctly visible. T h e colors are not in the chasm, but they riot above and beyond, for wherever the eye ranges, it sees red and yellow, and brown and gray and grayish green in a complexity of combinations. Above all a blue sky with a wealth of great white clouds. The scene is one of brilliant immensity. This is the Lord's Day, and we worship Him this day through his works. Stetson approaches the edge and is photographed. Then we move up to the highest point, named by us Panorama Point, where the view is even larger. There we are photographed as a party, since some of us may leave for Tuba City today. Caldwell and I come down the trail in 45 minutes. W e pack our belongings; have a glass of lemonade; and I complete the record in the Journal up to 12 M. W e go to the Ranch where Brother Price M. Johnson has been working all morning to get tires in shape to take us out. At 4 p.m. he is ready. W e pile in, and in % mile we have a blowout. W e decide to remain with the crowd. Price W . Johnson and I have a long serious talk. Life is a curious succession of unexpected occurrences. W h e n I get back to camp at dusk, the truck has arrived. Sprinkles during early morning. W a k e s the camp. Roger C. Rice, District Engineer U.S.G.S. for Arizona, c/o University, Tucson, Arizona, came on with party from Flagstaff. Mr. and Mrs. Staples and 3 children drove in from Hurricane at Ranch. Originally from Texas. Two T. B. Children. Traveled for 2 years. Have learned to like Mormon faith. He is a great talker. Now on way to Mesa. Monday, Sept. 18, 1922.—Everybody up early. Packing. Things ferried across and loaded on truck. Wimmer's machine pushed off Ferry after much difficulty—about 10:40 A.M. Dinner at the Cockrofts Residence. Hydrographer of the Edison Co., at Lee's Ferry. (J. G. Cockroft) Left Lee's Ferry about 3 p.m. Rowed across river where 2 autos and one truck were waiting. The truck had been loaded from the Ferry. Dugway wide enough but rolling and rough.


228

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Could not be much worse. In half or three quarters of an hour we approach more level country. Echo cliffs on right [left] or east. Great vermillion cliffs on left [right] or west. Marble Canyon, in a forbidding depth runs against vermillion cliffs. A fierce rapid just below Lee's Ferry. From now on rolling desert country. The Navaho Reservation. Good grass but water scarce. W e follow the Echo cliffs while the western cliffs disappear in the distance. Soon small bands of sheep, the crude huts of the Indians. "Hogans". Attempts at farming, a group of braves on horseback. Some women on the crest of a hill weaving carpets. They were so placed as to get shade from the cedars which now cover the country. The weaving apparatus is suspended between two cedars. Two Indian children are in the road with two little donkeys. The painted desert looks attractive in the late afternoon. The presence of the Indians give the scene an air of mystery and romance. The Indians are still uncivilized. W e reach the first trading post 35-40 miles from the Ferry (Cedar Ridge) and put up for the night. 45 Rugs, jewelry, etc., at the store. Bitter cold night. Contrast with the warm nights of the last two weeks. Tuesday, Sept. 19, 1922. —Up before daylight. Everybody shivering. Breakfast. Rolled my bed for the last time on this trip. Some of the party dickered for blankets and pawned jewelry. Few of us escape. Stetson, Thomas and Caldwell and I go on yellow taxi car to Tuba City, etc. W e drive through beautiful cedar covered country but in a short time the desert appears again. W e pass Indians and their "Hogans". At the next trading place where we arrive by 7:30 A.M. we stop to visit the store. W e photograph two squaws and their two pappooses. From now on Indian life on every hand. Custom seems to be to take Indian jewelry in pawn for groceries, etc., for a certain length of time. If unredeemed, sold at low price. W e arrive at Tuba City at 10:15. It lies on top of table land. First settled by Mormons, who had only squatters rights. 45 Cedar Ridge is still a trading post and is located on US 89, thirty-four miles south of Navajo Bridge.


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. W I D T S O E

229

Government bought them out. Some old Mormon houses still standing. Chiefly plastered houses. Now Indian school. W e saw the children out for recess. Dusky, happy boys. Few girls. Call on Supt, Mr. Sharp. Had lunch at Tuba City. Drove to Moencopi Village where a group of Hopi Indians live—about 300. Met the school teacher there. Spent an hour visiting with the Hopi, going through their houses etc. Very industrious, provident people. Live in houses of rock or adobe. Flat steps up sides to roofs and several stories. Corn, meat, vegetables, melons, etc., peppers, laying everywhere to be dried. Great piles of dried food in houses for winter. Fine fields well cultivated. Curious beginnings of civilization in the houses—phonographs, framed pictures and mirrors. Many modern utensils, including spring beds here and there. The people seemed very intelligent—much more so than the Navaho. Babies sucking long rolls of light gray material called peeku. Finely ground corn, mixed with water and dried in extremely thin layers on rock in sunshine. Observed two or three hunchbacks—Due to inbreeding? Left Moencopi village about 12:45. Drove to Cameron on Little Colorado. Fine iron suspension bridge. The river dry and without any water. The Painted Desert through which we have passed is a vast treeless, soilless, promise-less desert. One of the worst in the West. W e followed until we cross the Little Colorado, the Echo Cliffs. Station at Little Colorado bridge known as Cameron. W e stop there to look over rugs and jewelry. Drove into foothills of San Francisco Mts. Beautiful country. Reached Flagstaff among pines and cedars at 6 P.M. The Glen Canyon party had reached its destination. Now off for home or further work. God be thanked for His mercies. In retrospect I quite agree with Major Powell, that it is useless to describe with words or even with pictures the wonders, of surpassing magnitude and beauty, that fill the country through which we have passed on this trip. A good auto road from Richfield to Hall's Crossing; proper boatservice on the Colorado from Hall's Crossing to Lee's Ferry; a good auto road from Lee's Ferry to Jacob's Lake, and a scenic round trip would be provided easy and short, that would surpass


230

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

anything of scenic interest in the world. Fish Lake, Capitol Gorge, Grand Gulch, Canopy Gorge, High Plateaus, Glen Canyon, innumerable side trips, Maidenhair Gorge, Rainbow Natural Bridge, Lee's Ferry, Kaibab Plateau, the President's Forest, the Grand Canyon, Zion Canyon, Cedar Breaks, and Bryce Canyon—what more could we expect in two weeks.

GLEN C A N Y O N

EXPEDITION

PERSONNEL OF PARTY

E. C. LaRue Hydraulic Engineer U. S. Geological Survey H. W . Dennis Construction Engineer Southern California Edison Company Herman Stabler Chief Engineer Land Classification Board, U. S. Geological Survey Col. C. H. Birdseye Chief Engineer Topographic Branch, U. S. Geological Survey A. P. Davis Director U. S. Reclamation Service Chas. P. Kayler Engineer Union Pacific Railroad


A JOURNAL OF JOHN A. W I D T S O E

John A. Widtsoe R. E. Caldwell Utah State Engineer Clarence C. Stetson Asst. to Secy. Herbert Hoover Franklin Thomas Prof. Civil Engineering Cal. Inst. Technology Robert D. Young Pres. Sevier Stake

BOATMEN AND HELPERS

Thomas G. Wimmer Andy Wimmer, his son Lewis R. Freeman L. C. Ramsauer W . H. Ramsauer W m . W . Jones

231


U T A H ' S UGLY DUCKLINGS: A PROFILE OF T H E S C A N D I N A V I A N I M M I G R A N T BY WILLIAM MULDER*

U

TAH'S Anglo-Scandinavian population, as everybody knows, is the fruit of over a century of Mormon proselyting abroad. T o thousands of Biblically minded Europeans, America seemed the land of Zion, widi Deseret's adobe and sagebrush community the visible Kingdom to which a latter-day Israel was being gathered, particularly from "the land of the north." From 1850 to 1900, when "the gathering" was most ardently preached, thirty thousand Scandinavian Mormons came to Utah's rainless but dedicated valleys. They became hardy grass roots settlers on a frontier far beyond the rich and comfortable acres their countrymen were homesteading in Minnesota and Wisconsin and well ahead of the Scandinavian invasion of Nebraska and the Dakotas. In the 1850's over three-fourths of Denmark's total emigration to the United States was Mormon, and nearly two-fifths in the 1860's. Of six counties in the United States in 1870 numbering 500 or more Danes, Utah had four. In 1890 still only Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota exceeded Utah's Danish-born. More Swedish-born lived in Utah just prior to 1880 than in any other mountain state. In 1910 Utah, coming within a fraction of Dakota and Nebraska, emerged as the fifth highest state in per cent of total population formed of Swedish stock. Norwegians in actual numbers were few, but they were locally important and historically the oldest Scandinavians on the scene: Ellen Sanders Kimball, one of the three women to enter the Salt Lake Valley with the pioneer vanguard in 1847, was a Norwegian convert from the

*William Mulder is a professor of English at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City. His "Mormons from Scandinavia, 1850-1900: A Shepherded Migration," published in the Pacific Historical Review, August, 1954, received the Louis Knott Koontz Memorial Award for 1954, for the most deserving contribution to that magazine. He is co-author, with A. R. Mortensen, of a forthcoming book dealing with accounts by contemporary observers of visits to Mormon country.


234

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

famous Fox River settlement in Illinois, where a Norwegian congregation had been founded in the days of Joseph Smidi; a remnant of that congregation came west in 1849, in time to be numbered, thirty-two strong, in Utah's first census, when the Danes numbered but two and the Swedes one. 1 By 1900 Scandinavians formed 34% of Utah's foreign-born; and Scandinavian stock that year formed 16% of the total population. Two years later Anthon H. Lund, Danish immigrant of 1862, could tell a big reunion of Scandinavians in Brigham City, " W e are now 45,000 and are a great power in our state." 2 His own appointment the year before to the high office of counselor in the First Presidency of the Mormon Church was a recognition of that power, an official acknowledgment of the role his countrymen were playing in Utah's affairs. For him, as for his people, it marked a rise from humble beginnings. Most of them came from the compact villages of Denmark and southernmost Sweden. In far-stretching Norway and northern Sweden die needle of emigration to America was already oriented, and Utah seemed a meager offering alongside the riches of Minnesota's "New Scandinavia." Though Denmark was actually enjoying agricultural prosperity, the religious unrest was considerable, in part the product of the discouraging strife over Schleswig-Holstein in which many read God's disfavor with Denmark, and in part product of dissatisfaction with the Establishment. 3 The times were ripe for the Mormons, who still found many poor. On the sandy peninsula of Jutland, less fertile than the Danish isles, particularly in the barren province of Vendsyssel a Ellen Kimball's Norwegian name was Aagaata Ystensdatter Bake. Canute Peterson and his wife Sarah, among the founders of Lehi and later prominent in Sanpete County, were Fox River converts. See my forthcoming article, "Norwegian Forerunners among the Early Mormons," in NorwegianAmerican Studies and Records. 2 Utah Korrespondenten, August 1, 1902. The U. S. Twelfth Census (1900) shows 24,751 inhabitants of Danish stock, 14,578 of Swedish, and 4,554 of Norwegian in Utah for a total of 43,883 of Scandinavian stock, or very close to Lund's 45,000. 3 P. S. Vig notes that economic conditions Improved In Denmark after 1850, especially for farmers, only Indirectly for laborers and artisans. Three factors making for emigration from Denmark, he says, were Mormonism, gold fever, and America letters. Danske i Amerika (2 vols., Minneapolis. 1907), I, 284ff.


U T A H ' S UGLY DUCKLINGS

235

at its tip and in the countryside around Aalborg, Aarhus, and Fredericia, they won their largest following outside Copenhagen itself.4 In proportion to its population, Vendsyssel, it was said, yielded more converts than any other part of Scandinavia—a hardy, independent stock, descendants of Jutes who had resisted Catholic Christianity centuries before and made Lim Fjorden, which separated them from the rest of Jutland, renowned as "the northernmost frontier of righteousness." 5 Visiting Apostle Amasa M. Lyman, who in 1861 toured Jutland by carriage and found "a good Danish shake of the hand . . . no sickly, indifferent affair," compared the flat country beyond Lim Fjorden with "the prairies of the great W e s t , " treeless except for occasional isolated islands of growth, the green foliage framing the white walls of the better farmhouses. In contrast to Utah's valleys, he found the soil poor, the "hardy husbandmen" only partially repaid for their toil and their habitations very primitive: Yet in these hovels . . . with all their indications of squalor and poverty, the spirit of genial friendship shed its cheering light; and, although there were no bedsteads, a liberal supply of fresh clean straw, placed on the earthy floor of the best apartment, afforded the traveler an opportunity to think of die rude and humble entertainment extended to the Sinner's Friend . . . ,e The island of Fyen, on the other hand, where the Mormons numbered but 170 compared with Vendsyssel's 600, reminded him of the richest country districts of England and Scotland, the whole "a sea-girt picture of rural loveliness and beauty." Everywhere in Scandinavia—in Malmo, Oslo, Copenhagen, Odense—he received "most expressive proofs of the hospitality and brotherly love" of the Saints, though it was clear the gospel "at present finds its votaries" among the hardy poor, "sound *More than half, or 53%, of the Danish converts were won in Jutland— 27% of the total Scandinavian membership. The Copenhagen Conference (representing the whole of Zealand as well as the capital) produced 37% of the Danish membership—21% of the Scandinavian total. 5 "Tale af Aeldste Andrew Jenson," Morgenstjernen, IV (1885), 179. 'Letter, August 21, 1861, MS., in Scandinavian Mission History, L.D.S. Church Historian's Library. Hereafter cited as Mission History.


236

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

material for the development of that worldwide nationality, in the broad shadow of which the saved of the world shall repose . . . ."7 Even a satirical missionary like Joseph W . Young, in whose eyes Jutland had "a very hungry appearance" and who thought the stables connected to the dwellings bred "the finest fleas in the world," was of the same opinion: the country people might be plain and simple with their black bread and strong coffee, their age-old wooden shoes and homespun; and their "hornspoon and finger" manners might be as primitive as their dress, but they were industrious "and certainly the most strictly honest that I have ever met with." 8 Most early proselytes in Sweden were made in the equally rural province of Scania or Skaane just across the Sound from Zealand and historically and culturally an extension of Denmark. But Stockholm and its environs soon rivalled Copenhagen's successes.9 Franklin D. Richards, visiting Stockholm in 1867, noted "an insatiable thirst on the part of the people, that is growing with the ruler and sovereign also, for an extension of human rights, and freedom of thought, of speech, of the press, and of conscientious worship of almighty God . . . ."10 That spirit predicted the welcome changes of the ensuing years, a far cry from the days when in some places in Sweden meetings had to be held privately and at night, as Carl Widerborg remembered: " W e assembled at midnight, enjoyed much comfort of the spirit, transacted our business, and dispersed quietly at five o'clock in the morning." 11 Norway, though it had given Mormonism forerunners like the Illinois converts, turned a cold shoulder to Zion's invitation.12 7

Loc. cit. sLetter, February 4, 1858, in New York Times. March 10, 1858, under the heading "The Mormons in Europe—Progress of Mormonism in Northern Europe." 9 By 1905, when it became a separate mission, Sweden furnished altogether 16,695 converts, or 36% of the Scandinavian total. A little over a third, 36%, came from the Stockholm Conference; another third, 34%, from Skaane, each of these areas contributing about 11% of the whole Scandinavian membership. 10 Letter, February 6, 1867, in Mission History. "Letter, June 25, 1858, ibid. 12 From 1850 to 1905 Norway contributed but 6,360, or 14%, of all converts and 2,556, or 11%, of all the emigrants. To recapitulate: altogether, of the 46,497 converts which Scandinavia yielded between 1850 and 1905, slightly more than 50% were Danish, slightly less than 36% were Swedish, and not


U T A H ' S UGLY DUCKLINGS

237

But the Norwegian proselytes, largely from Christiania (later called Oslo), proved a highly articulate minority, producing an intelligentsia easily distinguished among the Scandinavian converts, who were in the main the "respectable farmers and mechanics, with their families," as Daniel Spencer observed in 1855, "who have embraced this work . . . and were constantly inquiring and being baptized wherever we went." 13 All prevalent notions to the contrary, these converts by and large embraced Mormonism in families. Lurid stories of abduction to supply women for Utah's supposed harems had their germ in occasional runaways and desertions, but the statistics and the accounts of the converts themselves provide a convincing, not to say startling, corrective of folklore. Of 10,565 converts making up 31 representative companies 14 which left Scandinavia between 1853 and 1882, 7,785, or 74%, were in family groups ranging from married pairs to flocks of eleven, with couples most common —560 of them—followed by 470 families of three, 345 families of four, and so on, in descending order as the families grow larger. The majority of the emigrants, as the family structure would predict, were in their vigorous thirties and forties. Unmarried girls and women (at the "spinster" age of 14 years and over) numbered 1,515, or 15%, and the eligible boys and men (at the apprentice age of 14 years and over) numbered 1,184, or 12%, a difference so slight it renders ridiculous the public headshaking in both Scandinavia and America, where it was assumed "the females were in the majority" in every boatload. Critics, besides, did not realize that a great many of the eligible young women

quite 14% were Norwegian. Of the 22,653 of these "members of record" who emigrated (over 30,000 counting children under eight years of age, who were not baptized and hence not recorded as members), 56% were Danish, a little over 32% were Swedish, 11% were Norwegian, and a fraction Icelandic. 13 "A Visit to Scandinavia," Millennial Star, XVII (November 10, 1855), 705. "This count includes every company to leave during the 1860's, when Mormonism was at floodtide in Scandinavia and most characteristic; beyond this, the count—which takes in over a third of the total emigration, a generous representation—samples companies leaving in the 1850's, 1870's, and 1880's as recorded in the Scandinavian Mission Emigration Records, MS., Books A-G (1854-86), L.D.S. Church Historian's Library, supplemented by passenger manifests from the National Archives of certain vessels whose records were missing from the Mormon files.


238

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

in the emigrant companies married the young men, their own countrymen, before journey's end. 15 "The people wherewith you plant," Francis Bacon had advised America's first English colonizers, "ought to be gardeners, ploughmen, labourers, smiths, carpenters, joiners, fishermen, fowlers, with some few apothecaries, surgeons, cooks and bakers." 16 Except for the "apothecaries and surgeons" the Scandinavian proselytes would have strengthened the "plantations" of the New World as they did in fact strengthen Zion. Although the Collector of Customs at New Orleans, on March 17, 1853, indiscriminately labeled the first shipload of converts "Labourers and Shoemakers"—and had them coming from "Ireland"— they were in reality Danish farmers and artisans representing the same variety of skills which marked the whole emigration.17 Farmers and their families (including an occasional shepherd and a few called gardeners or agriculturalists) made up fully half the emigration in the 1850's—57% in one company. In the 1860's they made up about a third, their numbers steadily diminishing with each decade as the proportion of laborers rose— the 5 . 5. Nevada company in 1882, for example, counted 12% farmers, 3 7 % laborers, and 16% servant girls, reflecting a shift from rural to urban membership. The "farmers" of the shipping lists were small farmers, Europe's familiar peasants—free 15 Females did, in fact, predominate.—by a slim margin. Of 12,477 emigrants—a somewhat larger sampling of Mormon companies leaving during the half century—5,796 were males, 6,681 females, a difference of 885, or 7%. The difference is significant enough because the general emigration from Denmark was 60% male from 1869 to 1900; from Norway 57% for the same period; and from Sweden 54% between 1851 and 1900. (See Imre Ferenczi, International Migrations [2 vols., New York, 1929], I, 667-78, 748-50, 757-58.) Among Scandinavian Mormons the ratio was essentially reversed: 46.5% male, 53.5% female. ie"Of Plantations," Bacon's Essays (Cornell Series, n.d.), 178. "Records of the Bureau of Customs, Office of the Collector of Customs, Port of New Orleans, Passenger List of the Forest Monarch, March 17, 1853. Microfilm from the National Archives and Records Service, Washington, D. C. Danish immigrants were such a novelty the customs officials must have mistaken their tongue for Gaelic. The original Mormon roll of the Forest Monarch company has not survived, but a partial reconstruction in the L.D.S. Church archives from extant journals kept by members of the company mentions several weavers and blacksmiths, a tailor, wagonmaker, seaman, miller, wheelwright, carpenter, cabinetmaker, cooper, a government clerk, a former Baptist lay preacher, a village choirmaster, a school trustee, and a good many farmers. See the Forsgren Company, MS. compilation, L.D.S. Church Historian's Library.


UTAH'S UGLY DUCKLINGS

239

holders, tenants, or simply journeyman hands. Their peasant ancestry would figure years later in directives from the Genealogical Society of Utah outlining "how we must go to work if we want to construct a genealogical table of a farmer-family," a matter "of particular interest in Utah because most of the Latter-day Saints of Danish origin have come from the country districts." 18 They included a few like the well-to-do Peter Thomsen of Bregninge on Falster Island, so prominent his conversion rocked the village, and the landed Anders Eliason of Ennerkulen, Sweden, who provided a hundred of his fellow converts with passage to America. At the other extreme were young hands like Christian Lund, who remembered herding cattle one winter for his board and a pair of wooden shoes, and Hans Christensen, whose sole possession was the sheep his father gave him as his share of the family property. In between were freeholders like Jens Nielsen, who at thirty years of age could buy five acres of land and build a cottage enabling him to be "looked upon as a respectable neighbor and many times invited to the higher class of society." 19 The great majority in the 1850's and 1860's —decades of Mormonism's largest rural following in Scandinavia —were independent enough to pay their passage to Zion, at least as far as the frontier where wagons from Utah Territory awaited them, and to assist those without enough salable goods to scrape their passage together. They were, besides, a vanguard which, once established in Zion, sent help to the Old Country and made possible the greater emigration, proportionately, of the 1870's and 1880's.20 The well-to-do farmers were few enough to be especially noticed, tbough of course wealth was relative: James Jensen remembered that owning a cow gave his parents "some 18 T. H. Hauch-Fausboll, "How is Genealogy to be Studied?" Utah Genealogical Magazine, XXII (January, 1931), 6. ^Scandinavian Jubilee Album (Salt Lake City, 1900), 228; "Across the Plains in 1863," Heart Throbs of the West (12 vols., Salt Lake City, 1939-51), IV, 351; C. N. Lund, Autobiography, MS., typescript in Brigham Young University Library; Hans Christensen, Memoirs, MS., microfilm in Utah State Historical Society; Jens Nielsen, Letter to son Uriah, in Albert R. Lyman, "Sketch of Bishop Jens Nielsen," MS., Utah State Historical Society, WPA Writers' Project Biographies. 20 For the story of this self-help and assistance see my article "Mormons from Scandinavia, 1850-1900: A Shepherded Migration," Pacific Historical Review, XXIII (August, 1954), 227-46.


240

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

recognition socially" in the village of Haugerup. 21 Certainly the farmers of those early years were far from the indigent serfs they were commonly imagined to be. They were seed corn for Zion, supplying it with a skill most sorely needed. Better fitted for an agrarian experience than the urban British migration, they were destined to make the valleys where they settled known as the granaries and creampots of Utah. Like the farmers, the artisans, who outnumbered the unskilled laborers, included the prosperous and the poor. Among them were masters, journeymen, and apprentices—at one extreme, established proprietors like Hans Jensen, whose blacksmith works in Aalborg was valued at $4,000.00, and tailor Jens Weibye of Vendsyssel, who kept fourteen employees busy in his shop; at the other extreme, a journeyman carriagemaker like Jens Christopher Kempe, who had nothing but the tools of his trade. Others, like weaver Hans Zobell, owned their cottage worksteads, which they could sell when they emigrated. Ola Nilsson Liljenquist, Copenhagen tailor, whose wife could afford silks and a servant, was one of the few early converts enjoying the privileges of burghership. 22 Among the artisans, carpenters and related craftsmen like cabinetmakers, coopers, wheelwrights, joiners, turners, and carriagemakers made up a considerable group, 1 1 % of reported occupations in the 31 companies being sampled; in the John Boyd company in 1855 they formed 17%. The next largest group of artisans were the tailors, seamstresses, dyers, and weavers ( 7 % ) . Smiths—blacksmiths, ironfounders, coppersmiths, tinsmiths, and an occasional machinist—followed these (6%), with shoemakers, tanners, saddle- and harness-makers almost as large a group ( 5 . 6 % ) , not far outnumbering stonecutters, masons, and bricklayers ( 4 . 5 % ) . Speaking of early converts among the workmen in Oslo's factory district along the Aker, Carl Fjeld

21 J. M. Tanner, Biographical Sketch of James Jensen (Salt Lake City, 1911), 6. 22 Hans Peter Jensen, Biographi and Jurnal [sic], MS., in possession of Le Roi C. Snow; Jens Weibye, "Dagbog," Morgenstjernen, III (1884), 152; J. C. Kempe, Autobiography, MS., typescript in my possession; Hans Zobell, Autobiography, MS., typescript in possession of A. L. Zobell, Jr.; O. N. Liljenquist, "Autobiography," Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine, I (July, 1881), 564.


U T A H ' S UGLY DUCKLINGS

241

recalled that "From the foundrymen the gospel went round among the smiths, good and solid material, and from there to the stone masons," a sequence readily illustrated: himself an ironfounder, Fjeld passed his psalmbook and tracts around until they became as black as the workers themselves. They convinced Jonas Otterstrom, a smith who could no more keep silence, the newspapers noted, than he could from using a sledgehammer. And among those who heard him was stonemason Gustave Andersen, whose wife sold milk on the square, a capital opportunity to proclaim Mormonism at the same time.23 There were about the same number of butchers, brewers, bakers, and millers (only 17 in the sample companies) as there were fishermen and seamen (only 16). The sailors were few. Landlocked in Zion, they might on some glorious Fourth of July climb the community flagpole like a mast or, like bargeman Hans "Pram Stikker" Larsen, work the block and tackle to hoist the stone for meetinghouses and temples. 24 Four ropemakers, two house painters, a miner, a matmaker, a hairdresser, a hunter, a bookbinder, a printer, a thatcher, a sailmaker, a shipbuilder, five watch- or instrument-makers, four clerks, four potters, and a furrier complete the inventory of occupations. Three musiciansall members of the Monarch of the Sea company in 1861—alone saved the day for the professions, though the B. S. Kimball emigrants included a homeopath. For a budding artist like young Carl Christian Anton Christensen, whose expert silhouettes won him a scholarship to Copenhagen's Royal Academy until he joined the Mormons, Zion had at first no call. He had to content himself with farming when he emigrated in 1857, though he kept his interest alive as an amateur, painting scenery for the Salt Lake Theatre and creating a traveling panorama of church history which won him at last a kind of fame.25 The basic skills were all there; others would be developed in the settlements. "I would never have believed," wrote Christensen in 1872 after visiting the Utah Territorial Fair, "so much talent could be found among us as a people who are nearly all gatbered 23

Carl M. Hagberg, Den Norske Misjonshistorie (Oslo, 1928), 23-26. Arthur Schmidt Larsen, Life Sketch of Hans Larsen, MS., Utah State Historical Society, W P A Writers' Project Biographies. 25 C. C. A. Christensen, "Levnedslob," Digte og Afhandlinger (Salt Lake City, 1921), 329-81. 24


242

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

from among the poor and most downtrodden classes of mankind." Someone from his hometown, the Danish settlement of Ephraim, had won die silver medal for a landscape painting showing several children gleaning corn in the field just outside "our town"; a Swedish sister had received the premium for "haararbeide" or hair artistry; "our friend W . " (without doubt die Norwegian painter Dan Weggeland) had received the silver medal for his portraits; a young Norwegian brother had taken the prize for wood-carving; a Swede for an artistic watch; "and many others won premiums . . . . It's only a small part of what can be accomplished." 26 Twenty years later Christensen observed that he met Scandinavians "nearly everywhere" in his travels and found his countrymen in many places holding "the most responsible positions both in church and civic affairs," which he found "a greatly satisfying witness to our national character by the world's most practical nation—the Americans." 27

II But the acceptance had come slowly. For years both Europe and America took a dim view of the convert-emigrants. They were an embarrassment to Scandinavia, a trouble to the United States, where Secretary of State William Evarts, for example, in 1879, felt uneasy about Utah's "accessions from Europe . . . drawn mainly from the ignorant classes, who are easily influenced by the double appeal to their passions and their poverty."28 Utah, already outlandish enough as the Mormon refuge, seemed all the more un-American with its alien population, recruited, it was feared, to strengthen Mormon subversion of federal authority and Christian morality. Villification of the convert in this respect was most vicious in Utah itself, among the gentiles, who made Mormon immigration "Letter, November 10, 1872, Stjerne, XXII (January 15, 1873), 123-24. "Letter, December 29, 1891, Nordstjarnan, XVI (February 1, 1892), 47.

28 William M. Evarts, "Diplomatic Correspondence, Circular No. 10, August 9, 1879, Sent to Diplomatic and Consular Officers of the United States," Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States 1879 (Washington, D. C , 1880), 11.


U T A H ' S UGLY DUCKLINGS

243

a major issue in their campaign to bring the church to its knees and the territory to unsullied statehood. "The local journalistic maligner," as the Deseret News called the Tribune, talked "with frequent scorn about the Scandinavian element, as though the . . . presence of such people was sufficient to show the degraded character of Utah's population." 29 In the bitter anti-Mormon Handbook on Mormonism, Mormons were foreigners by definition, "low, base-born foreigners, hereditary bondsmen . . . serf blood . . . ." 30 The Rev. J. Wesley Hill's patriotism erupted in odious images of the converts: they were "gathered from the slums of Europe; . . . brought from the fetid fields of the Old World . . . refugees" who endeavored "in the name of Religion to undermine our liberties and destroy our government . . . ." 31 Governor Caleb West's animosity in 1889 drove him to extremes: "It is just as if a lot of Chinamen or other foreign people should come here and take possession of that Territory, with ideas entirely distinct and diametrically opposed to ours." 32 The governor retracted the implication as accidental, but such hyperbole was all too common. In vain did an impartial observer like the Rev. John C. Kimball ask: " W h o has implicit confidence in a Californian's denunciation of the Chinese, or in a western squatter's diatribe against the Indians or in a Protestant theologian's strictures on Roman Catholicism? So with the criticisms of Utah gentiles on their Mormon neighbors." 33 And in vain did Apostle George Q. Cannon contend that "a large part of our people are native-born," and that "our proselytes are more largely Americans than any other nationality." 34 It was an ingrained national habit to speak ill of the Mormons. Praise, if any, was always left-handed—amazement at the good results from disreputable beginnings. Rarely did anyone like Hugh Mc29

"The Scandinavian Element," Deseret News, June 25, 1886. John M. Coyner, ed., Handbook on Mormonism (Salt Lake City, 1882), 40; C. C. Goodwin, "The Mormon Situation," Harper's, LXHI (October, 1881), 756. 31 John W. Hill, Mormonism vs. Americanism (Salt Lake City, 1889), 22. S2 Hearings before the Committee on Territories in Regard to the Admission of Utah as a State, 1889 (Washington, D. C , 1889), 128. 33 John C. Kimball, Mormonism Exposed, the Other Side (Hartford, Conn., 1884), 3. S4 Interview, March 27, 1881, New York Times, April 11, 1881. 30


244

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Cullough, ex-Secretary of the Treasury, applaud the Mormon immigration: "The people of the United States," he said in the New York Tribune in 1877, "are under obligation to the Mormons. . . . They have brought to the country many thousands of industrious, peaceable and skillful people, and added largely to its wealth. . . . " The irrationalism of die anti-polygamy prosecution in the late 1880's betrayed even the Commissioner of Immigration into an irresponsible description of one company: In many instances there were women with children born out of wedlock, wives who had deserted their husbands and brought their children with them, husbands who had left behind their wives, children who had run away from home, and parents who had abandoned their children.35 It was a perfectly stereotyped picture of Mormon immigrants, as common in Europe as in the United States. While the United States blamed Europe for supplying proselytes "ignorant enough and sufficiently docile to carry out the schemes of the aposdes," 36 and on occasion even sought the help of foreign governments to check them, Europe blamed America for exporting an undesirable ism which "victimized and depleted" the population by "immoral and criminal means."37 Scandinavia deplored Mormon success. National pride dismissed the converts as not representative—it was consoling to think they were the sick, the poor, the outcast, and that the well-heeled and intelligent among them were the exception, though Denmark expressed surprise, if not concern, that its peasants, traditionally so stable and sober, should be persuaded in such numbers. 38 W o r s t of all, the Mormon proselytes alienated themselves from both church and country: the Danish Establishment already had its hands full with dissenting Grundtvigians and the pietists 35 Edward Stephenson to the Secretary of the Treasury, July 15, 1886, in "Paupers and Mormons," ibid., August 2, 1886, describing the arrival of 497 Mormon immigrants on the S. S. Nevada, July 7, 1886, "bound for Utah with passage prepaid." Stephenson urged that future shiploads not be allowed to land. 3 "Our Western Patriarchs," ibid.. July 9, 1877. "John L. Stevens to William M. Evarts, September 23, 1879, in Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States 1879, p. 964. B8 Gunnar Hansen, "Dansk Udvandring til U.S.A. tog Fart for 100 Aar siden," Danmarksposten (Aalborg, Denmark), June, 1948.


U T A H ' S UGLY DUCKLINGS

245

of the Inner Mission, but these were at least native movements and patriotic. Sweden, also on national grounds, was frankly envious: while its missionaries were evangelizing die heathen in Africa, China, and India, the Mormons were making proselytes in Sweden itself, with the added difference that die Mormon proselytes, at an economic loss to the country of 5,000 kronor capital worth, emigrated to strengthen the community in Utah, where they paid tithing, supported missions, and maintained churches, whereas the Swedish missions had only a handful of black and yellow natives to show for their trouble. 39 The bad opinion of the Mormons in Scandinavia was universal: "I knew nothing of the Mormons except very bad reports." "I had always understood them to be a wicked, mean people that ought to be shunned." "Father did not care so much about the Baptists, if my brother would only keep away from the Mormons." Anna Karine Widtsoe, widow of a Trondhjem schoolmaster, felt contaminated when her shoemaker stuffed some Mormon tracts into shoes she had left for repair. It was always a surprise to find any good apples in the barrel. Tailor Olof Hanson remembered his pastor's astonishment: "He asked me how I, who could read so well, could have become a Mormon." 40 Overnight, established reputations could be blighted. Convert Hannah Sorensen, though twenty-five years a respected midwife in Snedsted, lost her practice and was threatened with the workhouse; Oslo impresarios, eager to engage Agnes Olsen's golden voice to sing Solveig's song from Peer Gynt, told her no audience would tolerate her as a Mormon. It was not often that teachers or employers took the part of the proselyte as did Annie Christensen's teacher, who told the children not to make fun of her. On the contrary, Johan Nielsen's schoolmates dubbed him "John the Baptist" and made him fill his wooden shoes with water to baptize them. Christina Oleson's Swedish pastor, encountering her on the village street one day, struck her with his cane for joining the despised Mormons. She felt she was getting off easy. 41 39 A. O. Assar, Mormonernas Zion (Stockholm, 1911), 57. *°Jens Nielsen, op. cit; Hannah Sorensen, "Life Sketch," The Young Woman's Journal. I (August, 1890), 392; Hans Christensen, op. cit; John A. Widtsoe, In the Gospel Net (Salt Lake City, 1941), 64; Olof Hanson, Autobiography, MS., typescript in my possession. "Hannah Sorensen, op. cit, 393; "Zion's Daughters Sing," Heart Throbs


246

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

An immorality of the clergy's own making gave many early proselytes an unsavory reputation. They came from a class already in bad repute because, cut off from benefits of clergy through fees they couldn't meet or having an antipathy to the authority and ritual of the Establishment, they had entered into common law marriages. Franklin D. Richards observed in Stockholm in 1867 that the clergy had "bastardized" 4 2 % of the population.42 Stories about the Mormons emphasized their credulity and low caste. Not a few tales had to do with runaways, desertions, child-stealing and broken homes. In their zeal, some converts committed follies that rumor easily magnified. They took Christ at his word and left family and friends to form new ties stronger than the old. More than one frantic parent tried to win back a son or daughter lost to the Mormons—run away, he might say, but very likely turned out of doors. Despite her mother's "heartrending pleadings" Olina Torasen would not return home from Christiania, where she had gone in 1864 to learn dressmaking and had met die Mormons; her father, "crazed with grief," came for her, sitting up all night at her boarding house because he did not dare to leave her alone; but she outwitted him in an unguarded moment and with the help of a missionary, and disguised as a boy, made her way to Copenhagen until the spring emigration of the Saints, working meanwhile at a cape factory and writing home, her mother finally relenting to the extent of sending Olina her "grandmother's feather bed and a few clothes." 43 W h a t were testimonies of God's providences to the faithful seemed cloak and dagger treachery to the bereft. of the West, IX, 13-18; Annie Catrine Christensen Olsen, Autobiography, MS., Utah State Historical Society, WPA Writers' Project Biographies; Johan Nielsen, Autobiography, MS., microfilm in Utah State Historical Society; Christina Oleson Warnick, Autobiography, MS., Utah State Historical Society, WPA Writers' Project Biographies. 42 Letter, February 6, 1867, in Mission History. Farmer Hans Jensen Hals noted the inability of the poor to afford a dowry or the "church marriage tax." Diary, August 12, 1867, microfilm copy in Utah State Historical Society. 43 OHna Torasen Kempe, Autobiography, MS., typescript in my possession. One Norwegian girl ordered out of the house by parents who could not be reconciled to her joining the Mormons was Kristine Mauritzdatter, who as the plural wife of Abraham O. Smoot became the mother of Reed Smoot, U.S. Senator from Utah for five unbroken terms and at the same time an Apostle, member of the leading council of the Mormon Church.


U T A H ' S UGLY DUCKLINGS

247

Hardly a company of Mormon emigrants ever left Copenhagen without a warrant being served on someone for childstealing: fearful relatives or suspicious neighbors often tried to interfere when a Mormon family sent some of their young ahead. Anna Lucia Krause, wife of a prospering wheelwright and nailmaker who was in no mood to give up his thriving shop to go to America, kept her Mormon membership a secret for two years, until her unhappiness prevailed on him and he agreed to go as far as St. Louis. W h e n they sailed, Anna left eight-year-old Maria behind to come with a later Mormon company. It was part of Anna's design to get her unbelieving husband to Utah, where he would have to journey to fetch the girl, and in the process perhaps be converted and remain. W h e n the emigrant company passed through St. Louis the father asked for Maria, but her zealous guardians were determined not to leave the child among gentiles. Krause, already griefstricken at the loss of his wife and three children, all victims within a week of the cholera, made a heartbreaking search for his daughter. Going from wagon to wagon, throwing covers off even sick people in his desperate quest, he spied her playthings, but he never found her; the Mormons, confident they were doing a good deed, took her off to Utah, leaving the father, already at odds with them, more embittered than ever and source of more damaging evidence against them.44

Ill The popular image of the Mormon proselytes—their poverty, their ignorance, their fanaticism—made them Europe's ugly ducklings, objects of scorn and ridicule, though the novelist Ole Rolvaag called emigrants from the same class "giants in the earth." It was precisely the poor and humble the Mormons were after. Poverty and ignorance were ills for which America itself was the remedy, an assurance that was one of Mormonism's enthusiasms. "The people have much to learn," observed Apostle George Q. Cannon. "Transplanting them to Zion will benefit 44 Biography of Maria W. C. Krause Madsen, MS., Utah State Historical Society, W P A Writers' Project Biographies.


248

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

them in every way, if they will do right . . . . T h e gospel will not only bestow spiritual benefit . . . it will benefit them temporally."*5 Their "habits of industry and die various ways in which they are taught to apply it," felt Apostle George A. Smith, "render them well qualified to develop the resources of new and untried countries, and their former experience greatly enhances their appreciation of the emancipation the gospel brings to them and contentment follows."46 The poverty of the Old World was really a blessing; nothing so endangered salvation as a prosperity which killed the urge to gather. Besides, already inured to want, they were better prepared for hardships. 47 The Mormons had no illusions about their converts, but they saw beyond their limitations: the poor were after all the Lord's poor; the ignorant had simply been denied schooling; and the credulous had faidi, frequently displaying the "fortitude of patience and heroic martyrdom unsung" which Milton found die essence of Christian humility. The hidden resources of the humble could be magnificent and would prove Zion's greatest assets. How could the pastor who caned Christina Oleson for joining the Mormons ever imagine her a pillar of the community, a progenitor of leading citizens? Yet who else in Deseret's wastes would get a precious daily pound of butter into town to sell before the sun could melt it, or be forever knitting as she plowed or read or herded? 48 How could fellow Lollanders ever see in Elsie Rasmussen and Jens Nielsen more than simple, hard-working hands hiring out from one farm to another, now and then walking arm in arm into town to dance away the night and return in time to do the chores? How could anyone predict their heroic history? Underway to Zion when Jens' couarge failed him crossing Wyoming's snowbound plateau, Elsie would load him, his feet frozen, into her handcart and pull him till his courage returned, saving him, though permanently crippled, to pioneer five settlements and build as many homes to make good his dedication to die Lord for the ÂŤGeorge Q. Cannon, visiting Scandinavia in September, 1862. Quoted in Andrew Jenson, History of the Scandinavian Mission (Salt Lake City, 1927), 170. ""Foreign Missions," Deseret News, November 16, 1860. "Stjerne, XII (November 1, 1862), 40-43. "Christina Oleson Warnick, op. cit.


U T A H ' S UGLY DUCKLINGS

249

deliverance. As colonizer, Indian peacemaker, merchant, stockman, bishop and patriarch, he would make his broken-tongued maxim "Sticket to trude"—"Stick to the truth"—a badge of honor, while Elsie in sandswept Bluff would plant mulberry trees to raise silkworms, tend beehives to provide the settlement its only sweets, spend long hours at the loom, giving her days to manual labor, her evenings to the Bible and other good books, and devote herself as foster mother to the children of her husband's plural wives.49 It was just such recruits Zion needed. Conversion called thousands like Jens and Elsie Nielsen out of obscurity, confirming Mormonism's conviction that "The Lord is gathering out the best and the most pure material for his own use . . . . W i t h them will he build himself a people and a name in the earth." 50 No ugly ducklings ever had a greater sense of destiny. Scandinavia might disown them and America not want tbem, but they felt a singular identity as the Lord's own. In fact, they felt sorry for the unsaved, for the king himself. Apostle Franklin D. Richards, attending the Royal Theatre in Stockholm in 1867, and finding himself "in the midst of nobility and gentry, the beauty, elite, and authority of Sweden," thought how much he would like "to impart to His Majesty the testimonies of the gospel restored, and the work of God as it is now progressing on the earth, and inform him how he could assure the stability of his throne . . . ." 51 But only royalty's humble subjects, their eyes on another kingdom, came to know the high drama of conversion. For them the encounter with Mormonism was the great turning point in their lives, a new beginning to which all previous events, now they looked back, had unerringly led.s Conversion was far from simple-minded, though there were immoderate seekers of signs, a frenetic fringe whose extravagant expectations spelled trouble both in the mission and later in Zion. Often attended by doubt and indecision, conversion answered a variety of needs rational and emotional felt by the dispossessed looking for a place to belong, the worldly ready for moral reformation, the dissenter unsatisfied by the established creed or piqued 49

Jens Nielsen, op. tit. George Q. Cannon, in Jenson, op. cit, 170. "Letter, February 6, 1867, Mission History. 60


250

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

with the clergy, the scriptural literalist looking for fulfillment of prophecy. Many were ripe for a spiritual experience, so many Bunyans earnestly seeking their grace abounding: "I felt that I had alowed myselve to be careless, and to trifle with the most important of all subjects, my souls salvation." "A stranger introduced himself as an elder from America . . . . In an hour we saw and understood more of our Bible than ever before . . . . Our hearts rejoiced and a new life had opened before us." 52 They went to their first Mormon meeting on a dare or out of curiosity and universally with the worst expectations. "I went to the meeting that night with the pronounced conviction that they were not even Christians . . . with the thought of spending the evening in mischief." But time and again they were confounded: "It seemed as though every word the Elder spoke went right through me . . . . T h e sermon had an entirely different effect upon my brother and the other young man. They were greatly amused. I sat there like a statue and could not join them in the merriment." 53 Their fears routed at the first encounter, they were ready for more: " W e bought some few of their tracts and studied them for a few weeks and were perfectly satisfied tbe work was of God." 54 And then invariably they felt the stigma that their affiliation with the new movement gave them in the eyes of friends and neighbors still prejudiced. "From that time on all my former friends turned against me and spoke all kinds of evil against me, and that falsely." The agonizing struggle to remain steadfast crushed some but strengthened others: "All my possessions had no power over me then, my only desire was to sell out and come to Zion." "I had no idea before I was baptized that I should have to go through so much if I joined the Mormons; if I had known it, I don't think I could have done so." 55 Conversion cost dear. No allegory of Christian warfare, the soul against the world, was ever more terribly real. Nearly a 52

Hans Christensen, op. cit; Sarah Josephine Jensen, op. tit Carl Madsen, My Conversion to Mormonism, MS., typescript in possession of Dr. Brigham Madsen. 64 Jens Nielsen, op. tit 55 Loc. cit.; Hannah Sorensen, op. cit., 393. 53


U T A H ' S UGLY DUCKLINGS

251

third of die proselytes could not pay the price but disavowed the faith in Scandinavia, with odiers following suit after emigration, some en route to Zion, others after residence in Zion itself. Such wholesale disaffection refutes the easy explanation that Mormonism was such an effective Pied Piper because its tune was America. It was America, but on very special terms, forbidding to any but the most ardent believers. Belated discovery of unacceptable doctrine, inability to endure ostracism and persecution, capitulation to doubt and disbelief created by adverse propaganda, disappointment in the expectation that passage to America was a handout, all weighed in the scale of apostasy. Moreover, some of the converts themselves, in church eyes, were weighed and found wanting. Skandinaviens Stjerne, mission periodical, bluntly published names of those cast out for "whoredoms and abominations," while congregations were quick to censure backsliders for intemperance or for returning to an occasional service in the state church or for failing to pay tithes and offerings. Sometimes personal pique and backbiting, jealousies over positions in the lay priesthood, or misunderstanding about the order of the church led to breaches impossible to mend. It was a winnowing both natural and deliberate, intended to separate the wheat from the chaff so that early and late it could be noted that "many of our brethren have so improved their manner of living, the civil authorities have been obliged to acknowledge the fruits of a good doctrine." 56 The winnowing was a part of a general reformation in which conversion, itself such a profound education, was only the beginning. Mormonism might have blamed Scandinavia for having done so little for its lowest estate, but Mormonism took its converts where it found them and prepared them for the American experience in an indoctrination unique among European emigrants. To this end the mission considered itself "Eden's nursery," where the gospel was sown and the seedlings readied for transplanting to Zion, the Garden itself.57 The husbandry was both spiritual and mundane, at once bent on a purification of motives and on a program for improved living intended to win greater respect for 5S C. C. A. Christensen, "Beretning,'' Morgenstjernen, III (1884), 203. ""The Outgathering of the Saints," Millennial Star, XXIV (March 29, 1862), 200-202.


252

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Mormonism in Scandinavia and to make its converts better inhabitants of Zion. Though emigration was the great common impulse among the converts, they were told not to make gathering the sole aim, confusing means and ends. It was an urgent duty to gather, but those not feeling it should not be induced until moved by their own zeal. Simply getting to Utah did not insure salvation. Motives were all-important. Converts should come to build up Zion, willing to be identified with it in adversity as well as in prosperity, the object not wealth but only serving God. Whatever temporal benefits attended removal from Babylon came through the gospel and through their "own energies under wise direction and the opportunities which the country affords," blessings which were the natural fruits of righteousness. 58 The Saints were urged to make the most of opportunities while still in the homeland, to add "to the treasury of the Church all useful knowledge and all the benefits of their experience" gained there. 59 The church itself supplied valuable training: converts enjoyed a voice and by the uplifted hand a vote they had never known in the professionalized service of the Lutheran Establishment; the men served as missionaries, teachers, book agents, congregational leaders, filling a variety of positions in the lay priesthood.—all an excellent apprenticeship for responsibilities in Zion. In the choirs (in Oslo as early as 1856), the Sunday schools, and the young people's and women's societies (dating from the 1870's) congregations as a whole found important outlets for recreation, an exhilarating experience, the dances and outings and the visiting among the members satisfying and joyous. As notable as any activity, and most directly related to preparation for America, was the sustained effort to learn English, in which classes for children and for adults abetted the private sessions of painful learning. Held often on Sunday morning, pre58 "Why Are So Many of the Saints Not Gathered?" ibid., XXIV (October 11, 1862), 649-52, and Skandinaviens Stjerne, XII (November 1, 1862), 40-43; "Vink til de Hellige, som skulle emigrere," Stjerne, XII (April 15, 1863), 216; Stjerne, XII (July 1, 1863), 296-98; "Emigration and the Motives Which Prompt It," Millennial Star, XXVI (January 23, 1864), 57-60; "Mormon Proselytism and Immigration," Deseret News, June 25, 1886. 59 "The Outgathering of the Saints," op. tit, 201. Adding "to the treasury of the Church" meant money as well as experience; Europe sustained Zion through tithing and temple contributions from the proselytes.


U T A H ' S UGLY DUCKLINGS

253

lude to church service, they were in a real sense religious exercises; a phrase in Peter Nielsen's journal unconsciously reflects the familiar and natural affinity of the worldly and spiritual in their lives: H. T . W . Eriksen, he says, who held an evening school in Nyby for the children, "taught them English, religion, and writing." And he was pleased to note "They made good progress according to the circumstances." 60 The private journals themselves moved from Scandinavian to English, the language mixed at first, then more confidently in the new tongue, diough the spelling remained woefully uncertain. One legacy the Establishment had bequeathed even the humble: in preparing them for confirmation it had made them literate, and not a few proudly recollected they stood first in Bible reading or response in catechism. Converts who could not read or write were admonished to learn. English above all was "the language in which it had pleased the Almighty to manifest His will in this last dispensation"; 61 it was the language of the Book of Mormon and of latter-day prophets. It was an inherent part of the new gospel, and the desire to learn it was another evidence of how completely Mormonism produced a break with the convert's past, separating him from mother church and fatherland and his native tongue, the transition begun even before he left. Not only English was important to salvation; so was soap. "It is not enough for a person to believe, be converted, and be baptized for forgiveness of sins. The gospel promotes a reformation in every respect where many customs and habits inherited from the fathers are not in harmony with the gospel." Cleanliness was paramount. The Holy Spirit did not dwell in unclean tabernacles. "The first step in this so important reformation is to wash the whole body at least once a week and change linen as often. Thus may health be preserved, peace and good cheer, and sickness and death kept at bay." Such directives were as frequent as they were frank: "The Saints will forgive our speaking so freely, 80 Diary, April 23, 1859. The mission periodicals frequently admonished converts to study English: "Det Engelske Sprog," Stjerne, V (January 15, 1856), 244-47; IX (October 15, 1859), 25; Nordstjarnan, VI (January 15, 1883), 24. 81 Peter Thomassen, "Hilsen til vore Laesere," Utah Posten, December 24, 1873.


254

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

but it is necessary to speak clearly for your benefits." 62 It would have been good doctrine for rural America at the time, and it anticipated the catechism in Zion's frontier settlements when church teachers would visit the homes monthly and ask, "Sister Anderson, do you scrub your floors and wash your windows every Saturday that your home may be in order for the Sabbath? . . . Do you pay back the things you borrow and hunt for the owner of things you find?" And "Brother Anderson, have you cut hay where you had no right to? . . . Have you taken water to irrigate when it belonged to another person at the time you used it? Do you preside over your household as a servant of God and is your family subject to you? . . . Have you labored diligently and earned faithfully the wages paid you by your employer?" 63 Among the Mormons in Scandinavia the same inclusive morality prevailed, the training as intense and diligent. The doctrine on soap formed but part of the "general reformation" which would have the converts, human beings by birth, become Saints by adoption, legalizing their common law marriages, ceasing card playing, abstaining from tobacco and strong drink, and paying their debts. The number who fell by the wayside, often over trivial matters, only indicates how serious a commitment membership was and how far the converts had to go. In all respects they were expected to be an example to an already critical world. Returning good for evil had its effects.—at times it won over estranged members of the family, suspicious neighbors, and angry employers; it gained the respect of wary officials; it changed the face of a divided village and even erased national prejudices, for among the members themselves identity as Danes or Swedes or Norwegians was lost in their association as Latterday Saints. James Jensen remembered diat half a dozen men owned the farms in Haugerup village, with the social distance between proprietors and tenants as wide as the middle ages; but more than half of Haugerup joined the Mormons, among them some of the landlords. "From that time on a new relationship sprang up . . . . The spirit of equality and brotherly love which the new message had brought to them led to more intimate rela2"Et 68

Vink til Emigranterne," Stjerne, XI (April 1, 1862), 200-201. William R. Palmer, "Questions to be Asked the Latter-day Saints,' The Improvement Era. XLH (April, 1939), 210-11.


U T A H ' S UGLY DUCKLINGS

255

dons among all of the members of the Church in that little village."64 In Copenhagen master tailor Ola N . Liljenquist, the only burgher of the city among the converts, stood passport security for so many of his fellow religionists in 1852 that the officials summoned him to the city hall to belabor him for his audacity. He could be imprisoned for signing beyond his capacity. "I know these people and I am willing to take all risks on their behalf," he told them. For four more years, until his own emigration, he staked his reputation on hundreds of emigrants. The magistrate issued the same warnings, but the officers at the emigration office became more friendly. On the eve of his own departure for America in 1857, they told him they would rather accept his endorsement than that of many wealthier men because the Mormons took care of their poor and the city had never had the slightest difficulty with anyone he had underwritten. On one occasion, after completing some 900 Mormon passes, Counsel Gendrup, who had often come to Liljenquist's aid when he was in difficulty, said to him: "Mr. Liljenquist, should you arrive in a better heaven than I, will you not think of me?" 65 The master tailor was but one of an unexpected number of enterprising converts of refinement and substance who served as a leaven in every congregation powerfully working for selfimprovement. The country crudities of some converts would furnish Zion itself with the comic figure of the "Sanpete farmer" and his household, earthy and unsanitary as a scene from Breughel, and they offended fastidious converts whose idealism had not anticipated such a lowly brotherhood and who did not stay long in such company. But those with tougher sensibilities remained to lift up their fellows and provide an effective native leadership. The convert-emigrants who returned from Zion on missions also served as living models of what the gospel and the new life could do. They attracted their kind and strengthened the work of reformation. The fruit of all this husbandry in Eden's nursery was the formation of a people more than ever set apart from their unbelieving countrymen, suffering at once the consequences of that estrangement and enjoying the compensations of their new-found 64

Tanner, op. cit., 8. 0. N. Liljenquist, "Autobiografi," Morgenstjernen, II (1883), 25-32.

65


256

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

fellowship and place in the sun. Indoctrination for Zion was essentially indoctrination for America, but with a significant difference amounting to a paradox. Whatever the attraction of America and whatever the desire of the convert to be identified with it, he was brought to the painful realization that in joining the Mormons he joined a sect which America itself repudiated. Taught by doctrine and by circumstance to regard himself in the world but not of it, he learned early that he must shun gentile America as much as Babylon Europe. The centripital forces of persecution and ostracism in both America and Scandinavia intensified the feeling. The faithful accepted the world's stigma as a seal of their apartness and relished union with a peculiar people in whose destiny they believed. In Scandinavia the apartness meant self-preservation as a valiant minority. In America it could easily become oppression as an illiberal majority, a barrier against inroads by outsiders. The doctrine of apartness was both a strength and a weakness. W h a t was a shield was inevitably also the target against which Zion's attackers from without and the disgruntled from within broke their lances. At length even many of the veteran converts felt its weight and worked themselves free of it. Akin to this apartness, so vital in forming the convert mind, was their total acceptance of the authority of the new church, the habit of putting church before country, priesthood before government. To believers, the word of church leaders was the W o r d of the Lord. Obedience to priesthood audiority was the touchstone of good standing, whether it concerned spiritual or temporal affairs, whether—as it did often in Zion—it meant a call to go on a mission, advice to take another wife, or an order to stop trading with the gentiles. It brought converts the security of implicit trust in a higher management of their affairs, but more than anything else, such unquestioning obeisance gave the impression of slavishness and ignorance. It was an aspect of their indoctrination which bred serious difficulties, a source, like their apartness, of both inspiration and irritation and of a good deal of misunderstanding by outsiders, who generally believed the converts to be subjugated by "the ambitious aims of the . . . leading Priesthood." It was rather voluntary submission, a fact a few anti-Mormon liberals did acknowledge:


U T A H ' S UGLY DUCKLINGS

257

If slaves at all, they are . . . slaves to their idealisms. . . . the docility and obedience of the people is the result of an attempt to be consistent with the religious assumptions upon which their faith is founded; and from which course, from their standpoint, they cannot depart without throwing off their faith altogether. 66 And it had to be remembered that "Nearly every one of these supposed slavish Mormon people has . . . broken away from some popular and established church and joined his present one in the face of ministerial authority . . . . rendered sacred by tradition and habit. Men in this temper . . . would not be likely to feel very slavish."67

IV Products of a conversion that shook most of them to the root, objects of a thoroughgoing reformation in their manner of living, welded together by doctrine and tried by experience, the proselytes found themselves impatient to "go up to Zion." "Intentions are secret; who can discover them?" they might have asked with John White in his Planter's Plea; and they found their motivation as mixed as the reasons for the migration of America's realistic first settlers, who believed "Nothing sorts better with piety than competency." 68 The temporal and the spiritual were inextricably mingled for a people who believed that a God who noted every sparrow's fall and numbered the hairs of a man's head would also concern himself with farms and merchandise and the daily transactions of the Saints. W a s not the "all-seeing eye of the Lord" painted over the doorway of every shop in Zion? Christian Nielsen, Danish miller three years in Utah, voiced the multiple attractions and compulsions:

66 E. L. T. Harrison, "The Question of the Hour: or, Radical or Conservative Measures for Utah?" Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine, I (1881), 131. 67 Loc. cit. 68 John White, Planter's Plea, quoted in Ola Elizabeth Winslow, Meetinghouse Hill: 1630-1783 (New York, 1952), 16-17.


258

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

W e own our own home and land, animals and equipment to ride and till the soil . . . about twenty acres of plowland . . . two town lots . . . . About 300 Danish families live in this town and seven English miles north of us there are about as many . . . . In everything there is freedom; here is freedom of trade; here anyone may organize in whatever manner he wishes and follow as many trades as he desires. . . . Grieving that a son, Niels Emmanuel, had chosen to remain in Denmark, the father urged: He could have the fat of everything here . . . . He could work for himself and not have to slave for another his whole life without ever having the pleasure of gaining something he could call his own . . . . Neils is now at an age when he will become a soldier. He stands alone . . . and Europe is involved in a great conflict . . . . I strongly beseech you to advise and help him to travel from Denmark with the next departure of emigrants. . . . If the Constitution is still in effect they cannot forbid him to leave . . . . And finally Nielsen struck the chord of religion so common in the letters of the converts: The gospel moves steadily forward . . . . I pray you to greet my wife's brother, Peter Hansen, for us; we wish we could have him here, however much he was against us; that we forgive . . . . There are missionaries; listen to them!69 Even had the material and spiritual magnet of Zion been less powerful, the expulsive forces of their precarious situation in Scandinavia made the converts long for their deliverance. The eagerness to leave Europe's poverty, the incessant wars of kings, 69 Letter, April 27, 1856, in Bikuben (Salt Lake City), December 19, 1912. Original in Royal Library, Copenhagen.


U T A H ' S UGLY DUCKLINGS

259

and futures barren for growing children easily outran the readiness. "Prepare not in haste, but in wisdom and order . . . . Let all that can, gather up their effects and set their faces as a flint to go Zionward." 70 They came, usually on a shoestring but rich in human resources and in sufficient numbers to make history, their posterity a constant reminder that Utah has roots deep in Scandinavia. The ugly ducklings needed only a congenial environment to feather out.

•">Stjerne, I (June 1, 1852), 141.


THE E V O L U T I O N OF C O U N T Y IN

BOUNDARIES

UTAH

BY JAMES B. A L L E N *

I

to go back to the time when Brigham Young first envisioned the western Mormon empire you would hear him describe a state larger than the state of Texas. This dream, the State of Deseret, is the beginning of the history of Utah's boundaries, for the Mormon colonists hoped to bring this vast area into the Union as a part of the United States. Before his death, however, Brigham Young saw this territory reduced five different times, until it reached the limits of the present state of Utah. During this time rapid and effective colonization was taking place, and with the expansion of colonization came the necessity for local government and thus the organization of counties. As the territory decreased, the number of counties increased, until at statehood there was a total of twenty-seven. Since that time two more have been added. If this study shows any one thing, however, it is that historically there has been nothing particularly sacred about an established county line. Boundaries in Utah have been changed, and changed often, according to changing conditions. W h a t follows is the story of this evolution. It will be observed that boundary changes during Utah's territorial p.eriod were made more easily than in the period since 1896, there being approximately ninety changes during that time. These changes, of course, were not made merely to satisfy the whims of the legislature, but came about as a result of the need for local government in areas of growing population. Even though the legislature had the power to create, enlarge, diminish, or even abolish a county, such action was not taken without good cause. With statehood the method of altering boundaries changed. Article 11 of the Utah constitution recognized existing counties F YOU WERE

*Mr. Allen is an instructor at Davis High School Seminary, Kaysville, Utah.


262

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

as legal subdivisions of the state and prescribed the method by which new changes were to be made. This called for the approval of the voters in the county and in the area affected. The Provisional State of Deseret included an amazing amount of territory. All of the area presently within the states of Utah and Nevada was included, as were parts of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The famous "Mormon Corridor," extending from Salt Lake City to the coast of southern California, was part of Brigham Young's dream for a vast Mormon empire which included territory all the way to the sea. The first attempt to organize counties in this large area was made by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret on January 31, 1850.1 Six counties were originally created, and the boundaries were determined merely by reference to natural geographic features. No attempt was made to organize the entire state into counties, but only that area where colonization had extended by 1850. Northernmost of the first counties was Weber, whose boundaries were described as being all of "that portion of country known as W e b e r Valley, and extending as far south as Stony Creek, and west to the Great Salt Lake." Great Salt Lake County was defined as ". . . all that portion of country known as the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, and lying South of Stony Creek." To the west was Tuilla County, which was identified simply as "Tuilla Valley," and Utah Valley was made into Utah County. San Pete Valley, named after an Indian chieftain, Sanpitch, became San Pete County. 2 An area called "Little Salt Lake Valley" also was made into a county, but the name was changed to Iron County later the same year, 3 the new name coming from the rich iron deposits in Ordinances and Laws of the State of Deseret, 1848-1850, pp. 28-30. For origin of county names see Utah Writers' Project, comp., Origin of Utah Place Names (Salt Lake City, 1941). For changing of spelling of "San Pete" to "Sanpete" see p. 271 of this article. 3 Letter from the First Presidency to Dr. J. M. Bernhisel, dated November 20, 1850, in Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Iron County was created by the legislature almost a full year before any colonization had taken place there. This pattern of creating counties prior to settlement was followed even more extensively by the territorial legislative assembly. 2


1868' Z)V£B£K-%ii

1861

1862 I86S

Jmm

m

m FIRST COUNTIES - 1 8 5 0 AND REDUCTION OF TERRITORIAL BOUNDARIES OF UTAH, 1861 -1868

WEK.R

H I §§

; p Q R E E N RIVE

DESERT

TOOELE

¥**]

CrKfciSTt SAtf t 4KE

illP

'WKOB,

JUAB k

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

MIIURD

X ^w

^^^^^i

IBBI

^^^^^^p;

;/

UTAH COUNTIES-1852

\

1k

"^"N


264

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the region. Colonization had not extended into this area, but within the next year towns such as Cedar City and Parowan were established. It is interesting to observe the immense amount of territory included within the county as it was finally defined in December, 1850: " . . . all that portion of country, lying in the southeast corner of the Great Basin, and being south of the divide between Beaver Creek and the Sevier River, and east of the Desert Range, extending south to the rim of the Basin, and east to the Wasatch Range of mountains." 4 A new county, Davis, was created on October 5, 1850, and included the smallest area of all. It occupied a small pocket east of the Great Salt Lake and extended as far south as the Hot Springs near Salt Lake City. 5 This was the last county created in Deseret, for in September, 1850, Congress ignored the appeal for statehood and established the Territory of Utah with greatly reduced borders. The new territory was bounded " . . . on the west by the State of California, on the north by the Territory of Oregon, and on the east by the summit of the Rocky Mountains, and on the south by the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude . . . ." 6 In the new territory, after the counties of Deseret were recognized as they then existed, the Legislative Assembly honored Millard Fillmore by naming the first county of its creation after the President. The new county was defined as "that portion of Iron County known as Pauvan valley . . . ." 7 Millard County included the city of Fillmore, where the seat of government for the territory was located for a time. Although settlement had moved little beyond the valleys of the Wasatch Mountains, in March, 1852, the Legislative Assembly of Utah passed an act defining county boundaries which extended the boundaries to include the entire territory. 8 The names of four new counties appeared: Juab, Desert, Green River and Washington. Desert County formed a strip about thirty-five miles wide extending from the Great Salt Lake to California. Tooele,9 Ordinances of the General Assembly of the State of Deseret (1851), 1. s Deseret News, October 19, 1850. <>The Compiled Laws of the Territory of Utah (Salt Lake City, 1876), 28. 7 Acts, Resolutions, and Memorials, . . . (Great Salt Lake City, 1855), 224. *Ibid., 224-26. ^Notice the change in spelling from "Tuilla" to "Tooele."


COUNTY BOUNDARIES IN U T A H

265

Juab,10 and Millard also were extended to the California border, and Iron and Washington counties were peculiar in that they stretched the entire width of the territory, a distance of approximately six hundred miles. Weber County was extended north to the Oregon (the present Oregon-Idaho) line and west to the California boundary. To the south, Great Salt Lake and Utah counties were bounded on the west by Tooele County and on the east by the territorial line. San Pete County likewise extended eastward to the territorial line, which was the Rocky Mountains in present Colorado. In northeastern Utah, Green River County included all that territory in the Bear Lake area, and also the Green River region of what is now Wyoming. Little settlement had extended into the Green River Valley in 1852, but it is significant to note that Brigham Young wanted to have control over this area because of the fact that thousands of immigrants were coming through this gateway each year. A trading post at Fort Bridger would be a great advantage to them. 11 In 1853 colonists were sent there, and by 1855 a very successful settlement had been made at Fort Supply. A year later Green River County was enlarged to include all the parts of Great Salt Lake and Utah counties that were east of a line intersecting Sulphur Creek where Emigration Road crossed it, and also part of San Pete County. This change is important in that it reduced greatly the size of both Utah and Great Salt Lake counties, which had extended to the eastern boundary of the territory. At the same time, the eastern boundary of Davis County was defined as being the western Summit County line.12 Summit County was created January 13, 1854, from the western end of Green River County and extended south to the southern line of Great Salt Lake County. Its area included the summit of the watershed between Green River and Salt Lake valleys. Few people had settled here as yet, so the county was made dependent upon Great Salt Lake County for election, revenue, and judicial purposes and remained so until 1861. 13 10 Some writers indicate that Juab County was organized in 1850. I can find no supporting evidence, however, in any of the laws nor in the census of 1850. al Milton R. Hunter, Brigham Young, the Colonizer (Independence, Mo., 1945), 280-81. 12 Acts, Resolutions and Memorials, . . . (1855), 259-60. 13 E. W. Tullidge, Tullidge's Histories (Salt Lake City, 1889), II, 134.


266

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

In western Utah, Carson County was formed by an act of January 17, 1854, and was named after the famous frontiersman, Kit Carson. It included all those parts of Tooele, Juab, Millard and Iron counties west of 118° longitude." This was a direct outgrowth of the attempt of the settlers in Carson Valley to govern themselves. Finding that they lacked authority to enforce their own laws, they had petitioned California to annex this section for judicial purpose. California refused. Some of the settlers, gold miners especially, objected to Mormon rule from Salt Lake City and wanted to be annexed to California. W h e n t i e Utah legislature heard of these actions, they took steps to provide these people with their own self-government by creating Carson County and sending Orson Hyde (one of the Twelve Apostles) to organize the county and to be the probate judge. This was the first county government organized in what is now the state of Nevada.15 No major changes in counties were made in 1855. The dividing line between Weber and Davis counties was changed when Davis was given that part of Weber County south of a line running down Weber River to a point north of the northwest corner of Kingston's Fort, then due west to the Great Salt Lake. Davis County also was changed on the south by having that part of the county west of the Jordan River attached to Great Salt Lake County. 16 The boundary between Juab and San Pete counties was further defined in 1855 by moving it slightly east to the dividing ridge between Juab and San Pete valleys. Non-Mormon settlers in Carson County still continued to protest rule by Utahns, and in 1856 were agitating for annexation by California. This, of course, was refused by Congress, and Utah took immediate action to increase the number of settlers in the valley.17 In January of that year the Utah legislature extended the northern boundary of Carson County to the Oregon line. New Mormon settlers brought their families with the intent of making permanent settlements. By August of 1856, the Mor^Acts, Resolutions and Memorials, . . . (1855), 261. Effie Mona Mack, Nevada, a History of the State from the earliest times through the Civil War (Glendale, California, 1936), 154-55. 16 .Acrs, Resolutions and Memorials, . . . (1855), 279. "Mack, op. cit, 157-58. 16


COUNTY BOUNDARIES IN U T A H

267

mons were in a distinct majority. In 1857, however, the settlers were called home because Johnston's Army was approaching Utah, and the county was disorganized the same year. 18 T h e same disposition was made of Green River County one year later.19 Both counties, however, were reorganized in 1859.20 Two new counties were created in western Utah in 1856, Humboldt and St. Mary's. 2 1 They included all the area north of Millard County, east of Carson, and west of 114° longitude. The 116th meridian divided the two counties, with Humboldt on the west. This action, it will be observed, greatly reduced the size of Weber, Tooele, Desert and Juab counties. By 1856 Mormon settlement in northern Utah had progressed,22 and the legislature had very good reason for organizing more counties there. The fact that they formed new counties so soon after settlement began to filter into these areas shows the concern of the leaders for setting up good local self-government. The creation of four new counties in 1856 again reduced the size of Weber. Greasewood County, so named because of the abundance of greasewood in the region, included all the area west of the Great Salt Lake as far as St. Mary's County. All the area of Cache Valley, and west along the southern line as far as Green River County, was made into Cache County. 23 This region was settled the same year by a small group of families under the supervision of Peter Maughn, who had come at the direction of Brigham Young for that purpose. Between Cache and Greasewood counties, and as far south as the center of the Bear River, lay the new Malad County, taking its name from the Malad River. The rest of Weber County as far south as "a point due west from the hot springs at the territorial road in Weber county" was made into Box Elder County. 24 ls

Acts, Resolutions and Memorials, . . . 1856-57, p. 11. Acts, Resolutions and Memorials, . . .. 1857-58, p. 5. 20 Acts, Resolutions and Memorials, . . . 1858-59, pp. 19-20. 21 Acts. Resolutions and Memorials, . . . 1855 [1856], 5-7. Humboldt County derived its name from the Humboldt River, and S t Mary's was named after the eastern tributary. Formerly the Humboldt River was called Mary River. "Hunter, op. cit. Chapter XXVI. 23 The name comes from the fact that early trappers cached furs and supplies in this valley. 2 *Acts, Resolutions and Memorials, . . . 1855-56, pp. 5-7. 19


268

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

At the same time two more new counties were created in other parts of the territory. Cedar County was created from that part of Utah County which approximates present-day Cedar Valley. Iron County was split almost in half with the creation of Beaver County, but both continued to extend from Carson County to the eastern extremity of the territory. It was in this same year that the first settlement in Beaver County was established, and other towns grew within a very few years. By authority of the same act (January 5, 1856), the boundary between Iron and Washington counties was re-defined as being " . . . a line running east and west across this Territory, through a point four miles north from the northeast corner of Fort Harmony." A few days later (January 12) a new county, Shambip, was created from the southern portion of Tooele County. The boundary was a line running west from Cedar County along the summit of the dividing ridge between Tooele and Rush valleys, thence west to St. Mary's County. 25 This included Rush Valley where settlement was begun in 1855. It appears, however, that not enough people located there to justify a county organization, for it was returned to Tooele in 1862. The year 1861 brought many boundary changes to Utah. The legislative assembly re-defined boundaries in the west only to see their action nullified when Congress made western Utah into Nevada Territory. The territorial assembly had left Carson County as it was; Humboldt County was extended south to California; and St. Mary's County had its eastern boundary reduced to the 115th meridian and was extended south to California.26 These changes reduced the western area of Washington, Iron, Beaver and Millard counties, but extended Juab, Shambip, Tooele, Desert and Greasewood counties westward to 115° west longitude. However, Congress, by creating Nevada and placing her eastern border at 116°, upset all the recent changes of the 2

Hbid., 7. The legislature must have been unfamiliar with the geography of that area, for this line would never touch California. The territory south of the 37th parallel was part of New Mexico Territory. See Edward M. Douglas, Boundaries, Areas, Geographic Centers and Altitudes of the United States and the Several States (U. S. Dept. of the Interior, Geological Survey Bulletin 817, 2d ed., Washington, D. C , 1930), 234. 26


HUMBOIOT

iillllR» v ER

ST. M A R Y S

CARSON

*B«SI

liilifcTE

MILLARD »£AVE» I80N MiHSHiU&XOH

UTAH COUNTIES - I860

:e«tcn«.>

i&si

80" S l l i i l l f % y i l § i

4 TOoaLt

GREEN RIVER

/ASATCH

.IttD, Jtffft-

^HH MRWftO

Bt*ivE»-

WAiHtHGTOr

UTAH COUNTIES-1862


270

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

territorial assembly. Carson, Humboldt, and St. Mary's disappeared as Utah counties. 27 T h e Utah counties now extended their borders one degree westward. This degree of territory was taken from them, however, die following year, when Congress moved the Nevada boundary to 115° west longitude. Four years later (1866), the western boundaries of Utah's western counties were further affected by Congressional extension of Nevada Territory to the 114° of longitude, on the present Utah-Nevada boundary. 28 On Utah's eastern border, the counties also were drastically changed by the action of Congress in 1861. Colorado Territory was created, which took from the eastern counties about three degrees of their area. 29 Furthermore, Nebraska Territory (Wyoming) was extended westward to 110° west longitude, thus taking a sizeable area from Green River County. 30 The territorial legislature, in January of 1862, re-defined the county boundaries. 31 T h e new definition created two new counties, Wasatch and Morgan, and discontinued Desert, Greasewood, Malad, Cedar and Shambip counties. Wasatch County, named for the Wasatch Mountains, included the area known as Provo Valley, which had been settled well enough by 1862 to justify the legislature in granting the citizens' petition for a county organization. Named after Jedediah Morgan Grant, a councilor to Brigham Young, Morgan County was carved out of the eastern part of Davis. It now becomes increasingly difficult to locate county lines exactly because of the fact that so many boundaries, especially from 1862 to 1880, were determined by reference to roads, creeks, ranches, forts, and other landmarks which are difficult to locate. W e can, however, get a picture which will serve well enough to give the reader a good idea of the most important changes. Washington, Iron and Beaver counties remained approximately the same. T h e north, west, and south sides of Millard "Ibid.. 234. 28Mack, op. cit. 406-09. 29 San Pete lost territory on the east to Colorado, but Beaver, Iron, and Washington lost territory on both the east and the west They were considerably reduced in length. Douglas, op. cit, 224. S0 Ibid., 211. 31 Acts, Resolutions and Memorials. . . . 1861-62, p. 46.


COUNTY BOUNDARIES IN U T A H

271

County remained nearly the same, but the eastern boundary was changed to follow the summit of the mountain ranges. Sanpete County was extended northward and eastward according to certain ranges of mountains and became part of the southern boundary of the new Wasatch County. (Notice that from here on the name "Sanpete" becomes one word instead of two.) Green River County was reduced by the formation of Wasatch County, and Utah County now included only that area near Utah Lake. It is interesting to note that the counties around Salt Lake area were divided more often during this early period and, of course, were much smaller than those in other parts of the territory. This could well have been caused by the fact that even though the pioneers were making an effort to expand colonization, the population grew much more rapidly in this area. By 1864 settlement had extended into eastern Cache County; Richland County 32 was carved out of it, the summit of the dividing mountain range being the boundary. In southern Utah another new county, Kane County, was created by detaching part of Washington County, leaving to Washington County only a small section in the west. 33 The principal city in Kane County was Virgin City, which had been settled as part of an attempt by the church to establish cotton plantations, vineyards, etc., in Utah's "Dixie." The county received its name in honor of Colonel Thomas L. Kane, an early friend of the Mormons. Settlement also was growing more rapidly in Washington County itself. In 1857 a number of missionaries who had been sent to preach to the Indians, along with their families, settled in the town of Washington. In 1861 three hundred Saints were sent to found the city of St. George in what was now a large-scale effort to colonize the southland. Two more counties were created on January 16, 1865. Sevier County34 was split off the southern part of Sanpete County, and Beaver County was divided in order to form Piute County 35 from the eastern part. 36 There was only one main settlement in Sevier S2

Named for Charles C. Rich, early Mormon apostle who settled there. Acts, Resolutions and Memorials, . . . 1863-64, p. 10. 34 Named after the Sevier River. 36 The name comes from the Paiute Indians. 3e Acts, Resolutions and Memorials, . . . 1864-65, p. 16. 3S


272

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

County, Richfield, which had been settled the previous year by eleven citizens from Manti. In a short time, however, more settlements grew. A few towns in Piute County, such as Marysvale and Circleville, had been settled by 1864. By this time, also, nearly all the principal valleys of the Wasatch Mountains had been colonized. It is interesting to observe, in this connection, that seven more permanent counties were organized during the territorial period, and of these none were in the western part of die state. It would appear, therefore, that the extent of colonization had a great deal to do with the formation of and change in county lines. The final change in territorial lines came in 1868, when the coming of the railroad made it necessary to form a new territory from parts of Dakota, Utah and Idaho. 37 T h e commencement of settlement along the line of the railroad made this necessary because the country was so far from the capitals of the other territories. Accordingly, part of the northeast corner of Utah was given to the new territory, Wyoming, and Utah's borders were then reduced to their present status. 38 In 1866 the legislature again re-defined all the county boundaries. 39 This was the last complete re-definition. Later changes referred to and amended this act. There were no significant changes at this time, but it should be noted that even tiough most of Green River County was taken into Wyoming in tbis year, the territory still remaining in Utah was added to no other county until 1872. The eastern boundary of Juab County was re-defined in 1868,40 but the act appears to be only for clarification and not a major change. The names of two counties were changed in 1868. Great Salt Lake County became simply Salt Lake County, and the name of Richland County was shortened to Rich.41 A new county, Rio Virgin, was created from the western part of Washington County. 42 Apparently, however, the legislature 37 C. G. Coutant, The History of Wyoming from the Earliest Known Discoveries (Laramie, Wyoming, 1899), I, 261. 33 Official Report of the Proceedings and Debates of the Convention Assembled at Salt Lake City on the Fourth Day of March, 1895, to Adopt a Constitution for the State of Utah (2 vols., Salt Lake City, 1898), I, 204. S0 Acts, Resolutions and Memorials, . . . (Great Salt Lake City, 1866), 207. i0 Acts, Resolutions and Memorials, . . . 1867-68, p. 26. "Ibid., 1-2. i2 Acts, Resolutions and Memorials, . . . 1869, p. 7.


COUNTY BOUNDARIES IN U T A H

273

was unfamiliar with the geography of the western part of the territory, for most of the country described seems to have been in Nevada. Thus, there existed the unusual condition of a Utah county outside the Utah territorial boundaries. This was rectified, however, in 1872 when the legislature again extended the boundary of Washington County to include "all that portion of Rio Virgin County now remaining in the Territory." 48 Washington County was further reduced in 1869, when another slice of her eastern territory was given to Kane County and Tokerville was made the county seat of Kane County. 44 Washington was now one of the smallest counties in the state, but contained the largest population of any in southern Utah. In 1872 the last remaining part of Green River County was absorbed into Summit County, extending the boundaries of the latter eastward to the territorial line.46 Another act in the same year extended the boundary of Rich County slightly to the south,46 and seems to have had the effect of defining definitely the boundaries in the area where Rich, Morgan and Summit counties join. Previously, these three counties were supposed to meet at the place where the northern boundary of Summit County crossed the Bear River, but this point had been in Wyoming Territory since 1868. A more complete division of the eastern part of Utah was begun in 1880, with the creation of Emery, San Juan and Uintah counties. It now becomes easier to locate most of the boundaries because of the fact that after 1880 many county lines were determined by reference to range and township lines. Emery County was created on February 12, and was carved out of the center of Sevier and Sanpete counties.47 The number of settlers in this region had become so great that the need for such a move was apparent. A committee, therefore, petitioned the legislature for creation of a new county to be called "Castle County." The law makers approved, but changed the name in i3

Acts, Resolutions and Memorials, . .. . 7572, p. 28. Acts. Resolutions and Memorials, . . . 1869, p. 17. The spelling of "Toquerville" with a "k" is as given in the original statute. ib Acts, Resolutions and Memorials, . . . 1872, p. 28. ie Ibid„ 40. i7 Laws, Memorials, and Resolutions of the Territory of Utah . . . 1880, p. 4. 4i


274

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

honor of George W . Emery, one of the few territorial governors who had the sincere respect of the people of Utah. This is the only Utah county which bears the name of a governor. The new county included most of the area of present Carbon and Emery counties. It is interesting to notice that the legislature did not include the area east of the Green River. This left the country formerly belonging to Sevier County completely cut off, and that area belonging to Sanpete County connected only by a narrow strip of land on the north. This unusual situation occurred because, on February 13, the governor vetoed a bill creating San Juan County, which would have included this territory, on the grounds that the proposed county included too much territory for the convenience of the people. 48 Five days later, therefore, the territory west of Green River, north of parallel 38°31' and south of the mouth of Price River was added to Emery County, and San Juan County 49 was formed with smaller borders. 50 In 1879 the church had "called" 200 members to settle the San Juan country. This led to the famous Hole in the Rock expedition to this isolated area of Utah and to the organization of San Juan County. San Juan included all those parts of Kane, Iron and Piute counties lying east of the Green and Colorado rivers. Bluff, the county seat, had only 225 inhabitants. In northeastern Utah, all of the territory west of the 110th meridian to where it strikes the Green River, and north of Emery County, was made into the new Uintah County. 51 This reduced both Summit and Wasatch counties in area and also included that part of Sanpete County which would otherwise have been isolated by the creation of Emery County. Another important act of 1880 apportioned the waters and islands of Great Salt Lake to Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, Box Elder and Tooele counties.52 Salt Lake County was extended only slightly to the northwest. Included in the Davis County section was Antelope Island, while Fremont Island went to Weber

^Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, 1880, 278. *9Named after the San Juan River. S0 Laws, Memorials, and Resolutions . . . 1880, p. 10. 51 Ibid., 11. The name comes from a word used by the Ute Indians. ™lbid.. 15.


UTAH COUNTIES 1879

(oate) eOXElDERjjjI W§£r~\Wr

SUMMIT

B'SALTX^-. TOOELE

WASATCH )

UTAH

^

JUAB

}J

SANPETE

MILLARD J BEAVER

SEVIER

S

PIUTE

IRON

^yi

KANE

I

BOX EIDER

UTAH COUNTIES

TOOELE

SAN JUAN

WMHINGTOJI


276

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

County. Tooele County received a number of the smaller islands. The largest piece of the lake was attached to Box Elder County. The 1880 changes also altered the northern boundary of Sanpete County by placing it at the township line between townships eleven and twelve. This necessitated extending the Utah and Wasatch lines a few miles to the south, which was done.53 This boundary was further defined in 1884, by an act which placed the Utah-Wasatch boundary at its present location.54 The creation of Garfield County, in March of 1882, took another section off the eastern end of Iron County, cutting it by more than half. The new county was named after President Garfield. At the same time, the legislature re-defined all the boundaries of Kane, Iron and Washington counties according to range and township lines. W i t h this re-definition Washington County was slightly enlarged both on the north and the east, gaining a strip of land approximately thirty miles wide. 55 In 1884 the line between Iron and Garfield counties was changed, which added a small section, including Panguitch Lake, to die southwest corner of Garfield.56 An act of 1888 re-defined the boundaries of Millard and Juab counties, but the changes appear to have been insignificant.57 Two changes occurred in 1890: a very small portion of the northern end of Sevier County was attached to Sanpete County, 58 which made the dividing line die same as exists today. The second change was the creation of another new county, Grand. 59 This was done by detaching that part of Emery County which lay east of the Green River.60 Grand County received another piece of land in 1892, when part of tbe soudiern end of Uintah County was given to it. 61 The final change in the Washington-Iron County boundary was made in 1892, when a small portion of the northeast corner of Washington County was given ^Ibid., 18. S4 Laws, Memorials, and Resolutions . . . 1884, p. 57. S5 Laws, Memorials, and Resolutions . . . 1882, pp. 99-100. se Laws, Memorials, and Resolutions . . . 1884, pp. 53, 58. 57 Laws, Memorials, and Resolutions . . . 1888, pp. 44-46. 58 Laws, Memorials, and Resolutions . . . 1890, p. 13. 59 Named after the Grand River, now called the Colorado River. eo Laws, Memorials, and Resolutions . . . 1890, pp. 92-94. B1 Laws, Memorials, and Resolutions . . . 1892, p. 16.


COUNTY BOUNDARIES IN U T A H

277

to Iron.62 The dividing line between Tooele and Juab counties was finally and definitely fixed in 1894.63 Two more new counties were created before the end of the territorial period. W a y n e County 64 was formed in 1892 from the eastern end of Piute, taking more than half of it.65 In 1894 Emery County was divided so that the northern section became Carbon County, and the boundaries of both these counties became the same as they are today. 66 This division came as a result of the efforts of the growing city of Price to have the county seat transferred from Castle Dale. W i t h the failure of this project, the citizens along the Price River petitioned for the creation of a new county and their petition was granted by the legislature. The name comes from the immense deposits of coal in this area. With these final changes, the counties of Utah remained the same until after statehood. Twenty-seven counties existed in 1895. In 1896 Utah became a state and the constitution stated that: "The several counties of the Territory of Utah, existing at the same time of the adopting of this Constitution, are hereby recognized as legal subdivisions of this State." 67 Only two more counties have been created since that time. Duchesne County 68 was created in 1914 on the petition of citizens in the eastern portion of Wasatch County. An act of 1913 had made it legal for citizens of any portion of a county to petition for a new county. The petition had to be signed by at least one-fourth of the qualified electors of the area affected and one-fourth of the qualified electors in the remainder of the county. In 1917 the citizens of the northern part of Uintah County petitioned for the organization of a new county. Geographically, this district belonged more logically to Wyoming, for access from e2

Ibid., 82. Laws, Memorials, and Resolutions . . . 1894, pp. 31-32. 64 It is said that this name was given by Willis E. Robinson, a member of the legislature, in honor of his son Wayne. u Laws, Memorials, and Resolutions . . . 1892, p. 79. e3 Laws, Memorials, and Resolutions . . . 1894, p. 82. "Laws of Utah, 1896, p. 56. 68 The origin of this name is uncertain. It possibly was named after a French explorer. 33


278

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Utah was, and still is, extremely difficult because of the high Uinta Mountains. The petition was acted upon and Daggett became the last new county in Utah. It was given its name after Ellswortb Daggett, the first surveyor-general of Utah. In summary, tben, Utah's boundaries have seen frequent changes. Thirty-nine counties have been created, ten have become extinct, and the first fifty years of Utah's history saw some change in boundaries with nearly every session of the legislature. Thus has been the evolution of county boundaries in Utah.


UTAH, THE MORMONS, A N D THE WEST: A

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A C H E C K LIST O F T H E S E S A T T H E BRIGHAM Y O U N G

UNIVERSITY*

Addy, Caroline (Stucki). "James Godson Bleak, Pioneer Historian of Southern Utah." M.A. 1953, Department of History. Addy, George H. "The Economic and Social History of Bingham Canyon, Utah, Considered with Special Reference to Mormon-Gentile Synthesis." M.A. 1949, Department of History. Allen, Lorna Bagley. "A Study of the Alleged Mormon Rebellion." M.A. 1931, Department of History. Anderson, Robert D. "History of the Provo Times and Enquirer 1873-1897 . . . Provo." M.S. 1951, Department of History. Andrus, Hyrum L. "World Government as Envisioned in the Latter-day Saint 'City of Zion.' " M.S. 1952, Department of Religion. Bailey, Raymond T. "Emma Hale, Wife of the Prophet Joseph Smith." M.S. 1952, Department of Religion. Barrett, Ivan J. "History of the Cotton Mission and Cotton Culture in Utah." M.S. 1947, Department of Religion. Beck, J. Vern. "Studies on Utah 'Dixie Molasses.' " M.S. 1933, Department of Chemistry. Benson, Marie Danielsen. "A Study of Mormon Poetry Published Between 1880 and 1900." M.A. 1935, Department of English. *This item constitutes the third article in the projected series, "Utah, the Mormons, and the West: A Bibliography." For special aid in compiling this list, we wish to thank Ruth M. Jones and Robert N. McMillan, of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City; and S. Lyman Tyler, Ralph Hansen, and Chad Flake, of Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.


280

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Bird, Howard A. "History and Development of the Utah Labor Code." M.S. 1939, Department of Economics. Boyack, Bert. "The Old Age Movement in Utah." M.S. 1940, Department of Economics. Browning, Beth. "History of Drama in Ogden." M.S. 1947, Department of Speech. Burton, Alma P. "Karl G. Maeser, Mormon Educator." M.S. 1950, Department of History. Butt, Newburn I. "The Soil as One Factor in Early Mormon Colonization." M.S. 1938, Department of Agronomy. Christensen, Ross Taylor. "A Preliminary Report of Archeological Investigation Near Utah Lake, Utah, 1946." M.S. 1947, Department of Archeology. Clark, Gean. "A Survey of Early Mormon Fiction." M.A. 1935, Department of English. Clark, James R. "A Study of the Significance of the Newspaper in Mental Contacts Between Mormons and Non-Mormons 1824-50." M.A. 1944, Department of History. Coffman, W . Elmo. "A Progress Report of Metals in Utah." M.S. 1932, Department of Geology. Colton, Ray C. "A Historical Study of the Exploration of Utah Valley and the Story of Fort Utah." M.A. 1946, Department of History. Compton, Annie Rosella. "John J. McClellan, Tabernacle Organist." M.A. 1951, Department of Music. Condon, David De Lancey. "A Preliminary Study of the Social and Economic Geography of Utah with Special Emphasis on the Tintic Mining District." M.S. 1935, Department of Geology.


T H E S E S AT BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

281

Corbett, Pearson H. "Jacob Hamblin, Western Frontiersman, Pioneer Colonizer, Indian Missionary, Peace-maker, and Trail-blazer in the Southwest." M.S. 1944, Department of Religion. Dastrup, Ila. "Mormon Colonization, a Type in die Westward Movement." M.A. 1931, Department of History. Davies, Joseph K. "The Utah County Labor Movement." M.S. 1950, Department of Economics. DeHoyos, Arturo. "A Sociological Study of Intermarriage Between Mexicans and Americans in Salt Lake City, Utah." M.A. 1954, Department of Sociology. Dixon, Howard B. "The Building and Monumental Stones of the State of Utah." M.A. 1938, Department of Geology. Eastmond, Jefferson N . "A Study of the Trends in Public School Finance in the United States with Particular Reference to the State of Utah." M.S. 1948, Department of Education. Esplin, Ross Stalworthy. "A Survey of Fiction Written by Mormon Authors, and Appearing in Mormon Periodicals Between 1900 and 1945." M.A. 1949, Department of English. Ferguson, Burnett B. "History of Drama in Provo, 1853-1897." M.S. 1952, Department of Speech. Fielding, Robert Kent. "Establishing the Value of Indian Lands in the W e s t 1850-1900." M.S. 1952, Department of History. Frei, Newell R. "History of Pioneering on Shoal Creek." M.S. 1932, Department of History. Grow, Stewart Logren. "A Historical Study of the Construction of die Salt Lake Tabernacle." M.S. 1947, Department of History. Halladay, Wilford Meeks. "A Brief History of Piute County and its Educational Development." M.S. 1951, Department of Elementary Education.


282

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Hansen, Alma W . ''A Historical Study of the Influence of the Railroad Upon Ogden, Utah 1868-1875." M.S. 1953, Department of History. Hansen, Basil. "An Historic Account of Music Criticism and Music Critics in Utah." M.A. 1933, Department of Music. Hanson, William F. "The Lore of Tarn-Man Nacup, Springtime Festival of the Utes." M.S. 1939, Department of Music. Hill, James B. "History of Utah State Prison." M.S. 1952, Department of History. Honeyman, Roger B. "A Study of the Growth and Development of Adult Education in the State of Utah . . . 1940-1949." M.A. 1951, Department of Education. Horsley, Andrew Burt. "A Possible Heretical Trend in the Religious Philosophy of the Latter-day Saint People of a Given Geographical Area." M.A. 1954, Department of Religion. Jensen, Christian Joseph. "A Study of How die Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Attempted to Meet the Educational Needs of its Members for the Period of Time A.D. 1830-1900." M.S. 1932, Department of Education. Jeppson, Earl Fuller. "The History of Public Education in Brigham City." M.S. 1950, Department of Philosophy of Education and Guidance. Johnson, Carl Edward. "The Growth and Development of the Small Loan Company in Utah." M.A. 1954, Department of Economics. Kenner, Glenn R. "Marketing of Utah Wool, Its History and Its Problems." M.S. 1936, Department of Marketing. Larson, Andrew Karl. "Agricultural Pioneering in the Virgin River Basin." M.A. 1946, Department of History. McConkie, Don L. "An Economic Survey of the Uintah Basin." M.S. 1941, Department of Commerce.


T H E S E S AT BRIGHAM Y O U N G UNIVERSITY

283

Magleby, Francis R. "A Mural Depicting the Meeting Between Father Escalante's Expedition and the Laguna Indians of Utah Valley." M.S. 1952, Department of Art. Memmott, Frank C. "Development of the Union and Coal Production in Carbon County, Utah." M.S. 1950, Department of Economics. Meservy, Joseph Roberts. "A History of Federal Legislation Against Mormon Polygamy and Certain United States Supreme Court Decisions Supporting Such Legislation." M.S. 1947, Department of History. Midgley, Thomas Keith. "Early Exploration and Settlement of the Tooele Area, Utah." M.S. 1953, Department of History. Morrill, A. Reed. "A Historical Study of Ashley Valley and its Environs." M.S. 1937, Department of History. Murry, Mark H. "Utah Mineral and Agricultural Production Since 1900." M.S. 1944, Department of Accounting. Nielsen, Emil K. "A Vocabulary and Curriculum Study of the Early History of Utah." M.S. 1948, Department of Elementary Education. Nielson, R. Lamont. "A Study of the Modification of the Culture of the Ute Indians." M.S. 1941, Department of Sociology. Olsen, Joseph William. "Biography of Erastus Snow." M.S. 1935, Department of Religion. Purdy, William Earl. "The Life and W o r k s of Charles John Thomas: His Contribution to the Music History of Utah." M.A. 1949, Department of Music. Raty, Leslie Shupe. "A History of Wasatch County, 1859-1899." M.A. 1954, Department of History. Reid, Hyrum Lorenzo. "Early History of Utah's Dixie." M.S. 1931, Department of History.


284

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Rich, Russell Rogers. "History of t i e Latter-day Saint Setdement of Bear Lake Valley, 1863-1900." M.A. 1948, Department of Church History. Roberts, Benjamin Mark. "Antiony Lund, Musician, with Special Reference to His Teaching and Choral Directing." M.A. 1952, Department of Music. Scott, Odell E. "Economic History of Provo, Utah, 1849-1900." M.S. 1951, Department of History. Shumway, Ernest Widtsoe. "History of Winter Quarters, Nebraska, 1846-1848." M.S. 1953, Department of History. Smart, Max Neff. "A Study of the Readability of Editorials in Weekly Newspapers of Utah." M.S. 1952, Department of English. Smith, Hyrum Jenkins. "History and Results of Operation of the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad." M.A. 1939, Department of Marketing. Smiti, Julina. "A Discussion of the Inter-relations of the Latterday Saints and the American Indians." M.A. 1932, Department of History. Terry, Elvis B. "A Collection of Ballad and Folk-like Songs of Enterprise, Utah." M.S. 1950, Department of Music. Teuscher, Alvin J. "A Study of the Causes of Conflict Between the Mormons and the Non-Mormons in Missouri and Illinois." M.S. 1940, Department of History. Thompson, Reed P. "Eighty Years of Music in St, George, Utah, 1861-1941." M.A. 1952, Department of Music. Van Alfen, Nicholas. "Porter Rockwell and die Mormon Frontier." M.A. 1938, Department of History. Wallace, Karl Miles. "Eminent Utah Men, a Comparative Study of Certain Aspects of Their Backgrounds in Religious Beliefs." M.S. 1944, Department of Sociology. Westenskow, Clifford. "The Economic Development of Davis County, Utah." M.S. 1946, Department of Economics.


REVIEWS A N D RECENT

PUBLICATIONS

Journals of Forty-Niners; Salt Lake to Los Angeles. By LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W . Hafen. Volume II, The Far West and the Rockies Historical Series, 1820-1875. (Glendale, The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1954, 324 pp. $9.50) This study, the second to appear in a fifteen-volume series under the title. The Far West and the Rockies. 1820-1875, deals explicidy with the explorations of the Mormon Trail, Salt Lake to Los Angeles, in the year 1849. In the opinion of the reviewer, diis is by far the best study yet to appear on die general theme of southwestern exploration within the United States. Here, for the first time, all the available materials on the subject are brought together and very effectively organized and annotated with copious but revealing notes. The diaries of such notable pioneers as Sheldon Young, James S. Brown, Jacob Y. Stover, Charles C. Rich, Addison Pratt, Howard Egan, Henry W . Bigler, and many other contemporary records are reproduced and serve to enliven and add human interest to the narrative. The route of the Forty-Niners from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles approximates the modern highway U. S. 91. Its southern half was identical with the western end of the Old Spanish Trail; its northern half was utilized primarily by the Mormons. Segments of the trail were first traversed by the Spanish padres, Garces (1775) and Escalante (1776), and later by beaver trappers and Spanish-Mexican slave traders. The great American trail blazer, Jedediah S. Smith, followed it in its entirety in 1826, and twenty years later, John Charles Fremont, the celebrated American pathmaker, as Nevins calls him, made the most thorough reconnoissance of this famous route, charting the trail, "deviously traced from one water hole to another," and afterwards published an excellent description with accompanying map of the route. In 1847, Jefferson Hunt, formerly captain of Company A of the Mormon Battalion, organized a party which was directed to go over the trail to California to procure much needed cattle,


286

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

seed grain, fruit cuttings and other provisions. Hunt left Los Angeles on the return trip in February, 1848, driving before him about 200 cows, several pack animals, and about 40 bulls. All the bulls except one died from thirst and nearly 100 cows also perished. He arrived at Salt Lake City in May, 1848. The first wagon train to leave the Utah Lake region for California, in the fall of 1849, was the Gruwell-Derr Company of gold seekers. This group with twenty-three wagons left a week or two ahead of the larger and better train led by Jefferson Hunt. Hunt had contracted to guide a train of 107 wagons over the trail for a fee of $10 per wagon. The Gruwell-Derr Company, however, composed largely of families, had little money and therefore could not afford to pay the fee. Enlisting the voluntary services of a Spaniard as guide, the company went ahead on the trail. The Hunt party intercepted the Gruwell-Derr train at the modern town of Barstow, California, and from this point the combined groups travelled together, arriving at Williams Ranch (modern San Bernardino) in January, 1850. W h e n about three hundred miles from Los Angeles, it became evident that the supply of provisions would not hold out and accordingly the train was put on half rations. A party of six, including the Spanish guide, went ahead on foot for provisions. The distance was greater than anticipated and the suffering endured by these men was most horrible. "At the Mohave River they tried to catch fish in blankets but succeeded in catching only a few minnows. Some two days later Derr shot a wolf which was all they had the rest of the eleven days. Every portion including entrails and skin was eaten. They tried to shoot some crows but were too weak to aim. For the last seven days they had absolutely nothing. Some of the party were determined to kill the Spaniard to eat. Gruwell would have killed him but for being prevented by Derr." (Pp. 52-53.) The Hunt wagon train left Springville on its trek southward on October 2, 1849. As already noted the caravan included 107 wagons. The number of men and stock are not accurately reported but "there were over four hundred head of horses, mules and oxen" (p. 60). On October 21, the train reached Beaver Creek. Here Hunt, because of caustic criticism levelled against him by the impatient gold seekers, agreed to search for a cut-off leading westward. After having pushed into the desert some forty miles


REVIEWS AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS

287

without finding water, Hunt returned to camp on the 24th, almost dead from thirst. Because of this needless delay, the company had lost seven precious days at Beaver Creek. Hunt was blamed for this misfortune and dissension arose, even threats were made against his life. This feeling persisted as the company travelled southward until an open break occurred at the Mountain Meadows. There, on November 4, one hundred wagons led by O. K. Smith, and accompanied by the Flake-Rich Company of packers, left the Hunt train and followed an unknown trail leading directly westward. Smith represented that a cut-off to the gold fields by way of Walker's Pass, and traced on a map furnished by one Barney W a r d , would save the party five hundred miles. It would bring them safely to the northern California gold fields within twenty days, he alleged. But Hunt was determined to follow the route leading southward, and accordingly, with seven wagons, he continued on his way to Los Angeles, which was reached without incident or mishap in January, 1850. The seceders who had followed Smith soon met with difficulties over the untried route. "Soon after we left the regular trail," says Rich, "we had been wandering about in canyons, mountains and deserts for eleven days. Our progress in the direction of California had been very slow. But we had excellent appetites. Our provisions were disappearing, our clothes wearing out, and our animals would soon be too thin to afford much sustenance, if we had to kill them." ( P . 254.) A few days later the Flake-Rich contingent separated from the Smith Company and following a route directly southward intercepted the Hunt train on the regular trail near Las Vegas, Nevada. But the stubborn Smith was not to be shaken from his determination to follow the Walker Cut-off. Says Rich, "He swore by the gods that he would go straight ahead even if he died in the attempt. Said he: 'If you do not hear from me, you may know that I died with my face westward and not before I have eaten some mule meat.' " (P. 50.) But Smith relented and widi the remaining wagons turned back toward the regular trail. Only nine foolhardy men refused to turn back. Of these, seven traveling afoot perished on the desert floor of Death Valley. Dr. and Mrs. Hafen, born and raised on the southwestern segment of the Old Mormon Trail, are well qualified to write this stimulating book. Long years of experience in emending and


288

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

interpreting documents have earned for Dr. Hafen an enviable reputation as a pre-eminent scholar in the field of western American history. His many friends will anticipate with pleasure the publication of the remaining volumes of the series. The book is handsomely published, well arranged, and exceptionally well documented. An excellent historical summary, eight selected illustrations including an unusually fine portrait of Jefferson Hunt, and a fine workable map are appended. University of Utah

L. H. Creer

American Heritage: The Magazine of History, December, 1954 and February, 1955. Sponsored by the American Association for State and Local History and the Society of American Historians. Edited by Bruce Catton. (New York, American Heritage Publishing Company, bi-monthly, $12.00 per year) W h e n asked to write a review for one of the "learned journals," one may feel that he has not properly discharged his responsibility unless he finds flaws in the work under consideration. My assignment is American Heritage: The Magazine of History, concerning which my inability to point out significant shortcomings leaves me not frustrated but delighted. Here is a periodical—as much like a book as a magazine—which ought to claim the attention of everyone who enjoys history. And here is an unparalleled teaching tool to persuade the reluctant student that history can be enjoyable. Editor Bruce Catton sounds the keynote in die foreword to the first issue (December, 1954) of this bi-monthly journal: "The editors of any magazine calling itself American Heritage must begin by stating the faith that moves them; and die faith that moves us is, quite simply, the belief t i a t our heritage is best understood by a study of the things that the ordinary folk of America have done and thought and dreamed since first they began to live here . . . . Our beat, in other words, is anything that ever happened in America . . . . Our chief requirement as we set out to tell about it all is that the things we talk about must be interesting."


REVIEWS AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS

289

The first two issues reveal that this objective has been notably achieved in a fascinating assortment of beautifully illustrated articles about prospectors, soldiers, crusaders, plutocrats, ships, paintings, investigations, advertising, rivers, and other subjects too numerous to mention. The style is excellent and the authors are authoritative. Here are the historical tidbits which every scholar has encountered—too good to be crowded into the footnotes of texts or monographs, but not quite substantial enough to warrant separate publication. One finds articles about them scattered through some of the better Sunday supplements and the "upper middle brow" magazines, but here they are concentrated and presented in a format as attractive as the new textbooks which are being produced for the beguiling of our children. Note the first three titles of the initial issue: "The Hanging of John Brown," by Boyd B. Stutler; " T o the Farthest Port of the Rich East," by Charles H. P. Copeland; "Chateau Builder to Fifth Avenue," by Russell Lynes. And three adjacent titles from the February, 1955 issue: "Painters of the Plains," by Eugene Kingman (excellent colored reproductions); "A King's Funeral," as reported by Theodore Roosevelt; "The Day They Burned the Capitol," by Willis Thornton. T h e emphasis is on variety, but nothing is trivial. Found also in this almost revolutionary publication are writings about history by men like D. W . Brogan and Editor Catton, brief reviews of historical books which have broad reader appeal, and a section of "News of History," which contains no obituaries or lists of promotions. For twelve dollars a year American Heritage is a bargain. Brigham Young University

Richard D. Poll

Incidents of Travel and Adventure in the Far West. By Solomon Nunes Carvalho. (Philadelphia, The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1954, 325 pp. $4.50) The Jewish Publication Society of America has made a needed contribution to western history sources by presenting this new edition of Solomon Nunes Carvalho's story of the last


290

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

western exploration expedition led by John C. Fremont. But the story can be read as a source book on early Mormon pioneer life as well as a source book on Fremont's exploits. T h e early editions, now nearly a century old, are rare and not readily available. The author was a member of the Fremont group of twentythree persons, ten of them Delaware Indians. Their route took them across the prairies and the Rockies until Parowan, Utah was reached in early February of 1854. Here Carvalho and one other member of the party were left to recover from sickness induced by starvation and cold. The others, with new supplies, continued on to San Francisco. Carvalho later was taken on to Salt Lake by kindly Mormons. Here he recovered completely, and became a friend of leading Mormons. He boarded at the home of Apostle Ezra T. Benson and was a guest of Governor Young. In early May (1854), he joined a group of Mormons leaving for southern California. This group, led by Parley P. Pratt, was augmented by a large party composed of Brigham Young and close associates going to southern Utah settlements and to Chief Wakara's (Walker) camp for a peace meeting. Gems of source material are in the account of this journey. Carvalho was a Jew, a professional artist and photographer. H e was an educated man blessed with a natural curiosity of mind, and he was a remarkably objective reporter. Like most men of courage he was generous in his judgements and in his dealings with people with habits far different from his own. His background of cultivated, eastern seaboard society and his natural talents and training caused him to reflect and report on many aspects of Mormon life and of exploration happenings that either would have passed unnoticed or have been ignored by one familiar with the harsh travel conditions in the then barbarous West. His book is one that can be read with profit by any student of western history and with pleasure by those who like accounts of western travel and adventure. Here is one short paragraph that should interest many people: I painted several portraits in Great Salt Lake City; among them were two of Gov. Brigham Young; one of Lieut. General Wells, General Ferguson, Attorney General Seth Blair, Apos-


REVIEWS AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS

291

tie Woodruff; Bishop Smoot, Col. Ferrimore Little and lady, Mrs. Wheelock, and several others. Where are they now? Torrey, Utah

Dean R. Brimhall

The Last War Trail. By Robert Emmitt. (Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1954, ix -f- 333 pp. $4.50) The subject matter for Mr. Emmitt's story is the W h i t e River Utes, then the northernmost band of that tribe in the state of Colorado. The incident at the heart of the account we remember as the "Meeker Massacre." The Utes were not by habit a troublesome people. Long experience with the Spanish had taught them that the Europeans usually, generally, had their way. Ouray, designated head chief of the Utes by Washington, also perceived that it was better to deal with the Anglo-Americans than to fight them. It was true that when a deal was made the Utes always lost something, but he felt that it was better to lose something than to lose everything. The trimming away of Ute territory did not legally begin until 1863, when the Utes gave up the San Luis Valley. Formal boundaries were set in 1868, and the United States agreed to keep its citizens out of an area comprising approximately the western third of Colorado, the western slopes of the Rockies, by armed force if necessary. The invasion began at once. Some gold, but particularly silver, was discovered in die San Juan Mountains. In 1873, the Utes, under pressure, gave up almost four million acres of rich mineral land. This merely whetted the appetite of the land-hungry Coloradoans. In 1878 the Southern Utes were forced officially to leave northern New Mexico, which they, it seems unknowingly, had lost in 1868. There were then two agencies for the Utes in Colorado: one which was headquarters for Ouray, in southern Colorado, and the other on the White River in northern Colorado. It was to this northern agency that Nathan C. Meeker came in the spring of 1878. Meeker was a writer by vocation, a farmer


292

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

by avocation, and an idealist by nature. W h a t he wanted the White River Utes to accomplish he felt certain was for their temporal and spiritual salvation. The Indians were not convinced. Pressures from both inside and outside the reservation were more than the Indian temperament could stand and more than their agent could cope with. W h e n Meeker called on Major Thornburgh for aid the fat was in the fire. It wasn't planned that way. Neither the Utes nor the troops really wanted a fight, but somehow it occurred. T h e people of Colorado were now able to bring pressure on the President and Congress to rid Colorado of this threat to die peace and safety of its citizens. In 1880 Congress decided that the Utes must go. The White River Utes were to join the Utah Utes on the Uintah Reservation. The other Utes of Colorado, after the death of Ouray, were all forced to leave Colorado with the exception of three bands, designated as Southern Utes, who were allowed to remain on that narrow strip of land in southwestern Colorado to be called the Consolidated Ute Reservation. The wife of Ouray, Chipeta, was persuaded that on the new Uncompahgre Reservation set aside for them in Utah an irrigation project would be developed and the Utes would be able to progress. A visit to the area today helps one understand why Chipeta was somewhat bitter toward Washington in her later life. Today, in a special United States Court of Claims set up to try Indian claims against the federal government, the Ute Indians, a people who once inhabited two-thirds of the state of Utah, almost half of the state of Colorado, northern New Mexico, and other fringe areas, seek justice for the failure of the United States to honor treaties made with diem. The Last War Trail is not history in the normal sense. Perhaps it is more than history. It is a story well founded and well told. In the story you meet the Indians in a way that is not usually possible. In some ways this book does for the Ute what The Delight Makers and The Man Who Killed the Deer do for the Pueblo Indians, and what Traders to the Navajos does for the Navajo. All of these allow the "European mind" some insight, although often clouded, into the "Indian mind." There has been too little "meeting of the minds" between the American Indian


REVIEWS AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS

293

and the American European. Robert Emmitt tells an interesting story. I have enjoyed it, and I believe you will. Brigham Young University

S. Lyman Tyler

American Heroes: Myth and Reality. By Marshall W , Fishwick. Introduction by Carl Carmer. (Washington, D . C , Public Affairs Press, 1954) California Gold Rush Voyages, 1848-1849: Three Original Narratives. Edited by John E. Pomfret. (San Marino, California, Huntington Library, 1954) Captured by Indians: True Tales of Pioneer Survivors. By Howard H. Peckham. (New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, 1954) Colonia Juarez. By Nelle Spilsbury Hatch. (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book Company, 1955) Commerce of the Prairies. By Josiah Gregg. Edited by Max L. Moorhead. (Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1954) Discontinued L.D.S. Periodicals. By Dr. Joseph Sudweeks, Ph. D. (Provo, Utah, Brigham Young University, Contribution of the Department of Graduate Studies in Religion, 1955) The Eagle, the Jaguar, and the Serpent; Indian Art of the Americas: North America; Alaska, Canada, and the United States. By Miguel Covarrubias. (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1954) Exploring the Northern Plains. Edited and illustrated by Lloyd McFarling. (Caldwell, Idaho, T h e Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1955) John Charles Fremont; Trail Marker of the Old West. (Juvenile) By Olive Burt. (New York, Julian Messner, Inc., 1955) John Williams Gunnison (1812-1853); The Last of the Western Explorers. By Nolie Mumey. (Denver, Artcraft Press, 1955)


296

UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

James D. Wardle, "Shall W e Improve the Book of Mormon?" ibid., March 21, 1955. Steven M. Spencer, "They're Saving Lives in Navajo-Land," The Saturday Evening Post, April 23, 1955. "Highway Finance in Utah," Utah Economic and Business Review, February, 1955. Dick Leader and Ray Sargent, "Utah's Steel Pipe Industry," ibid., April, 1955. "First Dam Washed Out," The Utah Farmer, April 7, 1955. David H. Mann, "Ancient Indians Irrigated," ibid. Cleve H. Milligan, "Key to Utah Development: Colorado River Project," ibid. Milton R. Merrill, "Reed Smoot, Apostle in Politics," The Western Humanities Review, Winter, 1954-55. William Mulder, "Mormonism and Literature," ibid. Philip Johnston, "Oraibi's Last Stand," Westways, March, 1955.


THE U T A H STATE HOSPITAL A S T U D Y I N T H E C A R E O F T H E M E N T A L L Y ILL B Y CHARLES R.

MCKELL*

T

he problem of mental illness is not a new one. It likely has existed as long as the human race, but recognition of, and provisions for, it have varied with time place and people. In Utah we started out with a small group of Pioneers in 1847, whose religious convictions seemed to overshadow almost everything else. The practice of medicine was thought by some to be in "direct contrariety to the revealed will of Heaven." The church and its priesthood was paramount; President Brigham Young, on October 24, 1855, actually preached a sermon in the Tabernacle on the subject of "Let the Doctors Alone." It is surprising that there were any doctors at all in early Utah, for judging from occasional comments and news items in the Deseret News, the doctors found little acceptance and turned to other pursuits. 1 The following, under "Doctors and Lawyers in Deseret," May 27, 1857, seems to indicate very little respect for the practice of medicine: After the departure of the company that went with the Governor there were only two lawyers and two or tbree doctors left in die city. Both of the lawyers have been steadily at work, and all of the doctors have been following some useful employment, aside from their profession, but one, and we are sorry to state that he has not been seen, to our knowledge, with either ax, hoe, pick, shovel or spade in his hand for a long time, though he seems to be busy every day. * Charles R. McKell is presently Director of Social Service at the hospital. This article is largely a condensation and an outgrowth of his master's thesis, "History of the Utah State Hospital" (University of Utah, 1948). Much of the basis for his material, especially the later years since 1936, has been acquired by reason of his employment by that institution. iSee Joseph R. Morrell, "Medicine of the Pioneer Period in Utah," Utah Historical Quarterly, XXIII (April, 1955), 127-44.


298

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

One might wish that the pioneers had brought with them some of the then current humanitarian ideas, as well as their religious convictions. The first state hospital already had been in operation since 1751. Eight state mental hospitals had sprung up during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, and by the time the Saints emigrated to Utah, there were institutions already established in at least thirteen other states. Dorothea Lynde Dix had been campaigning quite effectively for more adequate and appropriate facilities since 1841, but there is little trace of such progressive ideas in early Utah. The evolution of public responsibility for the care of the indigent mentally ill was gradual, but it is likely that the process locally was shortened by the accumulated experience of older states. In early Utah, the ill and defective were the concern first of the immediate family only, one's "own folks." It is doubtful if any concerted attempt was made toward institutional care for defectives as a public responsibility before 1869. Society was simply formed around small primary groups, and the problem seemed neither so large nor so urgent as it does today. As society became a little more complex and interwoven, the condition of one member affected not only the immediate family but the neighbors and the larger group as well, so that it became a community problem. Specific evidence as to what actually was done with the mentally ill in these early days has been difficult to find, but several references to the subject have been located in the first record book kept by the public officials of Utah County; the minutes therein show that on May 2, 1854, one individual "was sold to the lowest bidder." In Salt Lake County, too, there is evidence that pressure and demand forced better provisions, and that the care of the mentally ill gradually was recognized as a community problem. As the larger units of society became involved, the cities and counties began to take a more active interest in the problem of public facilities. This was demonstrated locally in 1869 by the fact that Salt Lake City, then a struggling community of only about 12,000 people, led out in the establishment of the first mental hospital in the state. It is true that the Salt Lake City Council considered the "propriety of having a Territorial, County or City hospital erected," but it is significant that the city adminis-


T H E U T A H STATE HOSPITAL

299

tration assumed the leadership and proceeded with the project when the territory and county either were unable or unwilling to act on the suggestion. It is significant that the institution was established the same year that the railroad became a reality. It may have been true that in earlier days the pioneers were a sturdy, healthy lot and there was very little insanity to worry about. The journey by foot or ox team most likely prevented, or at least deterred, many defectives from coming to Utah, but, as transportation became available, and as the population increased by birth and migration, it was realized there were some defectives who should be cared for by society, the first organized unit of which was the city. The financial burden of adequate hospitalization was too heavy for most cities to bear, however. Then, too, the number in any given community, except Salt Lake, was too small to justify the erection and maintenance of a local institution. In other localities of the territory it became the responsibility of the county to provide for those unable to care for themselves, but early records indicate that the mentally ill were grouped in with the poor, infirm and vagrant, as was common practice at the time. As the people grew in social consciousness, they began to realize that the ill and maladjusted not only were a liability to the family, the community, and the county, but to society as a whole. The next step was for this common social problem to be tackled by the larger unit, the state. This stage was reached in 1880 while Utah was still a territory. The process was gradual, of course, from one concept to another. W e find the territory contributing to Salt Lake City's first efforts in this field, even though it did not accept full responsibility as, perhaps, was first suggested. W e find the counties, other than Salt Lake, at first paying the entire cost of care, then one-half was assumed by the state, and finally, in 1888, the state recognized and accepted the entire burden of the indigent mentally ill. The process of evolution from family, to city, to county, to state did not stop at that level. Dorothea Lynde Dix almost succeeded in having the indigent insane made "wards of the nation" as early as 1848. The federal government long since has taken an active and objective interest in the problem, as witnessed by the many Veterans Administration hospitals across the country, and the formation of various national organizations for


300

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

mental health. As the concept of responsibility has changed, so, too, has the understanding of mental illness. W i t h this understanding has come the growing recognition that as there are many types of mental illness, so also are there many causes. As these causes have become better understood, more appropriate care and treatment has been provided to alleviate and cure. W h e r e there were once mere custodial asylums, there are now modern mental hospitals. This study is an attempt to trace a part of this evolution as it has been, and is being, manifested in our institutional provision for the mentally ill in Utah. As previously noted, the earliest-known mention of a public hospital in Utah is found in the minutes of the Salt Lake City Council, July 12, 1869, and while the territorial legislature cooperated to the extent of $5,000.00, the project primarily was left for Salt Lake City as a municipal venture. W h e n the city council was faced with the selection of a site for the institution, t i e y reacted in keeping with the prevalent concepts of the insane being hopeless, violent and dangerous, and selected the old quarantine grounds as a very appropriate location. This area, near the mouth of Emigration Canyon, was a day's travel from the city in those ox-team days, but its isolation was partly the reason for its selection. The choice of the site, near what is now St. Mary's of the Wasatch, apparently was made on August 18, 1869, and work immediately was begun on construction, as inferred from the fact that the city council that day discussed and finally approved "an ordinance to establish a City Insane Asylum and Hospital." Many of the details of this ordinance are of interest as die first public document on the provisions for the care and treatment of either physical or mental illness in Utah. It was "established as a place for the use and treatment of the sick, also for the treatment and safekeeping of insane or idiotic persons." Theodore McKean, a member of the city council and former sheriff, was appointed superintendent, and Jeter Clinton was shown as physician for the institution as early as March 1, 1870. The reports made to the city council usually were not too informative, but one such, made in September, 1872, "recommended that strong cells be erected for turbulent insane persons." Another, in October, 1874, gives some insight into the size of the institution


T H E U T A H STATE HOSPITAL

301

and also the facilities, which were thought to be appropriate at the time: Theodore McKean, Esq., Superintendent of Asylum and Hospital introduced his Quarterly Report ending Sept. 30, 1874, setting forth that four patients had been discharged and one died during die quarter, that there were at the expiration of the quarter ten patients, viz 3 males and 7 females and that the expenses for that period were $1571.18. T h e Superintendent recommended that for the purpose of securing unruly patients, a building be erected 15 feet by 30 and 12 feet in height; to be planked up with plank 2 x 8 inches spiked together to contain a hall; that the building be divided into three cells and placed on a rock foundation with a small rock basement or one story room to contain an ordinary stove to convey heat through registers in each cell. [It is rather ironical that the] Motion was referred to the Committee on Improvements with instructions to have a suitable building constructed as soon as possible. In spite of the establishment of the Salt Lake City institution, the territory was still concerned with its responsibility. Governor George L. Woods, in his message to the legislative assembly, January 9, 1872, said bluntly: W e ought to have an asylum for the insane. Humanity requires it. There is no public institution where these poor unfortunates can be kept. I should fail to do my duty were I to omit to urge you to take such steps immediately as will meet this great public want. In this connection permit me to suggest that the building erected by the Government of the United States for a state house at the town of Fillmore in the County of Millard now that the Capitol of the Territory has been established at Salt Lake City is no value to the Government and I am of the opinion that upon proper representation being made, it could be had for the purpose of converting it into an asylum for the insane. T h e building is a good one, die


302

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

location is excellent and the necessity is great. I hope you may take the necessary action in the premises. Governor George W . Emery likewise called die problem to the attention of the legislative assembly of the territory on January 11, 1876, in these words: W e need a Territorial Asylum for the insane, which will afford this class of unfortunate people proper treatment, at the public expense unless they are possessed of sufficient means to defray the necessary charges attending their care. Such an institution is indispensible in every State and Territory and should be under the control of a skillful physician, who has had experience in treating this class of patients. Humanity and wise government, alike, seem to require of us such a provision, and I suggest some action be taken by you looking to die establishment of such an institution even if it be on a limited scale, though adequate to the present wants of our people. Judging from the brief reports of the Salt Lake City hospital, it was not too successful financially, and consideration was given several times to its subsidization by the territory and to its disposal otherwise by rental or sale. In March, 1876, according to the council records, the matter was "left with the Mayor to make such arrangements as in his judgment would best carry out the wishes of the Council in discontinuing the Asylum and Hospital as a city institution." This particular stage in the evolution of the care of the mentally ill in Utah is rather interesting in that there seems to have been a temporary plateau, or even a decline, in the chart of progress, from one unit of society to an ever increasingly larger group. Salt Lake City apparently had initiated a plan that it was unable or unwilling to continue, and the larger units, the separate counties and the territorial government, hardly seemed prepared to recognize and accept their full responsibility. Salt Lake City, however, did not immediately withdraw entirely from its initial venture of providing institutional care for the mentally ill of the area.


T H E U T A H STATE HOSPITAL

303

Dr. Seymour B. Young 2 apparently made a proposal to take over the Salt Lake City institution in March and again in April, 1876. The proposition was considered favorably by the city council and their minutes of May 2, 1876, read: The special committee on Asylum and Hospital to whom was referred the communication of Dr. S. B. Young proposing to purchase the Asylum, reported that in their judgment it would be inexpedient to sell at present, but recommended that the buildings and grounds be rented to Dr. Young for one or two years from May 1, 1876, on the following conditions, viz: that he put the fences in good repair and keep them good during the whole term of the lease, and substitute live trees for the dead ones at his own expense and in addition pay a monthly rent of twenty dollars; and at the expiration of the term deliver up the premises in good condition. On motion of Councilor Calder the report was accepted and the recommendations of the Committee adopted. The records of the asylum, under Dr. Young's management, do not seem to be available, but it was finally and completely disposed of as city property after three and one-half years of this arrangement. It apparently became the privately owned and operated asylum of Dr. Young in November, 1879, upon payment of $5,000.00, "provided that he take the entire charge of the city patient, Mrs. Meyers, and keep her without any expense whatever to the corporation." The asylum was located on 160 acres of land at about Twenty-fourth East and Ninth South. It was sometimes referred to as the "White House on the Hill," and was said to be a 'marvel for its cleanliness and for the super medical attention each patient received." Some descriptions were not so compli2 Dr. Young was born in Kirtland, Ohio, October 3, 1837. He was the son of Joseph Young, and brother of the Mormon leader, Brigham Young. He drove an ox team across the plains to Utah in 1850, and participated in much of the early development of the territory. He attended the University of Deseret, now the University of Utah, and later received his medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of N e w York City in 1874. Dr. Young returned to Utah, engaged in private practice for a few years, and served as city physician of Salt Lake City from 1875 to 1886.


304

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

mentary, but whatever the institution may have been, it likely satisfied the expectations and concepts of the time. From contemporary records it would seem that the insane were bargained off and that "care and treatment" apparently was not even expected to include medical attention, let alone psychiatric care. People still did not expect much of medicine, nor did they have too much respect for the medical profession, judging from this entry of November 3, 1877, in the records of the Salt Lake County Court: The subject of keeping the Insane patients on the County was again called up and the following motion was presented by R. Miller and unanimously adopted: "I move that we let Doc Young have the insane patients, provided he will care for them properly at the rate of 85 cents per day averaging the whole lot, or $25.50 per month. And if we should need his services as Doctor, that we will so notify him, and tell him what we want. W e get some description of Dr. Young's asylum from a report of a grand jury made in November, 1884, as shown in The Salt Lake Tribune, November 22, 1884: Twenty nine inmates of which 15 are men and 14 women, at different stages of insanity, are here confined for treatment, some at the expense of relatives and friends and others at the expense of the county. It must be admitted that everything was found in as good condition as circumstances would allow, and as possibly could be expected. The location of the Asylum is very desirable and healthy, being situated at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains and having a commanding view of Salt Lake Valley, the lake and distant mountains. It is surrounded by a fine orchard and gardens. The interior of the two-story building was found to be in a very satisfactory condition. The patients were clean and well provided with clothing and bedding. The food was good and seemed to be sufficiently distributed, to judge from the healthy appearance of all patients.


I ui5;|i»i^i,,l"l».H Ml I ill 1*1 I » I • V I !, TERRITORIAL INSANE ASYLUM

UTAH STATE HOSPITAL

JJIM


T H E U T A H STATE HOSPITAL

305

The grand jury seemed a little critical of the asylum having one helpless paralysis case, but otherwise their official report was rather favorable, even though the asylum later was described as "a den fit for wild beasts" and "one of die vilest institutions of the kind," when the new territorial institution at Provo was opened in July, 1885. The Utah territorial legislature, in February, 1880, made the first formal provision for a "Territorial Asylum for the Insane." Again we see a reflection of the concepts of the time in their opinion "That the territory should provide a suitable place for the safe-keeping of insane persons, and also provide for their care and comfort as far as possible." Prior to the legislation of 1880, the only related statute on the Utah territorial law books was the simple provision of 1876 that "Every person guilty of any unnecessarily harsh, cruel or unkind treatment of, or any neglect of duty towards any idiot, lunatic or insane person is guilty of a misdemeanor." This early provision is interesting in that it reflected the then current concept that treatment might "necessarily" have to be strict or harsh, but the term "unnecessarily" has never been deleted. The law still stands as above, 3 but it is doubtful that anyone has ever been prosecuted for its violation. The act "to establish a Territorial Insane Asylum" seemed to recognize the insistent demand for more adequate provision for the mentally ill. T h e board of directors was given the choice of Salt Lake, Utah, Davis or Weber counties for the location of the asylum, but they were directed to make the selection "solely upon the grounds of healthfulness, adaptability to the purposes of the institution, cost of material for construction and convenience of access from the different portions of the Territory." It was further provided that plans and specifications should "be upon the basis of accommodating, not exceeding 250 patients at any one time." The act was approved February 20, 1880, and carried an appropriation of $25,000.00 for a beginning. The board of directors met for the first time on March 17, 1880; Robert T. Burton was elected president; W a r r e n H. Dusenberry, vicepresident; John R. Winder, secretary; and Lewis S. Hills, treas3See Utah Code Annotated 1953, Sec. 76-32-1.


306

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

urer. These officers, along with William R. Smith, William W . Burton and James Dunn, members, met with Governor Eli H. Murray several times during the next few months. Visits were made to the four counties specified, but the board was delayed in making a final decision by the fact that the territorial warrants were not immediately redeemable "without extensive discounting." On August 4, 1881, according to their first official report, a very rare and interesting document, The Board selected as the site for said Institution a tract of land lying one and a quarter (134) miles due east from the Court House in Provo City, in Utah County, and proceeded to purchase the grounds so selected. The board was aided in such purchase by a donation therefore of $2,000 by Utah County Court, and $500 by Provo City Council. The site chosen for the Asylum is upon an elevated position at the east of Provo City, being immediately at the head of its principal street, affording good facilities for drainage and ventilation and is remote from noisy trades and manufactories without being intersected with public roads or thoroughfares, has excellent water facilities, having a spring of ample supply, with an elevation of 530 feet, furnishing about 1000 gallons per hour, the water conducted most of the way from the spring to the building through pipes laid for that purpose; besides having a large canal flowing about forty feet above, and near the site of the building. Forty acres of land have been purchased for the sum of $1801.10, most of which is of excellent quality for agriculture and horticulture, the remainder pleasantly situated for ornamental grounds. . . . In this report, the board showed considerable insight in suggesting a more or less complete future plan; the report of Dr. Benedict, included therein, also is very interesting and informative. In his capacity as advisor to the board, Dr. Benedict visited similar institutions in the East and tried to select the best features of each for the proposed plan in Utah. He recommended "buildings of a medium size to accommodate not more than 200 patients


T H E U T A H STATE HOSPITAL

307

, . . and that these be located in different parts of the state as the necessity for further accommodation may arise." Dr. Benedict stressed the importance of personnel in terms which will bear repeating even now: The welfare and safety of the patients in an institution of this kind does not depend so much upon the strength of the building as upon the use and employment of intelligent nurses. Upon these depend the welfare of the patients, and the good order of the asylum. They must be selected with care and tenure of office should be during good behavior. Experience in this line is important, and all institutions of this kind retain, as far as possible, their well trained attendants. The first two parcels of land were paid for, and the first survey and excavations were approved, on August 13, 1881, according to old records at the institution. The selection of the present site may have been influenced a little by several factors, including politics, but the board took its responsibility seriously. Certainly the Provo site was centrally located, and it had several other features which were thought to be essential for an asylum at the time. Strange as it now may seem, the present hospital location apparently was selected partially because of its isolation. In 1881 there were few, if any, houses beyond Fifth East in Provo, and much of the surrounding area was swampland defying human trespass. This makes us appreciate all the more a comment in the Salt Lake City Daily Tribune, January 30, 1886, after the first legislative junket trip was made to the asylum. The distinguished party, accompanied by Governor Murray, members of the Utah Commission, and others, was met at the station by the town band. After the usual flowery greetings, "The Mayor then announced that ample conveyances had been provided to take all to the asylum, and thither they would proceed at once. He further said that there was one mud-hole on the route, which we discovered extended all the distance." The present lovely Memorial Park on Eighth East was, at the time, the city trash dump for garbage, and an asylum was thought of, in a sense, as but another kind of dumping ground reserved for


308

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

human wreckage. The intervening years, however, have brought many changes; the swamp has been drained, the trash heap turned into a park, and both the institution and the town have extended until they touch, with no gross line of demarcation where one leaves off and the other begins. Even more significant are the changes in attitudes both within the institution and in the minds of the public. W h a t is now known as the south wing was the first building constructed, but the original $25,000.00 was supplemented in 1882, with $20,000.00 and in 1884, with $51,697.48 more, before the first unit was completed and ready for use. In the meantime it appears that die already institutionalized insane continued to be cared for at Dr. Seymour B. Young's asylum in Salt Lake City, until July, 1885, when that institution was apparently discontinued after fifteen years of service. The original provision of 1880, whereby the separate counties were to be responsible for full support of the indigent insane, was modified by an act of the legislature, February 27, 1884, even before the institution was opened: Until otherwise provided for by law, the Board of Directors are hereby authorized and empowered to establish and fix the rate per week or month for the care and keeping of patients within the Asylum, which rates shall not exceed the actual cost, and if such patients have not sufficient means to pay for their care and keeping, one-half of the deficiency shall be paid by die Territory and the other half by the County from which said patients come. In 1888, however, the counties were relieved of even this partial distribution of the burden of support, and die territory assumed full financial responsibility for indigent insane, as is common practice in most other states. The Utah Territorial Insane Asylum was officially opened with appropriate ceremonies on July 15, 1885.4 The first patients were received at the new institution on the twentieth of July. 4 A full account of the ceremonies, with a description of the building, was published in The Daily Tribune, July 15, 1885.


T H E U T A H STATE HOSPITAL

309

Complete information is not now available, but early hospital records show that fifteen patients were transferred from Dr. Young's asylum in one day, and others came later as that institution yielded to the trend toward state care. The first official report of the institution, for the year 1885, had this to say: The Legislative Assembly of 1880 provided for the erection of the asylum, and made an appropriation intended to be as a foundation for a home for the insane. Prior to that time, and until the opening of the asylum, a number of our unfortunate fellow beings, suffering from that most terrible human maladies, mental derange ment, were cared for in places unfit for human beings, and were destitute of comforts and remedial treatment, and were only restrained from doing actual violence to those about them. All citizens cognizant of the condition of these unfortunates looked forward with pleasure to the completion of this institution.... The building has been modeled on a scale of philanthropy worthy of a great and good people, and commensurate with the wealth and population of the Territory; embraces all the improvements, conveniences and appointments of a modern asylum, so far as completed, requisite to promote restoration to those bereft of reason, whose recovery may be hoped for; and to extend comfort and happiness, so far as possible, to those whose mental alienation is irremedial and hopeless. Later on, the report presented a little less cheerful picture, with the statement that "of the cases at present in the Asylum, there are not more than 10% that can be looked upon as hopeful of final cure." Twenty per cent of the patients were said to belong to "that class called 'wet and dirty,' both day and night." And the superintendent further reported that "articles of furnishing that we are in need of are Mcintosh blankets for the 'wet and dirty' to protect their beds and bedding, and cribs for the use of those patients whom it is impossible to keep in their beds at night."


310

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The cribs mentioned were devices for purposes of mechanical restraint usually referred to as "Utica cribs," since they were first introduced in America at the Utica State Asylum in New York about 1845. They were shaped like an ordinary baby's crib, except for the hinged top, like that on a trunk, which could be fastened over the patient at night, thus restricting his movement and supposedly enforcing continued rest as a therapeutic measure. Eventually it came to be recognized that such devices were not conducive to either sleep or conservation of energy, and their use was abandoned in favor of hydrotherapy and sedatives, or other restraints supposedly more humane and effective, but we are certain that this form of restraint was used at the Provo institution, for even though all traces of the crib itself have long since disappeared, we still have, in 1955, a patient at the institution whose postural abnormality is reported to have resulted from long periods of restraint in such a crib many, many years ago. The asylum population grew to ninety patients by the end of 1887, and overcrowding apparently was a problem from the very beginning. Directors James Dunn and A. D. Holdaway wrote their impressions after their visit to the institution August 14, 1887: "Visited the Asylum this day and find all in fairly fine condition. Some of the patients suffer from the heat; they are too crowded; want and need more room. It is a wonder the health of the inmates is so good under all the circumstances, so many huddled together in so small a space. Must have more room as soon as possible." Another entry, by a member of the visiting committee made on January 29, 1889, is worthy of repetition and might well be given present consideration. George Sutherland, that eminent jurist who later became a justice of the United States Supreme Court, handed down this opinion in his own handwriting while a member of the board of directors of the institution: "Considering the greatly overcrowded condition of the asylum, everything is in a most excellent condition. More room is sadly needed. To refuse it in the future is to be guilty of grossly criminal neglect on the part of those having the power to provide for it." Consideration was given in 1888 to the possibility of purchasing Fort Cameron as a Sub-Territorial Insane Asylum, but the House amendment to the general appropriations bill was


T H E U T A H STATE HOSPITAL

311

withdrawn, and no further mention of the proposal has been found in legislative records. More recent proposals for expansion have been made in similar crises: In July, 1927, the suggestion was made that the state take over the old Murdock Academy at Beaver for custodial patients; in 1946, the state considered taking over the then recently deactivated U. S. government hospital at Brigham City, but it was finally realized that merely moving would not entirely solve the problem of overcrowding, since it is mainly one of appropriations and support. Buildings are almost a negligible part of the total expenditures of any such institution over any reasonably long period of time. Brick, mortar, steel and stone do not make an adequate institution. It takes personnel, policies, maintenance, and finances, along with progressive attitudes and concepts. But in these respects we have noted signs of progress during the hospital's brief but interesting history. The first actual expansion of facilities came in 1890, when the north wing was completed, thus doubling the patient capacity. The central administration, or the front and center, part of the main building was built a year later. The next addition to the institution came soon after the turn of the century in the form of two small buildings, now known as W a r d s 9 and 10. These cottages, both single ward, one-story units, intended for about thirty patients each, were apparently a venture into the cottage plan for housing patients; certainly they were radical departures from the original four-storied units. The Hardy Building, built in 1908, with two stories, seems to have been, perhaps, a compromise between the two plans. The next two buildings, in 1922 and 1932, however, were larger, with six wards each and of three-story design. It should be expected that facilities reflect the styles and standards of their periods, and this can be seen very definitely in both architecture and arrangement throughout the institution. The first buildings had an equal combination of single rooms and small dormitories, but the most recent addition to bed capacity, the Dunn Building, completed in 1932, has only six individual rooms in each ward; a large, open dormitory bedroom, intended for 44 patients each, is found in each of the six wards. Undoubtedly much of the construction at the institution has been influenced


312

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

more by financial restrictions than by standards of adequacy, appropriateness and efficiency.5 Apparently, the concepts of the treatability of mental illness have varied from one extreme to another. The pessimism expressed in the institution's first report changed to one of real optimism. Dr. Hardy's annual report for 1897 suggests a feeling of competence and confidence in this regard: "And it may be fitting at this juncture to suggest that our State Asylum is prepared to adopt a new per cent of recoveries and discharges; our percentage of discharges being brought up to 59, making our recovery rates 2 5 % at least above the average in like institutions in the U. S." This type of boasting would have seemed much more appropriate fifty years earlier when the "Cult of Curability" was in its heydey. The theoretical race to excel in statistical recoveries ended, however, when Dr. William Awl of the Ohio State Lunatic Asylum at Columbus earned the sobriquet, "Dr. Cure-Awl," in 1843, for finally reporting 100% recoveries. After this period of extremes, most institutions settled back for more practical and realistic, though less dramatic, evaluations of results. There was, however, a later variation again toward an unhealthy pessimism, as expressed by the statement from the hospital's 1926 report that of 778 patients in the institution, only 64 were classed as favorable and expected to recover, 128 were classed as doubtful and 586 others, including 130 feeble-minded, were thought to be hopeless in regards to possibility of recovery. This discouraging attitude was further expressed in the statement from the same report that "not to exceed 100 of the above need anything but custodial care." In a retrospective glance over the seventy years of the hospital's history, there also can be noted considerable change in the concept and use of mechanical restraint. It seems strange that restraint would have to be "abolished" so many times if it ever really had been abolished. Actually a "strong room" of four steel jail cells was built into the main building as late as 1932. It is thoughtprovoking that in the recent expose of mental hospital care 5 The need of, and plea for, a master plan seems to have been recognized; at least, a long-range plan has been drawn up, and the construction of both the nurses' home and the medical-surgical building during the past five years reflects considerable foresight in their location, style, adequacy and appropriateness.


THE UTAH bTATE HOSPITAL

313

throughout the country it was stated that " W e plan better for captive tigers." It seems uncomplimentary to Utah that this statement was taken from Dr. Samuel Hamilton's report of his 1937 survey of this hospital. The statement, however, was taken out of context, and originally was made in reference to the criminally insane only, who were then kept in the four steel cells previously mentioned. Dr. Hamilton made the statement in this context: "It is usually necessary in any institution caring for insane criminals to have a small, very strong section for a few desperate men. The unhappy feature in this institution is that the little handful of men in this ward may never get out of doors from one year's end to the next. W e plan better for captive tigers." It is a pleasure to report that the jail cells were removed in May, 1950, in keeping with the change in attitudes and concepts at the hospital. Another example of the change is that concerning the now outmoded criminal procedures of shackles and restraints. September, 1936, seems rather late in psychiatric history for an eighteenpound "Oregon Boot" to be used in a mental hospital, but one supposedly was purchased at that time for an especially difficult individual. The writer knows personally that the "boot" was ineffective in spite of its weight and handicap since, on one occasion, its wearer got as far as Magna, Utah, before he was apprehended with the large, steel, collar-like affair still intact and in place on his ankle. Happily, the device has not been used since that time except as a museum piece for teaching purposes. It is unfortunate that someone also did not save a Utica crib, a so-called tranquilizer and some of the other emblems of misguided attitudes. Perhaps the trials and errors of the past should make us more concerned about not adding further contributions to such a museum of horrors. The first volume of the minutes of the governing boards of the institution is not available, but three large subsequent records indicate that over the years there have been a great many changes in the structure, function and policies of the organization. Many landmarks in the history of psychiatry, as well as the history of the hospital, are recorded therein, and much of the information for this article was taken from these official volumes. The members of the various governing boards have taken an active part in the religious, political, social, and economic


314

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

life of the state, and several have attained national prominence. Among these were Clarence E. Allen, who was elected Representative to Congress in 1895; George Sutherland, who served as Representative, Senator, and later as justice of the United States Supreme Court; Reed Smoot, an apostle of the L. D . S. Church, and Senator from 1903 to 1932; George H. Dern, who became Secretary of W a r in President Roosevelt's Cabinet in 1933; as well as nearly every governor of the territory and state of Utah from 1880 to 1933, and many other locally prominent and important people too numerous to mention individually. 6 The first governing boards of the hospital consisted of the governor and six members appointed for overlapping terms of four years, but in 1890 a change to seven members, appointed for two-year terms, was made, and the governor was relieved of responsibility as a member of the board. W h e n Utah finally was recognized as a state in 1896, the name of the institution accordingly was changed to the Utah State Insane Asylum. The board of directors was replaced by a political governing board of Insane Asylum Commissioners composed of three elective officials, the governor, state auditor and state treasurer. They accepted Dr. Pike's resignation and appointed Dr. Milton H. Hardy superintendent. In an effort to avoid the adverse connotation of words, as well as to reflect what was believed to be a well-deserved improvement in the institution, the name was changed in 1903 to the Utah State Mental Hospital. The designation of the governing board was changed to the State Board of Insanity, but it apparently remained as politically dominated as ever. In order to keep our bearings in psychiatric history, it might be wise to remind the reader that the early years of the present century were extraordinarily productive of reform movements. Prevention, both educationally and eugenically, became die keynote of the twentieth century. Locally, the signs were not so markedly noticeable, but we do find that agitation for eugenical sterilization began at about this time and continued until permissive legislation was finally passed in 1925. W e note, too, diat in 1909 the legislature enlarged the objectives of the hospital 6A complete roster of all boards and officers can be found in the author's original thesis.


T H E U T A H STATE HOSPITAL

315

to provide for a separate department for the admission of feebleminded and non-insane epileptics. The hospital conducted a separate department for the mentally deficient from that date until its function gradually was taken over by the State Training School after its establishment in 1931. It was hoped that the hospital would be entirely relieved of the care of the feeble-minded who had been admitted over the years when there was no other institution to meet their needs. It is reported, however, that only twenty-nine patients were transferred at the time, and the institution still has the residuals of diis group in custodial care in two wards of the hospital. This is not surprising in view of the somewhat justifiable attitude of the Training School officials in preferring to work with the younger, more teachable children in preference to tbose already institutionalized and greatly handicapped by age, convulsive disorders and other physical limitations. About one hundred patients could and perhaps should be cared for at the State Training School when and if needed custodial facilities become available there. With the change in state administration in 1905, Dr. David H. Calder replaced Dr. Hardy as superintendent. Dr. Calder was replaced by Dr. George E. Hyde in 1916, who served until his death in 1922, when Dr. Frederick Dunn became superintendent. In examining some of the older statistical reports, one is not only surprised at the low per capita costs, but is shocked at the concurrent attitudes manifested toward them. In 1897, for instance, the report of the governor of Utah to the Second Legislative Assembly stated: The average daily cash cost of each patient for care and treatment for the year was 32 cents, a reduction from the cost of the preceding year of about 6 cents per capita, and the lowest figure yet reached in the history of the asylum. This gratifying result may be ascribed to several causes: Increased number of patients treated, reductions in salaries of officers, etc. . . . It is a cause of wonder if cutting the per capita costs would produce, then or now, "gratifying results" when measured by progressive treatment standards. This attitude would seem to be a little like patients being auctioned off to the lowest bidder


316

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

as recorded in 1854, but it was not restricted to politicians or lay people. Even the superintendent did a little false economy bragging in his report for 1898, when he indicated: " W e have employed more workers and yet reduced the salary amount over previous years." Personnel is, and always has been, one of the greatest problems of the institution, but, as indicated, there has been too much of this parsimonious attitude of considering not how well but how cheaply the job could be done. The industrialization of Utah Valley has contributed to the hospital's personnel problems and has forced some adjustments and concessions in this regard. In order to augment and supplement the limited personnel during the period of World W a r II, the institution accepted the volunteered help of a small unit of Civilian Public Service boys, otherwise known as conscientious objectors. Other heroic measures were attempted; faithful employees worked overtime and double shifts, and all but the most urgent and necessary activity was suspended for lack of sufficient personnel. The state, in crises like these, has been forced to raise its salary standards somewhat in order to attract and hold qualified people, but still further recognition must be given to the matter if the state meets its full responsibility to both patients and employees. The so-called economy policy of seeing how little one could spend at the hospital developed and continued because the public allowed, if not expected, it. Certainly the attitude is responsible for the relatively slow progress in raising standards at the institution; as late as 1918 the administration expected to be complimented for holding the daily per capita costs at fifty cents per patient per day and bragged that "This rate is probably the lowest of all like institutions in the United States, and the taxpayers of Utah can, therefore, be assured the strictest economy has been practiced." This would suggest a perverted sort of pride, and we are sure that such an attitude would not result in real economy, even when measured in terms of dollars and cents, to say nothing of human values. Such attitudes, however, have marked far too much of our past and kept the hospital from the progressive leadership it should have assumed in mental health from the very beginning. Such concepts were not limited to any particular group or period; they, in one form or another, have con-


T H E U T A H STATE HOSPITAL

317

tinued much longer than one would expect, and they still persist in some quarters today. The name of the institution officially was changed again, for the fourth time, in 1927, to the Utah State Hospital, the designation by which it is, or should be, known at the present time. It is not certain that the new name embodied any better concept of the institution's function than the previous one, but it does reflect the desire to avoid the emotionally tinged connotations of even the word "mental." In 1933 the hospital's administration was given over to a board of trustees; Dr. Garland H. Pace was named superintendent, with Dr. Jesse J. Weight assistant physician. The nonpartisan board of trustees was composed of seven members appointed for overlapping terms of seven years each. This system was similar to the board of directors at the institution's inception but, for the first time, provision was made for having at least two women and two medical men as members of the governing body. The original members, appointed by Governor Henry H. Blood to take office July 1, 1933, were as follows: John R. Llewellyn, M. D.; E. A. Britsch; William R. Calderwood, M. D.; John E. Jones; William H. Boyle; Francis G. Callahan, and Mattie Wattis Harris. These members were all reappointed as their terms expired, and the board, with the exception of two members, remained the same until dissolved in 1941. Mrs. Callahan resigned in 1938, and was replaced by Mae Huntington, and Dr. H. L. Marshall replaced Dr. Llewellyn when he resigned in 1939. The board of trustees, unpaid, except for travelling expenses, took its responsibilities seriously, as is shown by the fact that membership at monthly meetings during the eight-year period of its administration was 8 5 % for the group as a whole, several members having nearly 100% attendance. This administration, under the energetic leadership of Dr. Pace, the hospital's first trained psychiatrist, initiated and accomplished much in improving standards of care and treatment. Certainly there was need for modernizing its facilities. As a reminder of conditions, we quote from the hospital's biennial report, 1932; in his request for improvements, Dr. Dunn said:


318

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The old hospital building was built in die time of the tallow candle and coal oil lamp. N o provision was made for electric lights. The wiring in the old building consists of a main line down the main halls. There are no lights whatever in the rooms and dormitories. It is necessary for the night attendants to use flashlights or lanterns to perform their duties. Fancy, if you can, a modern nervous and mental hospital being operated at night by flashlights. And this, you must remember, was in 1932! Since that time considerable remodeling, of course, has been done. Lights have been installed, the facilities rearranged and improved, fireproof ramps have been provided, sixty thousand feet of asphalt tile have been laid, both the interiors and exteriors have been brightened with new paint, and many other improvements have been made. The main or central building, perhaps, has been most completly remodeled. The old towers, reminiscent of what someone referred to as "pauper palaces and lunacy cathedrals" made an imposing front. They characterized the period during the seventies and eighties when more attention was paid to useless external ornamentation than to suitable interiors and utility in general. These were removed, and five floors were made where four had been in the administration part of the building. The turrets are gone, but no one, except possibly the pigeons and bats, seems to have missed them; in their place we see simple dignity and utility, if not a style just as artistic. Many of the anticipated changes have failed to materialize or to develop as intended. The "roof garden" on the central building, for instance, is still just a roof; the recreational area, leveled and cleared at the rear of the Dunn Building for a playground for attendants and patients in 1934, has given way to the coalyard and the greenhouse. The earlier lack of a long-range plan and the triumph of economy and necessity over ideals and desires is but here again manifested. However, some of the improvements, material and otherwise, did come to fruition and stand as monuments to the vision and efforts of this administration. Refrigeration units were constructed; the kitchen was enlarged and modernized; water supplies were further developed;


T H E U T A H STATE HOSPITAL

319

medical, diagnostic and treatment facilities were provided; new therapies were instituted, and many land and building improvement projects accomplished. Many other things, too numerous to mention in detail, were changed for the better under projects sponsored by the hospital but financed largely through federal participation. In keeping with Governor Maw's reorganization program for state departments, the legislature of 1941 abolished all local public welfare institution boards and set up a three-man Public Welfare Commission to supervise all such state institutions, as well as to administer the public welfare assistance programs throughout the state. Members of the commission, at the time it took over control of the hospital in July, 1941, were David R. Trevithick, Sophus Bertelson and J. Parley White. Dr. Pace was replaced as superintendent by Dr. Owen P. Heninger, in February, 1942. Wendell Grover, A. C. Lambert, Philo T . Farnsworth and William A. Dawson since have served at various times as members of the commission, which is presently constituted with H. C. Shoemaker, chairman, W a r d C. Holbrook, commissioner in charge of institutions, and Edith Garner, member. The Public Welfare Commission assumed direction of the institution at a rather unfavorable period in the economic history of both the state and the nation. The era of World W a r II brought more than its share of problems to the new administration. Rationing of goods and supplies, shortage of personnel, the problem of prices, and all the restrictions incident to the period contributed to the intensity of old problems and created more new ones. In tribute to the administration, it is apparent that, in spite of such obstacles, the institution not only maintained its standards of care and treatment, in most respects, but actually made some advances during this difficult period. The last few years, however, have brought their problems too, but they have been resolutely faced and real progress has been made in meeting them. In fact, more advances have been noted during the last five years than in the several decades previous. Of course, the hospital's leadership during this period has benefited from an awakened and more informed public which is not limited to the confines of our state; it has the advantage of the newer tools and techniques of diagnosis, treatment and prevention; it has better, but deserved, support from public officials in the form of


320

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

legislation and appropriations. W i t h all this has come a marked change in not only the form and function of the hospital, but in its very atmosphere. The problems of overcrowding at the institution have seemed to exist from the very beginning, but they have been largely ignored until their present seriousness begs for relief. There has been a tremendous increase in the general population of Utah, but there has been no additional bed space made available at the hospital since 1932. The American Psychiatric Association's survey of the hospital in 1951 lists the capacity of the hospital at 937 beds, but hundreds more have been crowded in. The situation is acute and should be recognized. In his report to the Welfare Commission in August, 1951, the superintendent made this plea: The situation has reached a critical state and requires some action to avoid serious results. Since efforts to obtain proper facilities have not been fruitful, we suggest that a considerable portion of those seeking admission to the hospital be rejected and that in the future many will be discharged before they have received maximum benefits from hospitalization. W e do this reluctantly because we know that such a course will result in much dissatisfaction, but we believe that such is less objectionable than to accept patients without providing adequate care and treatment. Minute records show that the superintendent repeatedly has called attention to this situation. In April, 1955, he reported that there were 1,381 patients actually in the hospital and that "this is 444 more than the maximum of 937 recommended by the Central Inspection Board of the American Psychiatric Association." After considering several alternatives it finally was agreed "to adopt a combination policy of refusing hospitalization to the least urgent cases and with the resources available, to concentrate our efforts on those patients who are most likely to be improved and released." It also was officially decided "that a general publicizing of this problem and the hospital's intent in this regard should be undertaken," according to the minutes of the commission.


T H E U T A H STATE HOSPITAL

321

The hospital, so far, has not had to turn patients away; it does not even have a formalized waiting list, but it does have a waiting list in the sense that many people are not brought in or do not come because they know the hospital is crowded, and they realize what that involves. Many others, who might benefit from hospital treatment, are not coming because they lack confidence in the institution and will not use it except as a last resort. Certainly there already have been many "discharged before they have received maximum benefits from hospitalization," but hospital officials have had little choice in the matter. They literally have had to release those patients most likely to get along in order to make room for those which society keeps sending without bothering to first inquire whether there is room or not. But the problem of overcrowding continues; "every hospital has a certain capacity at which it may be operated most efficiently. That capacity has long since been exceeded in this institution." During the hospital's seventy years of service, 16,161 patients, at one time or another, have been cared for therein. At the present time, July 1, 1955, there are 1,351 patients actually in the hospital and another 233 under the supervision of social service on trial visit at home or in the community. The problem of adequate provision intrinsically is bound up with concepts as to the incidence of mental illness. This has been variously argued by many people. Some especially have been inclined to minimize the amount of insanity in Utah. Dr. Franklin S. Harris in his book, The Fruits of Mormonism, 7 attempted to show statistically that there was not only less mental illness in Utah than on the average in the United States, but that "the Mormon portion of the population has a lower rate of insanity than the other portion." Dr. Arthur L. Beeley considered the problem at about the same time and came to more reasonable conclusions. W i t h Dr. Beeley and others, the author believes that hospital admissions are as much a measure of the state of public opinion on the subject and the inadequate facilities of the State Hospital as they are of the actual facts of insanity in the state. Utah does seem to have a lower first admission and resident patient hospitalization rate than most other states, but such sta7

New York, Macmillian Co., 1925.


322

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

tistics deal only with recognized, hospitalized cases; we have been inclined to overlook those still in the community and not subject to count. Dr. Hamilton, in his survey of the hospital, indicated that Utah at that time was providing for only 5 7 % of its expected mentally ill quota. According to the standards of the National Mental Health Act, 1946, Utah at present is providing for only about a third as many as the standards of such act deem advisable. N o one definitely knows how many mentally ill there are in the state. There is no universally accepted definition or standard of measurement, but it is quite likely that the professional study and survey now in process in eleven western states will not reveal any great or favorable difference in this respect in Utah. The cost of providing adequately for space, facilities and personnel may seem great, as indeed it is, but great as it may be, it is but a fraction of the actual total cost that Utah now is paying for its inadequate program. All of the real costs of mental illness do not show as such on the public financial ledgers; many of them go unrecognized and are erroneously charged to such supposedly unrelated accounts as unhappiness, shame, delinquency, inefficiency, etc. Early treatment always is found to be most effective in any illness, and adequate, appropriate treatment usually is found to be cheaper, in the long run, than inadequate substitutes, but Utah, as yet, only partially is converted to this axiom when it relates to mental illness. In trying to evaluate the status of the hospital, the following statement in the superintendent's monthly report to the Welfare Commission, in October, 1951, proves impressive; in commenting on several visits made by the grand jury, he said: Without doubt, a report of its findings will eventually be made, but it is reasonable to assume that its members cannot have been unaware that many misguided actions and injustices have colored and continue to color the hospital record. The fact that unwholesome conditions exist at the hospital is not news. Numerous reports are on record to that effect. The perplexing feature is not that they exist, but that they are allowed to persist so long in an "enlightened" era.


T H E U T A H STATE HOSPITAL

323

It is a mistake to center our attention on either the good or the bad to the exclusion of the other. The hospital record is neither black nor white, it is mixture of both, which results in a variable shade of gray, that on occasions is lighter or darker, depending upon the wdl of our citizens and the officials to whom they give responsibility. Many of the early administrators gave similar guidelines to follow, but they were as voices crying in the wilderness. As an example, Dr. Calder, in May, 1916, just prior to his retirement, advised as follows in his biennial report: I have no sympathy whatever with that wretched sentiment, born of parsimony and disregard of the feelings and rights of others, which insists that the comfort, the welfare, the happiness and restoration of the insane, of any class, are to be weighed in die balance with a few hundred dollars. This state is bound in honor and duty to make the very best provision for all its wards, and the more helpless and dependent, the greater care should be exercised in provision for them. At the same time, proper economy should always be exercised in the disbursement of all money, and every dollar should be strictly accounted for. Provision should be made for those who may be committed in that manner which will best promote the welfare of the insane in every way in our power. That cannot be done when the individual is placed in a position which injures his self-respect or is entirely at variance with all his previous habits and education. The effort in these days seems to be to lower the standard of self-respect and make people feel their dependence. Every dictate of justice and humanity emphasizes that the sooner men in every relation of life, do as they would be done by, the better will mankind be. Fortunately, many of the things Dr. Calder hinted at have become realities; hospitalization procedures were completely modernized in 1951, but the institution still must concern itself


324

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

with the worth and dignity of the individual in respect to treatment as well as admission. There have been some very progressive ideas, in other administrations, which failed because of lack of public acceptance and support. Dr. Hyde, in the early twenties, envisioned occupational and recreational facilities on the entire lower floor of the building constructed during his service, but as the institution grew in numbers, a premium was placed on bed space; the swimming pool was filled in to become a dormitory, the beauty parlor gathered dust, and the other recreational and occupational intentions were denied for another thirty years, until a more propitious time, in March, 1952, under the present administration, when the first professionally trained occupational therapist was employed and makeshift quarters were provided on the third floor in the main building. Affiliate psychiatric training for student nurses has been a reality since the completion of the nurses' home in October, 1950, but recommendations for this mutually profitable educational plan were made as early as 1927. It is unfortunate, however, that even now very few of the twentyfive wards meet all the standards for teaching and training in psychiatric nursing. If Dr. Dunn's ideas for a medical-surgical unit had been carried out in 1930, those facilities would have been available for the last twenty-five years. As it turned out, the hospital was allowed to remain an asylum for lack of understanding and support, and only now have modern, up-to-date medical-surgical facilities been provided. Many other changes, too numerous to mention, have occurred at the hospital since the writing of the author's original thesis in 1948. Although the present limitations of time and space do not permit a full review of the more current years, it might prove interesting to mention a few of the milestones of progress, even though it appears but a listing of subject matter by title only: Patients today are beginning to plan for and participate in patient self-government; they have organized and are producing their own monthly publication, The Lodestar. They also are being invited to community activities such as the circus, the carnival, plays and programs during their treatment and more and more are being accepted back into society after their hospitalization. The community is interested, and the processes of


T H E U T A H STATE HOSPITAL

325

communication and education work both ways through such programs as the Grey Ladies and Men of the American Red Cross, who extend and supplement the limited services of the hospital. The Volunteer program, which allows and encourages interested citizens to serve and participate, has been of tremendous mutual benefit to the community and the hospital. The public is becoming informed and active through service clubs, the Women's Legislative Council, medical society auxiliaries, and other organizations. Schools and churches are manifesting a healthy interest and participation in the total mental health program of which the hospital is an integral part. The staff is conscious of die concept of team work and is sharing and participating in the various functions of education, training, treatment, research and prevention. The institution has actively participated in such advances as the Psychiatric Aide Achievement Award program for the past four years, and, by orientation and training programs for ward personnel, is raising the standards of care and treatment. The position of clinical director, it is hoped, will soon be filled, along with an enlarged professional staff to make better use of the limited facilities already available. Treatment concepts have been broadened to include the latest advances in medication, psychotherapy, surgery, etc. Medical records are being improved, and a punch-card system is being coded for the seventy-year accumulation of clinical charts. The minimum standards of the American Psychiatric Association already are being met in regards to psychology and social service, and other departments are being augmented and improved as rapidly as personnel is available. The physical plant for heating, supplies and services is being modernized, and indications everywhere point to accelerated progress. It is hoped that this positive trend will continue because much yet remains to be accomplished. The hospital, in spite of its progress during recent years, does not yet conform to all of the requirements for approval by the American Psychiatric Association, nor to all the elements of "the good mental hospital" each person likely would desire if he thought of it in terms of a close friend or loved one ever needing care and treatment. Definite minimum standards have been suggested for both personnel and facilities; several surveys already have been made, but many of their implications and recommendations have been largely


326

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ignored. Surveys accomplish little if their reports are merely shelved and allowed to gather the dust of apathy. There may have been some excuse for the neglect of past years when society knew no better, but future generations will not be so generous in their evaluation of the present unless advantage is taken of the psychiatric knowledge now readily available concerning prevention and treatment. Even now, there are no simple panaceas; some types of illness still are not fully understood, but it is encouraging that phychiatric horizons and frontiers are being greatly extended and developed. Many people in the past, and, regretfully, still a few today, have been unable to see the problem of mental illness from the point of view of those involved; dollar signs obstruct our view of the unfortunate patient who remains obscured by financial ledgers. It would be unfair to blame or make a "scapegoat" out of any official who was the victim of such attitudes. It should be recognized that each of the hospital's superintendents has made some contribution to the growth and improvement of the institution; each administration has labored under handicaps and difficulties and has been able to move only at die tempo at which the public of Utah has been willing and able to move. Each administrator has functioned well within limitations of his time; each has made good use of the available facilities and resources sometimes hesitatingly provided him by an uninformed public. But attitudes are changing; education and interest is replacing the ignorance and apathy of the past, and future administrators, both in the hospital and on a higher level, must realize that where much is given, much will be expected. The public is becoming interested and informed, and mental health is at last being recognized as of vital concern. It repeatedly has been noted that as concepts have changed, so, too, have policies and emphasis. As there has been a significant change in nomenclature from "asylum" to "hospital," so, too, there has been a transformation in fact as well as name. The institution has progressed from a custodial asylum, intended only to protect the public, to an active treatment center for the benefit of the patient. The process is, of course, by no means complete, nor has this advancement been uniform or consistent in all respects. The graphic chart of progress seldom is without some temporary declines and fluctuations, in spite of showing


T H E U T A H STATE HOSPITAL

327

a gradual upward trend when viewed as a whole; this, also, is true of the hospital. The Utah State Hospital has been and still is both the best and the poorest mental hospital in Utah according to the attitude one takes in the evaluation, since it is the only civilian facility available to the people of our state for long-term care and treatment of psychiatric problems. It is what it is, regardless of what we call it, as a result of what the past has made it, but its development in the years to come will depend upon what we expect and demand and are willing to pay for. Its aims, policies and practices cannot far outstep the public, nor can they lag far behind. The history of the Utah State Hospital is still in the making.


R E P O R T OF A N E X P E D I T I O N T O L O C A T E U T A H ' S FIRST C A P I T O L BY EVERETT L. COOLEY*

INTRODUCTION

T

he Organic Act of September 9, 1850, which created the Territory of Utah, reduced considerably the size of the area which the Mormon colonists had included in their Provisional State of Deseret. Under the act, Utah was bounded on the east by the Rocky Mountains, on the west by the Sierra Nevada, on the north by the forty-second parallel of north latitude, and on the south by the thirty-seventh parallel. In this vast area, settlement had, by 1851, been pretty much confined to the valleys along the western slopes of the Wasatch Mountains. However, the leaders of the Mormon Church had grandiose plans for the settlement of the entire territory, especially along the strategic approaches to the heartland of Mormonism. By 1852, the entire territory had been divided into counties by the legislative assembly of Utah to provide for local civil government. 1 With the plan for completely colonizing the territory in mind, the leaders preferred a geographically centralized location for their capital. Consequently, on October 4, 1851, a joint resolution of the legislative assembly designated Pauvan Valley as the seat of government for the Territory of Utah. 2 On the same

*Dr. Cooley is director of the State Archives, a division of the Utah State Historical Society. tjames B. Allen, "Evolution of County Boundaries in Utah," Utah Historical Quarterly, XXIII (July, 1955), 261 ff. While the assembly created counties, the counties were not always organized due to the lack of settlers within the proposed counties. 2 Acts, Resolutions, and Memorials, Passed by the First Annual, and Special Sessions, of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah (Great Salt Lake City, 1852), 206-07. Pauvan Valley is located in eastern Millard County. Although Fillmore was named the capital city in 1851, 1955 marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the completion of the only wing of Utah's first capital. This wing is now restored and serves as a museum of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers under the administration of the Utah State Historical Society.


330

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

day, by act of the legislative body, Millard County was created, and Fillmore City was named as the site where the capitol was to be built.3 The same resolution of October 4, also authorized the governor to appoint a committee of not less than two or more than five to proceed to Fillmore and locate the exact site for the construction of the new building. 4 Subsequently, four men were chosen to perform this function. They were Orson Pratt, Albert Carrington, Jesse W . Fox, and William C. Staines—all prominent men in church and civil affairs.5 In addition to the four commissioners, the party which went to Fillmore was composed of several other men of high office in church and territorial government. Heading the list was Governor Brigham Young, who drew a salary of $3.00 per day, the rate paid to teamsters, servants, and cooks. 6 Heber C. Kimball, apostle of the Mormon Church and territorial council member, also received the $3.00 rate, as did two other apostles and councilmen, George A. Smith and Daniel H. Wells. Horace S. Eldredge likewise served at the $3.00 rate. The latter's offices included those of territorial marshall, brigadier-general of the militia, member of the legislature, and member of the First Council of Seventies of the church. Others in the official group were less prominent. However, the Deseret News, in its account of the expedition, reported that, "his Honor, Judge Snow, . . . Major Rose, Sub Indian Agent, and several other citizens, left G. S. L. City on a southerly tour, for Pauvan Valley." 7 Vbid., 161-62. The Organic Act, Sec. 12, provided twenty thousand dollars to be used by the governor and the assembly for the construction of "suitable public buildings at the seat of government." This section also empowered the same body and governor to locate the seat of government 5 Orson Pratt was one of the apostles in the Mormon Church, as well as a member of the council of the legislative assembly. He was also teacher at the University of Deseret William C. Staines was a farmer, merchant, territorial librarian, director of the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society, and member of Salt Lake City Council. Albert Carrington was editor of the Deseret News, regent of the University of Deseret and former assessor and collector of taxes for the State of Deseret. Jesse W. Fox was territorial surveyor and schoolteacher. 6 The rate of pay for committeemen was $5.00 per day. See accompanying expense account reports found in the Executive Files, Territory of Utah, on file in the office of Secretary of State. ''Deseret News, November 29, 1851. The fact that the two named men were already on the government payroll kept their names from appearing on the expense account, but it did not, apparently, keep others from appearing thereon. 4



U T A H ' S FIRST CAPITOL

331

The party left Salt Lake City on October 21, 1851. They traveled south along the route now generally followed by U. S. Highway 91. It was an uneventful journey for the party until, at the crossing of the Sevier River on October 25, a band of San Pitch Indians was encountered. Although a guard was posted, one horse was stolen by the Indians. 8 The following day, October 26, after crossing the Sevier and passing over the summit into Pauvan Valley, the government party met with two companies of colonists sent out by the leaders of the Mormon Church to settle in the southern part of the territory. The companies were those of Anson Call and John D. Lee "called" to establish settlements in Pauvan Valley and on the Santa Clara (later to become Washington County). 9 The parties proceeded south to Chalk Creek, in eastern Millard County, where, on October 28, the site for the seat of government for the Territory of Utah was located, and Jesse W . Fox proceeded to lay out the capital city.10 After participating in the activities of founding the city, some of the government party11 began the return trip to Salt Lake City on October 30. Surveyor Fox was left behind to complete the survey of the city of Fillmore and adjacent farm lands. Anson Call and company also were left behind and instructed to build their fort "near state house square." 12 The returning party retraced their steps northward until within a few miles of the ford of the Sevier River. They then turned their course southeastward until reaching the vicinity of 8 The horse belonged to George W . Bean who joined the expedition at Provo. He was taken along to act as interpreter for the group. '"Sketch of a trip to Pauvan Valley," Deseret News, December 13, 1851. See also The Life and Record of Anson Call, MS., 42, typescript copy, Utah State Historical Society. Anson Call was named probate judge of Millard County by the legislative assembly. He also became the first representative to the territorial legislature from Millard County10 Anson Call said he "arrived in Parvan Valley Chuck Creek 13th of November Found Brigham Young Orson Pratt and Surveyor and about 40 others." Call undoubtedly is mistaken on the date. T h e parties joined on October 26, only twenty-five miles north of Fillmore. Then, after completing the selection of a site for the capitol, the government party was back in Salt Lake City by November 7. See footnote above. HOn October 29, "Elder George A. Smith and bishop Robinson went on to Parowan with J. D. Lee's company." Deseret News, December 13, 1851. Although these two men and Jesse Fox did not return with the government party, their claims for eighteen days' service were presented for payment. l 2 The Life and Record of Anson Call, 42-43.


332

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

present-day Fayette, Sanpete County. Here, after having traveled some fourteen and one-half miles since leaving the Salt Lake road, they crossed the Sevier River and camped. The following day their course led them still in a southeasterly direction until they reached the area of present-day Gunnison. They then crossed San Pete Creek 13 and proceeded to the northeast until they arrived at Manti on November 1. The following day, Sunday, Governor Young, as president of the church, and Apostles Pratt and Kimball addressed the Saints at Manti. On Monday, Judge Snow "organized the District Court," but there were no cases to be heard. 14 On Tuesday, November 3, the party again began their homeward journey. Their path led them north and westward along the route of present Utah Highway 11, which passes through Moroni, Fountain Green, and Nephi. 15 From Nephi the old Salt Lake City road was followed, and the party arrived back in Salt Lake City the evening of November 7, 1851, having been gone eighteen days. 16 While the committee appointed to locate the site for the capitol accomplished their task with dispatch, the ultimate achievement of their goal—erection of a capitol building—never was attained. One wing only of the capitol was completed, 17 where but one session (the fifth) of the legislative assembly was held in 1855-56.18 ^Present San Pitch River. l^While at Manti, the group encountered a party of Mexican traders who were in the area to obtain Indian slaves. Governor Young notified them that their license was not valid in Utah and ordered them to leave the territory. Deseret News, December 13, 1851. See also William J. Snow, "Utah Indians and Spanish Slave Trade," Utah Historical Quarterly, II (July, 1929). 67-90, and Juanita Brooks, "Indian Relations on the Mormon Frontier," ibid., XII (January-April, 1944), 6-7. iSThe distance between Manti and Nephi over US 89 and Utah 11 is 42 miles. The distance recorded in 1851 was 35J4 miles. " A resolution of the legislative assembly, approved February 2, 1852, provided for payment of the expenses of the expedition from the $20,000.00 appropriated by Congress for the erection of suitable government buildings in Utah. ^Deseret News, January 11, 1855. ^Governors Messages, 1851-1876, pp. 53-14, typescript copy, Utah State Historical Society; Deseret News. December 17, 1856.


U T A H ' S FIRST CAPITOL

333

REPORT Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory November 27th 1851. To/ His Excellency, Brigham Young Governor of Utah Territory, Sir, In accordance with an appointment, bearing your signature, and dated, G. S. L. City Oct 18th 1851, we the undersigned, Commissioners for locating the site for the seat of government for the Territory of Utah, left this city, on the 21st of Oct. ult, accompanied by your Excellency; Elders Kimball, & Smith; Bishop J. L. Robinson; Z. Snow, U. S. associate Judge; Major Rose, Indian sub-agent; Genl D. H. Wells; H. S. Eldridge, Marshall; and several others, all well armed, & forming a party which was deemed sufficiently small [strong?], in case we should meet a hostile band of Indians, which we would be very liable to do. Crossing Lattitude 40° 00' 00", which runs near die South end of Utah Lake, we entered a long narrow valley, called Juab, which is drained by Salt Creek, upon which, about two miles below the mouth of its canon, the city of Nephi is building. Aside from being too far north, inspection soon determined that this valley had not the requisite facilities for building up, and sustaining so large a city, as the seat of government is destined speedily to be. Passing into the next valley south, which is drained by Chicken Creek, an affluent to the Sevier, or Nicollet River, we find it more central; the outlet of this creek being nearly so geographically, but still less adapted to the desired purpose than Juab valley. 19 W e found the same to be the case, to a still 19 Chicken Creek drains the area to the south of the present town of Levan, Juab County. The creek crosses US 91 about 9 miles southwest of Levan. It flows westward and into the Sevier River about V/i miles west of the town of Mills, Juab County.


334

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

greater degree with the Sevier, and the land adjacent. Lake valley, next south from the Sevier, was far too small.20 Continuing our examinations, we reached Nu-quin (Chalk Creek) in Pauvan Valley. 21 Nu-quin is a beautiful stream, 14 feet wide by 1 foot deep, with a swift current, & pebbly bed, & afford a great quantity of pure water, even at its present low stage. Pauvan is a very large, fertile valley, reaching northwesterly across the Sevier, & Southeasterly to the Canon of Corn Creek, 22 and bounded Northeasterly & Southwesterly by ranges of Mountains apparently from 50 to 60 miles apart. This large area presents a rich & picturesquely diversified landscape; the table lands, & their rounded points being thickly studed with cedar, & the beauty of the valley proper increased by low, short ranges of hills, & isolated mounds, with the dark shade of their cedars ever richly contrasting with the lighter green of the summer, or the paler hue of the Autumn grass that waves so abundantly & luxuriantly over the remaining level, & very fertile portions; the whole bounded by mountain ranges, here lifting high their lone peaks & serrated crests, flanked by bold, & rocky precipices, there sweeping gracefully around on eidier hand at a lower elevation, with more wooded summits, & anon blending witii the long western curvature, richly mellowed by the blue haze of the distance; the continuous outline of the vast circumference clearly defined in the pure sky of this altitude. South of the Nu-quin there are four goodly sized streams; 23 20 It is extremely unlikely that the government party penetrated "Sevier Valley"—at least on their southbound journey. Sevier Valley lies to the east of Pauvan Valley and the Pavant Mountains. "Lake Valley," also known as "Round Valley," is probably the valley in which present Scipio is located. The description given in the account of the journey in the Deseret News. December 13, 1851, seems to fit this locality. 2lThe creek flowing through Fillmore City is still called Chalk Creek, and takes its name from the chalk deposits in the canyon, which it drains, to the east of Fillmore. The creek also was known by still another name, Camp Creek. This name was given to it as a result of some of the men of Parley P. Pratt's expedition having to "camp" there part of the winter of 1849-50. See "Journal of the Iron County Mission," Utah Historical Quarterly, XX (April, 1952), 132-33. 22 Corn Creek crosses US 91 at Kanosh, Millard County, some seventeen miles south of Fillmore. 23The Utah State Engineer's Office lists five creeks in the following order from north to south: Pine Creek, Meadow Creek, Twin Creek, Red Creek, and Corn Creek.


U T A H ' S FIRST CAPITOL

335

the most southerly, or Corn Creek, (distance some fifteen miles by the road) affording abundance of water for irrigating the thousands of Acres of rich level soil laying adjacent. Inexhaustible beds of excellent limestone & sandstone crop out, at many easily accessible points, along the western base of the mountain range that forms the northeastern boundary of this valley. Having made all the observations, & taken into account all the considerations in the case, that our judgment allowed, we located the site for the seat of government of the Territory of Utah on the east side of Pauvan valley, on both sides of the Nu-quin, about one mile East of the present ford, some four, or five miles from the mouth of Nu-quin Canon, near the western terminus of the table lands, in Lattitude 38° 58' 40" N; barometric altitude 4789 feet; & 151 }/£ miles (odometer measure) from G. S. L. City. 24 Counting on the parrallels of lattitude & longitude, this location is as nearly central as the nature of the country will admit; and your Excellency is perfectly aware that our most populous settlements are, & of necessity will be made in the chain of vallies stretching along the western base of the Wasatch Mountains, from lattitude 42° north, to lattitude 37°, which will make our capitol nearly, or quite central as to population; for though we have a few settlers on the Salmon Trout River,25 near our western border, it is presumable, that 'ere long, we will have an equal or greater number at the rich coal & iron ore beds on the waters of Bitter Creek near our eastern border; 26 & the same may be said of other localities at corresponding distances, & in opposite directions within our Territorial boundaries. At the suggestion of your Excellency, the seat of government that we have located, as above, is called "Fillmore City," & the 24 Present Utah State road maps give the distance from Salt Lake City to Fillmore via US 91 as 145 miles. 25 This is the name given to the Truckee River by John C. Fremont on his 1843-44 expedition to the Pacific. The name, of course, comes from the salmon trout caught in abundance there. The reference here is to the settlement at Mormon Station, or Genoa, made in 1849. 26 Bitter Creek flows from the east into the Green River three miles to the south of present Green River City, Wyoming. The hoped-for growth in population did not take place in this area, at least not until the coming of the railroad. By then, Bitter Creek belonged to Wyoming not Utah.


336

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

county in which it is located, "Millard"; & in the survey of the City, agreeably to your request, a square block of 10 acres, near the west brow of the table land, with a beautiful lone cedar upon it, is reserved for the State House, 6 its ornamental grounds, 6 the inhabitants have passed a law that no green tree shall be cut in the city, nor within two miles of it. With sentiments of the highest esteem, we respectfully submit this our Report. signed, Orson Pratt. Albert Carrington. Commissioners. 27 Jesse W . Fox. William C. Staines.

27 ln the governor's address to the territorial legislative assembly on January 5, 1852, Joseph L. Robinson was named as having been appointed one of the commissioners. This was undoubtedly an error since bis name does not appear as one of the commissioners on the official report. However, he is listed on the accompanying expense account report. His daily pay of $3.00 was not that of a commissioner but rather the pay of a teamster or servant.


•&. ^7?;*, r£t'f€

# Bf*"f*?ur*A* tf/kc,

A

A

'&*d'r'sa**/a /W0l*AA*e6 **> t^^^i**jT~/fo &eJfj/?f**r/*v*m»mt%

-Ctwtt rf&+**',**v /#&•«&&

W ^ < ft? c^fes,

*

»

fltftfk—, fr,~t&&Zi*& „ /3*4a £+*** &n~y. *

«

A

J

.

* .

.

.

.

-

..

. » < , * . »

m

*

«

.

<

.

»

.

v

. . .

fcjj/i/rj,

. S£,~.-*/p'£&/i,

*

9f*~

,

A

, .

.

$. <Tff

* * . »

$

* / / - * •

-

$~£rr*i*

€-0 *X>ft* Jy

~ „ „

.

$0.

0p

J*Z. 00

t,

$0. 00

. . . .

/7 %&/"> *•*

/

£~y*JcL.-i*t-.. . . . ehyjt J/fiA-,^ . . ,. ,

,J0*fi*

m/f (hiuft*

S

n cnr£.

Zf'.t. ?*.y.rf»7. 9r~<P*/Sirr

9-** ~ ~

*43~0tf «?<&* 00

si *rYr-**

. . . . . .. ..-

^.iH) f-jL.00-

Crt/^y/rv^s.vf-s/^v

e g/,ftl,*y2jr.

D-0

/*/ .00

„ „ ,. *&*LvT,f,2f/Ur*,,nfy2fi,u,*<9 4.30 . .

d>/.0H ys <rt>

„ //.

<f/ 0-0

.

. . e**»:,&2(>~.,u„Ji.ifv. .

£3.01

7uJ*~*i ^Tt*.*.

" •

n /&•*/" *V

*'~t..7t7-J.»jL 7t?*yl4

J7.oSi-c4-

,

. . et+t-Js/r***

9 ^ / ^ <*-»,

0f*t*r*fA** ft*

/?

^^ I

"-ft r*t*t ittuC^l

.^fri/^lt7*v.l^ttt *

0

*sS

ti rv rf* or ft. 0-0 42.. c-6 /S.0-0


338

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

-& -7S' T^bU&sTtryfa'fTfo? CtJ&w •-**&* ft •y-

J, i/e*A*e*, J//L

,

•„

.

^^,*y\

6 jiatuffcj

„ ,.

/

,.$3

,

.

.

2 -£**&* / / . /

-

*,eA)t9e~^.$Jlt.rv .. tf%

424-00

- dZ

/42.0D

4<f.rt

«/ »W».»iSr— / / „ , . . . . .

:

*

- i £n~~nrr.-e, /<fici,,*,<s%&3:/» *.,.

.

.. .

.

.

//itt.rt

. / / . . . . -

/ f *n-*L,t:>/hTuri,ft.23*/*.

f.rt

*"J>/*-0"7'l

£r if^y/v •/.

-

£ Arrr*,. J. r<7'C~*'rt'- ,£—/n+c*d,tfm,*,ctrA.t,t€,.£r/</*>,*,

~0*v

J-

,,

,

a

22.tf0

»

£ .

2. 0£

eJS'J*. /,.*/*.*„

„ /£> ., . „ .

.

/42.0V

..

/6.00

7/, r/VHty, c *^f-4- rtn^~. *&,,fir.J. ^~.*tTffZZ9i' /00 • 0~0 f

(ft.rr-


THE INFAMOUS E M M A MINE: A BRITISH INTEREST IN THE LITTLE C O T T O N W O O D DISTRICT, U T A H TERRITORY* BY W .

I

TURRENTINE JACKSON**

n

the 1860's Utah was known to possess many useful and some precious metals. Coal of fair quality had been found in considerable quantities in various parts of the territory, and both lead and iron had been mined by Mormons living in the southern counties. Less was known about the available precious metals. The leaders of the Mormon community had discouraged the search for gold and silver because they realized an inevitable rush of non-Mormons would follow a successful discovery, thereby undermining the isolation and unity within their religious commonwealth. Moreover, the Mormons were preoccupied in building a permanent, stable economy based upon agriculture and, to a lesser extent, upon manufacturing. 1 The initiative in prospecting therefore was left to United States soldiers. While Colonel Albert S. Johnston's army was stationed at Camp Floyd to the south and west of Salt Lake City, silver deposits were found in Cedar Valley. 2 A few years later, Colonel Patrick E. Connor's men began systematic explorations, discovering several deposits including those *This article is a case study in the author's general investigation of British interests in the Mining Kingdom of western America. The Emma Mine gained international fame between 1871 and 1876, and its story illustrates the problems of foreign investment and the effect of financial promotions upon the mining industry of the American West. **Dr. Jackson is author of Wagon Roads West, an excellent study of federal road survey and construction in the pre-railroad Trans-Mississippi West. He is associate professor of history, University of California, Davis. iHubert Howe Bancroft, History of Utah, 1540-1886 (San Francisco, 1889), 733-42; "Silver Mining in Utah Territory, U. S.," The Mining Journal (London), XXXVIII (March 14, 1868), 187; Statement of William S. Godbe, Sept 2, 1884, MS., Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. ZDaily Alta California (San Francisco), February 9, 1873.


340

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

in the Wasatch Range to the east, at the head of the Little Cottonwood Canyon. An agent of the New York and Utah Prospecting Company opened a road toward the Little Cottonwood mines as far as Central City, a lumber milling center, and in 1866 built a small smelting works at the mouth of the canyon. 3 Inadequate transportation soon forced the smelting operations to shut down. Between 1868 and 1870 the Utah mining picture changed rapidly, due primarily to the completion of the transcontinental railroad. In the earlier year there was not a mining shaft fifty feet deep in the entire territory and not more than a thousand resident non-Mormons. News of rich discoveries were continuous through the spring and summer of 1869, and by the close of 1870 the mining population had increased to four thousand. 4 The greatest and most notorious discovery along the Little Cottonwood was the Emma Mine, found by two prospectors, Robert B. Chisholm and J. F. Woodman. Chisholm, a Scot born in New York, had his first mining experience in the lead mines near Galena, Illinois, but in 1851 migrated to California. According to his reminiscences, his wanderings led him to Salt Lake City in 1864, where he happened to be in the assayer's office when an old soldier brought in an ore sample from the Little Cottonwood Canyon. Four years later, after the earliest claims in the area had been forfeited for non-development, Chisholm formed a partnership with Woodman, and in the autumn of 1868 they selected their claim. Winter snows forced the prospectors out of the Wasatch Mountains, and Chisholm returned to his family farm near Elgin, Illinois, hoping to liquidate his property. Unable to sell the farm, Chisholm, with his son William, returned to Utah in the spring of 1869, with ten dollars in his pocket. Woodman, whom he met in Brigham City, was penniless. At this time their mine was only "a hole as big as a small bedroom about 18 foot deep and full of mud and water." One account suggests the mine was christened the "Emma" for the daughter 3 John R. Murphy, The Mineral Resources of the Territory of Utah with Mining Statistics, Maps. . . . (London, 1872), 22; F. V. Hayden, Sixth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories (Washington, 1873), 106-08. 4 J. H. Beadle, Western Wilds, and the Men who Redeem Them (Cincinnati, 1879), 120.


T H E INFAMOUS E M M A M I N E

341

of Chisholm, who constantly corresponded with her brother William, urging him to come back to his "dear little Emma" in Illinois.5 Other stories describe the discoverers as men "rough in manners and appearance" with an imaginative turn of mind, who resolved to name their mine "after a lady with whom one or possibly both of them had been illicitly consorting in San Francisco, and whose Christian name was Emma." 6 Another mine promoter, James E. Lyon of New York, had appeared on the scene as early as the spring of 1868, and presumably advanced money to Chisholm and Woodman soon thereafter in exchange for a third interest in their claim. During the first year only a hundred tons of ore were taken from the Emma Mine, and Lyon, not pleased with the prospects of his enterprise, returned to New York, having first satisfied himself that the lode ran in a northwesterly direction. 7 In the middle of October, 1869, the prospectors broke through to a chamber of solid ore. The new discovery had been found in a different direction from the original shaft than Lyon had expected. Chisholm and Woodman, unconcerned over the obligation to their partner, relocated their claim, and in February, 1870, had it surveyed and entered on the books of the district. Being without funds to do the necessary work, they borrowed money from two former Army officers to sink a deeper shaft and to procure a supply of flour and meat. Each newcomer received a one-sixth share in the enterprise. Three thousand feet along the ledge were claimed by the Emma Silver Mine of Utah. A month later the partners sold four hundred feet of their claim to the Walker Brothers of Salt Lake for $30,000.00. The Walkers began shipping ore to Great Britain for reduction. 8 5 "A Famous Cave of Silver," Daily Morning Call (San Francisco), March 11, 1876. This article is reprinted from the New York Sun, which sent a reporter to interview the Chisholms in Elgin, Illinois. See also "The Emma Mine Heiress," Engineering and Mining Journal, XXI (May 13, 1876). 6 "History of the Emma Mine," Mining and Scientific Press, XXVIII (January 10, 1874), 18. ''Ibid. The mine founders do not agree relative to details of the early financing. Lyon later accused Chisholm of "selling out" their combined interests to Wall Street promoters. Engineering and Mining Journal, XL (August 1, 1885); LII (September 5, 1891). ÂťDaily Morning Call, March 11, 1876.


342

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Returning to Utah, Lyon brought suit to regain his one-third interest. No less than seventeen lawyers participated in the case; among them, as principal attorney, was William M . Stewart, Senator from Nevada. While Lyon's claim was being debated, two more wealthy promoters, Trenor W . Park and General George Baxter, came to Utah in hopes of securing an interest. Chisholm claimed Park and Baxter had learned of the mine's wealth through two other sharks that had hoped, but failed, to sell the Emma in the "East" for a million and a half dollars. Other accounts suggest that Lyon had met Park in New York and urged him to come west. Park, a country lawyer in Vermont, who "came early to the conclusion that the confined life of New England was too narrow for a man of his metal," had moved to San Francisco. As the receiver for the Mariposa Estate, for which the English had paid John C. Fremont heavily, he acquired a basic knowledge of mining law. In March, 1871, Park and Baxter purchased an undivided half interest in the Emma Mine for $375,000.00 in gold, placing an estimated value of three-quarters of a million dollars on the whole property. Lyon secured a temporary compromise settlement for his claim but by this time Park and Baxter insisted they had spent $1,500,000.00 in developing the claim. As the older partners could not provide their percentage of the cost, the newcomers pressed for a sale. Chisholm and Woodman received small payments in cash and the assurance that they would receive a sizeable sum contingent upon the disposal of the mine.9 The name of the mine was then changed to the Emma Silver Mining Company of New York. Lyon was assured that he would receive one-sixth of what the mine sold for, less the $1,500,000.00 Park and Baxter had reputedly expended, provided he did not press his claim before November 15, 1871, while a United States patent was being applied for.10 London capitalists were concentrating to a large extent on mining ventures between 1870-72. For the first time since the disastrous losses in the gold-quartz mining enterprises of California, the boom in registrations of the English companies was '"English Investments in the Pacific Coast Mines—No. 2," Mining and Scientific Press, XLVI (April 21, 1883), 272-73. 10 "History of the Emma Mine," loc. tit.


T H E INFAMOUS E M M A M I N E

343

sufficient to constitute a "mining mania." At the beginning of 1870, San Francisco's Scientific Press noted, "Our mines are attracting the attention of European capitalists, and already several have passed into the hands of English companies. This is but the beginning; we have plenty of developed workings, which, if properly managed, would surely yield profits large enough to attract foreign capital." 11 In the summer of 1871, Park, accompanied by Senator Stewart, presumably still guarding Lyon's interests, and armed with a favorable report from the mining engineer. Professor B. Silliman of Yale, crossed the Atlantic in hopes of floating a new mining company. Failing to get the ear of the British investing public, the Americans sought to interest local promoters of speculative schemes and influential politicians in the project. Among those sought out was one Albert Grant, known as Baron Grant, a promoter with an international reputation who, for introductions into British financial circles, was to receive ten per cent of the nominal capital of any company successfully launched. Major General Robert C. Schenck, American Minister to the Court of St. James, was persuaded to buy some of the shares of the proposed company. Whether the purchase was made with his own funds or with those provided by Park and Stewart has never been conclusively proved. Apparently he was guaranteed a satisfactory percentage of return on his investment for his supporting statement in the prospectus. 12 On November 9, 1871, the prospectus of the Emma Silver Mining Company, Limited, appeared, announcing the formation of a new company with a capital of £1,000,000, in £20 shares, one-half of which were offered for subscription and the other half retained by the vendors. The distinguished board of directors included three members of Parliament, United States Minister Schenck, General Baxter, who was a former president of the New York Central Railroad, Senator Stewart, and Park. According to the prospectus, the estimated net yield of the mine would be £800,000 a year. The profits were to be restricted to eighteen ^Scientific Press, January 1, 1870. 12"History of the Emma Mine," Zoc. cit. The intricacies of the financial promotion are far too complicated and delicate to trace here. For details see Hiram A. Johnson, correspondence with Thomas L. Carpenter concerning the stock of the Emma Mine, 1871-73, MS., Bancroft Library.


344

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

per cent per annum until a resreve fund of £180,000, equal to a year's dividends, had accumulated. 13 The property was taken on the report of Professor Silliman without the expert opinion of any agent hired by the purchasers. Within two days the £20 shares were selling at a premium of £3.10 to £4. In December, 1871, the Emma Silver Mining Company, Limited, declared its first interim dividend at the rate of eighteen per cent per annum. The public had immediately subscribed for 25,000 shares, and these were allotted to two thousand shareholders. 14 Park took the £500,000 paid for the shares and settled with Albert Grant for £170,000. Meanwhile Senator Stewart, who continued to act as attorney for James Lyon for a contingent fee, aligned himself with Park and the other adversaries of his client. Lyon was awarded £30,000 for his interest but was then informed that all the 25,000 vendors' shares were locked up and inaccessible for nine months, and no cash could be paid until the shareholders released them. W h e n Lyon learned of the situation, he told Stewart, "You say you have consented to such a sale, tied up the stock for nine months, consumed all the proceeds of the half that has been sold, in charges for expenses, and have called me from America to London to tell me this." T o alleviate Lyon's disappointment, Senator Stewart personally paid him $200,000.00 for his shares, less $50,000.00 for legal services. Stewart soon secured the release of the shares he had purchased from Lyon and sold them in New York for $150.00 a share. Lyon later accumulated documentary evidence to support his assertion that Senator Stewart cheated him out of nearly a million dollars.15 With Lyon thus disposed of, the other old claimants, Chisholm and Woodman, relinquished all their rights for the payment of £10 a share, less than half the market value, leaving Park, Baxter, and Stewart in control of all the vendors' shares. 16 13The Mining Journal, XLI (November 11, 1871), 993; Papers of the Emma Silver Mining Company, Limited, Bancroft Library Research Program for the Collection of Western Americana in Europe. Ulbid., 1065. ISJames E. Lyon, "Dedicated to William M. Stewart, My Attorney in the 'Emma Mine' Controversy in 1871: Sad Commentary on the Honesty and Conscientiousness of a lawyer and Ex-United States Senator, etc.," 80 pp., Bancroft Library. 16"History of the Emma Mine," loc. cit.


T H E INFAMOUS E M M A M I N E

345

Reporting the sale of the Emma Mine and the exchange of shares at a premium, the Engineering and Mining Journal of New York commented: W e do not see in the prospectus of the company any justification for these high figures, except a historical one. The mine appears to be valued at five million dollars because it has produced some two million already, and no positive proof is offered as to the amount of ore actually known to be in reserve—at least, none that we have seen. As it is our impression that no single mine in the country is worth five million dollars, we feel, of course, sincere regret that the proprietors of the Emma have received so much for the property. The editor was particularly disturbed because the United States Minister had lent his official dignity to the promotion. " . . . the course of the official representative of the United States in endorsing a scheme which puts such a value on the mine in its present condition, is doubly blameworthy. It will not help the moral aspect of the matter much, if the mine turns out to be worth all that it is said to be worth; but in the other not impossible event, Mr. Schenck's conscience will be quickened by a decided disgrace." The promoters had foreseen the probable condemnation of the Ambassador's action and within a month of the circulation of the prospectus he was prepared to withdraw his name. The editor of the mining magazine concluded, "The plan does honor to the shrewdness of the promoters, but not to the judgment of the English public, nor the good taste and delicacy (to use no stronger term) of the American minister." 17 Meanwhile, the Utah enterprise prospered beyond expectation. The production at the mine was reported increasing, three monthly dividends were paid, and at a company meeting on March 7, 1872, the chairman told the shareholders silver was coming out of the mine so fast that it seemed very likely they would get thirty to forty per cent rather than eighteen. Schenck's 17 "Mr Schenck and the Emma," Engineering and Mining Journal, XII (December 12, 1871). For a further discussion, see the issue of December 19, 1871.


346

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

resignation was described as "diplomatic etiquette," with no reflection upon the value and prospects of the mining property. To check the ugly rumors in circulation, Park offered to pay the expenses of the entire board of directors to go to the Little Cottonwood Canyon and examine the property for themselves. Instead they chose Brydges Willyams, a director, as their representative. Willyams was granted ÂŁ5,000 for his trip. He was accompanied by G. A. Lawrence, a writer of fiction, who was so impressed by what he saw in Utah that upon his return he wrote a book entitled Silverland, containing a chapter on die Emma Mine. From his publishers he received a thousand guineas, and his friend Willyams paid his expenses. 18 Although the directors were unable to get a quotation on the Stock Exchange, newspapers stated that the company shortly would be in possession of the ÂŁ180,000 reserve and would then start paying a thirty-six per cent dividend. A pamphlet was published and sent free to every shareholder entitled "Mining Enterprise in America, as Illustrated by the History of a Great Investment." Extracts were printed in the London Mining World and the Stock Exchange Review.19 In spite of reassurances of the directors, London financial circles still had some reservations. Two respectable New York journals, the Evening Post and the Nation, seized upon a circular printed in London and used it as a text to brand the Emma Silver Mining Company, Limited, a swindle. The Engineering and Mining Journal took exception to their attack upon a mining enterprise, but reiterated its position about the Ambassador's indiscretion and the overcapitalization of the company. 20 The Emma Silver Mining Company, Limited, became involved in litigation with the Illinois Tunnel Company, a rival neighbor, over conflicting claims. In April, 1872, workmen for die latter company broke into the Emma works and the manager was forced to block the opening they had made. Shortly thereafter a cave-in cut the Emma workmen off from that section where their rivals had entered, and when the debris was cleared away the Illinois men were in possession. The Illinois Tunnel Company l8"History of the Emma Mine," loc. cit. Wbid. ^Engineering and Mining Journal, XIII (July 18, 1872).


T H E INFAMOUS E M M A M I N E

347

claimed that the disputed area was not a part of the original vein of the Emma and presented the testimony of numerous workmen and "experts" to prove their point in court. The Supreme Court of Utah Territory granted a temporary injunction to the Emma Company, claiming the rival organization did not prove its case; the owners of the Emma were awarded the right to follow their ore vein outside the surface limits of the patent into neighboring ground. 21 The editor of the Engineering and Mining Journal reported in New York: " W e submit that this is the clear meaning of the law. The United States issues its patent as a final decision upon the ownership of the mines which the patent covers. The holder of the instrument is the master of his vein, no matter what its windings may be. And this is the best condition of mining rights." 22 In London, The Mining Journal also praised the decision by saying, "The terms in which that decision was pronounced do honour to the high-minded sagacity of the American Bench, and afford a telling refutation to those charges of partiality and prejudice which have in some quarters been brought so unjustly against American jurists generally. . . ," 23 The Illinois Tunnel Company announced it would appeal the case to the United States Supreme Court. During the first year of its existence, the Emma Company disbursed $195,000.00 to the shareholders, paying thirteen monthly dividends, the last of which, six shillings a share, was distributed December 2, 1872. Presumably these dividends were paid from the earnings of the mines, although there was a suspicion on the part of some that Park, desirous of sustaining the market until he could dispose of the vendors' shares, had advanced the money on ore in transit to pay the last two. 24 2l"The Emma Mining Suit," The Mining Journal, XLII (August 10, 1872), 761-62. The entire text of the decision is printed here. Further comment is found in ibid., (August 17, 1872), 782. The Glasgow Evening Citizen of August 10, published a letter from a Scot who made a personal inspection of die mine and reported on the outcome of this case to a Glasgow friend. 22"The Emma Suit," Engineering and Mining Journal, XIV (August 6, 1872). 23"Emma Mine—the Judgment," The Mining Journal, XLII (August 10, 1872), 748. Summaries in the Salt Lake Herald and Tribune were briefed in Coasf Review (San Francisco), II, 193, 230-31. 24 "English Investments in Pacific Coast Mines—No. 2," loc. cit.


348

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

At the end of 1872, the company directors made the astounding discovery that their stock of available ore was exhausted, everything in sight worth taking had been extracted without any new ore bodies having been discovered. Dividends for January and February, 1873, were passed while they attempted to appraise the situation. Shareholders, publishing embarrassing questions addressed to the board, brought the deplorable situation to light and precipitated a crisis.25 Glasgow shareholders held a "private indignation meeting" to complain that nearly one-half of the stock of the company was held in Glasgow and the west of Scotland, yet, with the exception of the company chairman, tbere was no one on the board to represent the Scots. The assembled agreed to "approach the directors in a friendly manner, and in a businesslike way, but have everything investigated into, even from the purchase of the mine down to the very latest transaction." A committee was elected to travel to London for the annual meeting to speak for the Scottish shareholders and urge the election of two Scots to the board. 26 On March 1, the directors released the annual report expressing their "regret and disappointment" that the balance sheet was so much less favorable than they, until very recently, had anticipated. The information received by the directors was described as "tardy and insufficient," but some allowances were thought justifiable because the mine was situated in a "sterile region of difficult access and 5,000 miles away." Neverthless, it was obvious that outside parties had more correct and earlier information than the directors. Professor Silliman's predictions as to the amount and value of the ore had proved fallacious. The resident manager had expressed a desire to resign, and the directors, convinced that he was an agent of the Stewart-Park interests, replaced him with George Attwood, who was to go to Utah with instructions to report on the condition and prospects of the mine and push exploration vigorously. 27 W h e n this annual report reached the United States, a San Francisco mining journal printed the entire text remarking, "The Emma mine, in Utah, is probably the best known mine abroad. . . . On the success 25

r/ie Mining Journal, XLIII (January 18, 1873), 76. 26Ibid., (March 1, 1873), 241. •"Ibid.


T H E INFAMOUS E M M A M I N E

349

of this mine depends in a great measure, the future of AngloAmerican mining, for such is its position, should failure ensue, small support will again be extended to American mines on the London market." 28 The atmosphere was tense as the shareholders assembled for the second annual meeting. The Glasgow representatives lambasted the directors but expressed faith in the mine itself. The directors announced a willingness, individually and collectively, to place their resignations in the hands of the shareholders, or to remain and accept any new men who might be suggested. The two Scottish directors proposed at the Glasgow meeting were elected to replace the Americans, Stewart and Park. One shareholder, who thought the board had been misled by erroneous information, demanded a committee of investigation. The board admitted it had been deceived. Archibald Orr Ewing, Member of Parliament and newly-elected company director, suggested a committee of conference in lieu of a committee of investigation, to advise with the directors relative to future policy. Ewing personally had no confidence whatever in any single American employed in the mine. The new director was bitter about Park's financial manipulations and the fact that he had been permitted to remain on the board, when a year before he held 25,000 shares and now retained only the twenty-five essential to maintain his seat on the directorate. 29 Unable to weather the crisis, the mine in Utah had to be shut down and most of the working force dismissed. The shares of the company speedily dropped from ÂŁ23 to one-tenth that amount and finally were unsalable at any price. American mining journals expressed grave concern. San Francisco's Mining and Scientific Press remarked: "It is with sincere regret that we note the tone of many shareholders in this and other mines in England, which evinces a distrust of all Americans on general principles. But they should recollect that they seldom buy a mine without the advice of English engineers, and there are dishonest men on one side of the Atlantic as well as the other." 30 The leading mining journal in New York noted that the decline in Emma ^Mining and Scientific Press. XXVI (March 29, 1873). 204. 29The Mining Journal, XLIII (March 8, 1873), 269-70. ^Mining and Scientific Press, XXVI (April 5, 1873).


350

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

shares represented a depreciation of two and a half million dollars from par and more than five million dollars from the highest prices. The editor insisted all members of the syndicate, both English and American, had conspired to make it appear that the mine could pay eighteen per cent annually so they could sell their shares at a premium. Yet the dazed and bewildered shareholders could think of no other explanation of their losses than to charge everyone but the English managers with swindling. Commenting later on the plans of the new directorate and resident manager to dismiss all American employees, the journal suggested, "The sooner the Englishmen turn their vast intellects from the consideration of knavery, that is at the best very doubtful, to thinking of the best means of treating $80 ore, the sooner they wdl get in the path that leads to a moderate success." 31 All the shareholders were disappointed and disgusted. Many made their views public by addressing inquiries or comments to English mining and financial magazines. Some urged a special company meeting to adopt procedures for forcing restitution from the vendors. 32 Others attacked the English financial agents, particularly Baron Grant, for overcapitalizing and overpromoting the company and speculating on its shares. 33 Park, forcibly removed from the board, announced he had remitted ÂŁ33,000 more to the London headquarters of the company than the ore sales had earned. Moreover, he revealed that the Emma lode had run northwest by southeast, but other companies had patents in that direction, so to avoid difficulty the Emma Company had taken a patent running northeast by southwest. Moreover, the company had moved onto the lands owned by the Illinois Tunnel Company and taken ÂŁ29,000 of its ore. 34 The American directors of this company and Park both threatened to seize the Emma Mine to secure payment of their claims. One shareholder addressed an open letter to United States Minister Schenck. Against your personal honour I have not one word to say, nor do I believe the most indignant shareholder ^Engineering and Mining Journal, XV (April 15, 1873). 32The Mining Journal, XLIII (March 15, 1873), 296; (May 3, 1873), 489; (April 19, 1873), 430. 33"American Mines and Financial Agents," ibid., (May 24, 1873), 570. 34"Mr. Park and the Emma Mine," ibid., 572.


T H E INFAMOUS E M M A M I N E

351

venture to do so, as you doubtless believed in all the statements put forth; but it was both a misfortune and a fault that, in your official capacity as United States Minister in this country, you should have misled and so completely deceived, many poor unfortunate people who placed implicit reliance on all that came from an American Minister. Mr. Park is, doubtless, a friend of yours, and I trust you will use your influence to get an assurance from him that he will use no undue pressure. . . . They [the English shareholders] have grounds, however, for appealing to you to help them in their extremity, and they do so, hoping and believing you will do your utmost to serve the company which you so unfortunately fathered.35 An American investor who had been bilked summarized die views of many of his countrymen when he stated "the Emma bubble is a national disaster." 36 An extraordinary meeting of the company was called at the end of May, 1873, to replace the recently elected Scottish directors. The chairman's proposal that the financial position of the company should not be discussed in a public meeting but at a private conference between the larger shareholders and directors precipitated a bitter denunciation of the original directors and libelous accusations flew thick and fast. The chairman, under repeated questioning, refused to reveal why the newer directors had resigned. The small shareholders forced through a resolution providing that all original shareholders and those of six months' standing should participate in the conference. The larger shareholders, many of whom were recent purchasers, were branded as speculators. 37 While discouraging reports came from the Utah manager to those in London trying to reappraise the company situation, western American publications instituted a campaign to restore conMlbid, XLIII (May 17, 1873), 544. mbid., (May 24, 1873), 572. mbid.. (May 31, 1873), 603.


352

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

fidence in all the mines of the Little Cottonwood District. 38 The greatest support came from such Utah newspapers as the Salt Lake Journal: W e are happy to be able to announce that the Emma, the very queen of Utah mines, has again assumed, in a partial but encouraging degree, her former position as a grand silver ore producing mine. . . . The mine was for a long time the leading one of the Territory, and better known the world over, perhaps, than any in the country, next to the Comstock Lode. . . . The mine represented to the great mass of people, Utah's mineral wealth, and when it fell, everything in the Territory got a "black eye,". . . . W o r k is now being done on a large body of ore which was discovered some months since, and which we alluded to at the time, and ore is now being shipped and sold here in considerable quantities. 39 These reports of new ore bodies did not go unnoticed by the London shareholders, who sought in vain for months to gain a confirmation from George Anderson, chairman of the board, or from George Attwood in Utah. The mining press reported every rumor and opened its correspondence columns for public debate. Some claimed the mine was in a very bad state and the periodic reports of fresh discoveries were quite untrue; others insisted the Emma Mine was never so productive. Finally, the London board had to refuse to grant shareholders inspecting orders whereby their personal agents could go underground and venture an opinion. W h e n factual information from the superintendent's reports was made public, the disappointed countered with quotations from the Salt Lake Daily Herald and the Utah Mining Gazette.*0 This war of words was reflected in the market for company shares, which fluctuated in value from ÂŁ2 to ÂŁ8 according to the 3 &Daily Alia California, February 9 and 26, 1873; "The Little Cottonwood Mines," Mining and Scientific Press, XXVII (September 13, 1873), 162. 3'Quoted in the Mining and Scientific Press. XXVII (July 19, 1873), 42. 4 <>77ie Mining Journal. XLIV (January 17, 1874), 75, 97; (January 31, 1874), 127; (February 7, 1874), 155; (February 14, 1874), 183; (February 21, 1874), 207; ("February 28, 1874), 236; (March 21, 1874), 319; (March 28, 1874), 343; (April 25, 1874), 451.


T H E INFAMOUS E M M A M I N E

353

nature of the latest report. The directors finally issued the annual report in May, 1874, stating that there were no new discoveries, mining costs had reached an all-time high, and the annual profits were only ÂŁ14,000. The chairman announced that he had been to New York in an attempt to adjust the claims of Park and the Illinois Tunnel Company. Arrangements were made to liquidate the latter by periodic payments to January, 1875. Park had agreed to await settlement of his claim until this was completed and the mine was in a better condition. Shareholders were once more cautioned against placing any confidence in outside reports. Manager Attwood's appended report stated "the future prospects of the mine are most gloomy, and until the explorations are carried much further ahead, [I] cannot conscientiously give any encouragement." Supporting testimony was given from Clarence King, director of the United States Geological Survey, and the manager of the Ophir Mining and Smelting Company of Utah, Limited.41 The Emma Company shareholders assembled again on May 15, 1874, for a stormy meeting lasting four and one-half hours. One shareholder inquired whether or not Mr. Park and the Illinois Tunnel Company were one and the same person. Under repeated questioning, Attwood admitted that he labored under that impression; it was common report, but he could not get proof. One director stated that if such proof came into their possession, legal action would follow. In a scene of great confusion and disorder, a motion was made that the entire board be called upon to resign at once. To avoid dismissal, chairman Anderson and one other director submitted resignations, the annual report was then accepted, and the meeting adjourned until June 9.42 The Utah press renewed its criticism of manager Attwood, who had attended the London meeting, for undermining the mining industry of the territory. Recent purchasers of the depreciated shares were particularly bitter that their campaign to restore confidence in the enterprise had failed.43 By the time the shareholders reassembled, director Brydges Willyams had announced he would not stand for re-election. A *Ubid., (May 9, 1874), 492. vibid.. (May 16, 1874), 520. ^Mining and Scientific Press, XXVIII (June 13, 1874), 376.


354

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

contest for the vacant seat ensued between the long-time shareholders and the members of the Stock Exchange who had only recently acquired their interest in the company. The former supported C. W . C. Hutton, ex-sheriff of London, for the place. Upon his apparent victory, the new shareholders demanded an official poll, to be taken a fortnight later, on his election and on the question of increasing the directorate from five to seven.44 Two additional company meetings were called before the vote could be tabulated, and the final count was 20,498 shares for the old shareholders, and 20,100 shares for the newer group with sufficient objections on the part of the losers, if allowed, to reverse the decision. The new chairman, Commissary-General R. M. Gardiner, overruled the objections, declaring Hutton elected, with the board membership remaining at five.45 The defeated candidate, Alexander William McDougall, published a pamphlet criticizing the methods used by the chairman in conducting the election and accusing him of general dishonesty. The upshot of this was a suit for libel. Following preliminary hearings the defendant agreed to apologize. It was understood that the more objectionable paragraphs of his publication were withdrawn, and the prosecution withdrew the summons. 46 McDougall now announced that holders of 10,000 shares had decided to call a meeting, at which all power and authority in the company would be transferred to him. The directors notified the shareholders that no such meeting could hand over control to one man, and, even if possible, it was highly inopportune, for the directors had instituted legal proceedings in the United States against all parties who were in any way liable to the company for their dealings in connection with the purchase of the mine or subsequent stock transactions. The directors also had voted to make no more payments on Park's claims. The Mining and Scientific Press thought "The famous Emma mine seems destined to become still more famous before the English shareholders get through with it." The editor remarked further: "So many prominent men were mixed up in the business at the beginning, that the general public will be pleased to learn exactly how much "The Mining Journal, XLIV (June 13, 1874), 645-46. Wbid., (June 27, 1874), 682; (July 4, 1874), 726. KIbid., (July 25, 1874), 811; (August 1, 1874), 819.


T H E INFAMOUS E M M A M I N E

355

each of these gentlemen made out of the sale. . . . Not only the English but the American public are interested in the result of the forthcoming trial, for there is little doubt that if the Americans perpetrated any fraud, they had English associates to assist them." 47 In England a petition was filed for the purpose of winding up the company. The New York suit against Park, General Baxter, and Senator Stewart for $5,000,000.00 charged fraud and conspiracy. The company's law firm, learning that Park (who was now president of the Panama Railroad and the promoter and owner of a new group of California mines) was about to leave for the Pacific Coast, served a summons before he left the city.48 W h e n Park finally went west to Utah he initiated proceedings to foreclose on the Emma mining property. The mine was seized by a sheriff's officer and the company notified that it had six weeks to file a defense or the property would be attached.49 The New York Nation found itself involved in a libel suit with one Silas Williams, whom it accused in its columns of "salting" the mine by plastering and engrafting silver ore into the limestone prior to the London sale. N o support came from the New York mining journals which had always considered this accusation preposterous. The Nation was criticized, in particular, by the Engineering and Mining Journal for accusing one and all of participating in an international swindle "without the slightest endeavor to ascertain the real facts, or to distinguish between sanguine over-estimates and deliberate falsehoods, between disappointment and deceit." The court declared the Nation's statements were defamatory and injurious to the reputation of Williams, and the journal was forced to "face the music." The editor of the mining journal observed: The tactics of the old-fashioned schoolmaster, who used to flog the whole school, in order to find out, or ^Mining and Scientific Press, XXIX (August 15, 1874), 108. 48New York Tribune, December 30, 1874, quoted in Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco), January 7, 1875, and in the Engineering and Mining Journal, XIX (January 2, 1875). •77ie Mining Journal, XLIV (September 26, 1874), 1057; (October 3, 1874), 1087.


356

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

because he could not find out, which boy put pepper on the stove, are not permitted to newspaper editors. The Nation was right in condemning the impropriety of Gen. Schenck's participation in the Emma scheme. It is right in condemning the system of inflated prices which English promoters insist upon adopting, when they undertake to put American mining property upon the London market. It is right in denouncing whatever it considers a swindle. But its way of following up special objects of hostility is tiresome; its way of blackening the character of individuals without proof is wicked; and its way of trying to evade responsibility afterwards is pusillanimous and ridiculous. 50 Periodically during 1875, the board of directors of the Emma Mining Company issued "private" circulars to the shareholders revealing information that provided the basis of the company's suit against the vendors. Although Professor Silliman denied he was bribed by being offered a higher fee for a favorable report than an unfavorable one, he had been permitted to fix his own fees on the basis of services rendered and he had named $25,000.00. More important, Professor W . J. Blake, noted American geologist, claimed the promoters had misused his letters of July, 1871, by including a paragraph about the former production of the mine in the prospectus and made it appear to apply to the future. Also the following statement had been deleted: "It [the mine] is practically worked out. The ore has been taken out, leaving nothing in the cavity or the chamber from which it was extracted but falling rocks and crushed timbers, a wreck dangerous to approach. . . . The boundaries of limestone have been reached on all sides." 51 On November 9, 1875, the London Hour published another "private" circular, calling a meeting of shareholders to listen to testimony that Park had made payments in shares to others for their influence and services, particularly to Grant Brothers and Company for their promotional activities. At this company meeting the directorate was once again revised, and the lawyer-secretary, appointed by Albert Grant, was dismissed. 50 Engineering and Mining Journal, XIX (February 6, 1875). Sllbid., XX (September 4, 1875). See also ibid., XXI (March 11, 18, 1876).


T H E INFAMOUS E M M A M I N E

The Engineering suggested that

357

and Mining Journal republished the story and

This is the sort of thing that ought not to be kept private. It is a statement by the solicitors of the company, that upon evidence received on oath, they have to announce that the bankers, the metal brokers, the directors, the inspecting director, the brokers, the solicitors, and the accountants, have been bribed by thousands of pounds by Mr. Albert Grant, or Grant Brothers and Co., and that the American Minister to the Court of St. James, upon the strength of whose name many British families subscribed, has been bribed to the extent of ÂŁ10,000.52 Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor of England had decided against the petition to wind up the Emma Company unless it was "compulsory" and "under the supervision of the Court." The jurist did not doubt that the concern was originated in fraud, that the shareholders had been cheated, that the mine was not worth working, and that an official liquidation commission, appointed by a British court, could best conduct the suit against the vendors in the United States. However, a minority of the shareholders held out against liquidation. At the annual meeting of 1875, shareholders learned that the only information on events in Utah came from outside sources, but the directors were advised that Park had sold the property of the company, including the machinery, plant, and office furniture. Instructions had been sent to shut down the Salt Lake offices of the company. The discouraged directors all tendered their resignations. 53 Affairs had now reached such a state that the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution establishing a special committee to investigate General Schenck's connection with the Emma Mine promotion. Months were consumed in parading all the principal participants before the Congressmen for interrogation; 879 pages of testimony were recorded and printed, but little new information came to light. Evidence presented to the &Ibid., XX (November 27, 1875). Mlbid.. XXXI (December 4, 1875).


358

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

committee was disseminated piecemeal to the newspapers by telegraph and published throughout the nation. 54 In its final report, the committee announced that "this is the first occasion in which a diplomatic representative of the government of the United States has allowed himself to become associated, while acting as minister, in a private enterprise, carried on in his own country, but offered for sale in the country to which he is accredited." After insisting that the real value of the Emma Mine had no bearing on their conclusions, the committee found it was not proper for the American minister to connect himself with the Emma Mining Company. Moreover, his relations with the vendors had been of such a character as to cast suspicion upon his motives, but the committee did not believe he was guilty of fraud or fraudulent intention. Finally, his subsequent speculative dealing in the shares of the company had not been compatible with his diplomatic station and the maintenance of a position of usefulness and honor. The committee submitted a resolution to the House of Representatives condemning the action of the United States Minister as "illadvised, unfortunate, and incompatible with the duties of his official position." 55 The Engineering and Mining Journal noted the unanimity of the committee, both Republicans and Democrats, in the verdict, and expressed hope that in the House debate the declaration of principles involved would be lifted above the level of partisan politics. In a characteristically terse and caustic speech at the time the report was presented, Abram S. Hewitt heaped scathing denunciation upon several of the parties to the Emma negotiations, and the editor remarked: " W e fancy that a good many American and English operators have reason to rejoice that it has not been their fate to fall into the hands of Mr. Hewitt." 56 The suit of the English company against the vendors of the Emma resulted, after a long and exhaustive trial, in a verdict for the defendants in May, 1877. The New York mining journal announced that the decision was in accordance with the views it had steadily held and repeatedly expressed. 54 For example see the Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 26 and April 8, 1876; Engineering and Mining Journal, XXI (March 11, 18, and April 22, 1876). 5 $House Document No. 579 (Serial 1711), 44 Cong., 1 sess. ^Engineering and Mining Journal, XXI (May 27, 1876).


T H E INFAMOUS E M M A M I N E

359

That the mine did not prove as productive as was expected; that the ore body under extraction at the time of the sale was exhausted; that the reserves of ore then visible yielded less than had been estimated; that the English promoters inflated the capitalized value of the mine beyond reasonable limits, with the consent of the vendors; that the warnings of more cautious observers were disregarded; that the diplomatic representative of the United States improperly lent to the enterprise the right of his name—all that does not amount to the proof of fraud; nor have we ever doubted that all parties concerned really considered the mine to be capable of paying handsome dividends upon its extravagant cost. To sell a mine when it is "looking its best" is ordinary shrewdness, and, unless the facts are falsified by the vendor, it is a legitimate business operation. It appears also—and this doubtless had much effect on the jury—that other mines in the same belt, and very near the Emma, are prosperously worked at thrice the depth to which the Emma was ever opened; and that the English plaintiffs have preferred sueing the vendors to exploring the property. 57 The London shareholders were now forced to sell the silver mine to a representative of Park in Salt Lake City for $144,194.00, to satisfy the judgment obtained by him and a loaning agency, the New York Loan and Indemnity Company. 58 The mine was henceforth operated by a new company called the America Emma Mining Company. 59 W h e n shipments of ore were resumed early in 1878, die London Mining Journal editor suggested the time had come for the English shareholders to consider anew the value of the property they so needlessly threw away. "As the London Emma shareholders have now neither the capital invested nor the property, they can dispassionately consider their position, and estimate the advantages of patience and common sense in die conduct mbid., XXIII (May 5, 1877). SSIbid., XXII (September 16, 1876). 5 »Sa/f Lake Herald, March 19, 1879.


360

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

of mining operations, as compared with the rashness and the love of litigation. . , ." 60 Another English mining journal, the London Mining World, elected to attack the integrity of the American courts, asserting it could not recall "a single instance in which an English mining company was successful against an American individual or corporation, either in the character of plaintiff or defendant," and added, "It is a curious fact that whenever English companies have ventured to try to issue with American individuals or companies in the American courts, the result has been always adverse to them." The Engineering and Mining Journal took issue with this assertion, claiming that many victories won by English mining companies could be cited. The editor pointed out that both English and American companies suffered at the hands of juries in the mining districts, particularly in the early days, when miners' laws and customs were less restricted than they were under federal statutes. All miners felt jealousy toward all corporations and non-resident owners. The difficulty was inherent in the jury system, but it could not be proved that a special injustice had been inflicted upon corporations of any particular nationality. 61 Although the Emma Company had no success in its action against the American vendors, its suit against Albert Grant, the London promoter, ended in a decision of the Master of the Rolls that the company should receive ÂŁ120,000, the estimated profit Grant had made in the promotion. Moreover, the judgment was not to be affected by the bankruptcy proceedings against Grant because he was guilty of a breach of trust. 62 In an attempt to protect his colleague Grant, Park approached the London stockholders of the old Emma Silver Mining Company, Limited, in 1880, for a consolidation of the English and American interests. On the strength of rumor that the new company would recognize the validity of the old stock, shares rose in the London market from 10s to ÂŁ2. The new company also hoped to consolidate with, or purchase, the Illinois Tunnel Company and the patented Cincinnati claims running diagonally across the ^Mining Journal (London), XLVII (December 29, 1877), 1422. ^Engineering and Mining Journal, XXVIII (August 9, 1879). mbid., XXX (July 31, 1880).


T H E INFAMOUS E M M A M I N E

361

Emma ground. 63 These negotiations took two years, because all the Emma's neighbors had secured injunctions against that company for working outside its patent lines. Knowing the latest views of the courts on the principles involved, the company could not hope for another victory similar to that won in 1872, and cash settlements were made so that Emma shareholders could have undisputed control. 64 The Salt Lake Daily Tribune thought "The English may look for a big harvest from this property yet, if the present plan for the development of the mine is continued." 65 The New Emma Silver Mining Company, Limited, was organized in 1882, whereby Park voluntarily restored the mine to the old stockholders and agreed to provide essential capital for development. The nominal company capital was £700,000 in 70,000 shares. Of these, 50,000 shares, theoretically worth the £500,000 originally invested, were to go to the English shareholders, the balance being apportioned among the debenture holders and the vendors. The entire property, with title clear, was conveyed to the new company, the old being liquidated. All legal proceedings were dismissed and mutual releases given to the company, the American defendants, and Albert Grant. 66 Within the year it was agreed to purchase the adjoining Cincinnati property for 8,500 paid-up shares, simultaneously increasing the capital of the company to £785,000.67 Although periodic discoveries of ore were made, the long-hoped-for bonanza was never found.68 A reconstruction of the company took place in 1886 to raise fresh capital, but two years later shares were selling at five shillings. Shareholders were saddened by the memory of the day Park stepped forward and offered to buy every £20 share in the original company for £28, and when no one sold, the shares jumped to £32 for a single day before dropping back to £16.69 Discovery of ore that yielded a small net profit prompted another reorganization in 1890, but soon the management was seeking mbid., (October 2, 1880). 6*Ibid., (November 20, 1880); XXXII (October 15, 1881). 6$Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 1, 1881. ^Mining World (London), November 13, 1880. 67 Engineering and Mining Journal, XXXIV (July 1, 1882). 68Ibid., LI (May 16, 1891); LIV (November 29, 1892); LV (January 14, 1893). mbid., XLV (March 17, 1888).


362

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

additional claims in the Little Cottonwood District. 70 In 1892, the Emma Company purchased the Grizzly mines, farther up the gulch, but the property was found not nearly so valuable as the vendors had claimed, so the Grizzly was leased with a royalty of twenty per cent on any ore mined being paid to the Emma Company. The directors were unable to raise additional capital to purchase other properties because of the depression of 1893.71 The decline in the price of silver meant the end of the Emma enterprise. At the close of 1894, the directors voted to spend their small remaining capital to investigate W e s t Australian gold properties, and, if they should meet with success, to form a new company with expanded capital. 72

mbid, Lll (December 26, 1891). mbid., LVII (January 27, 1894). Tllbid., LVIII (December 29, 1894).


T H I R T Y - S I X MILES OF H I S T O R Y BY W A Y N E W I L C O X *

W

ith some small variations the Mormon Pioneer Memorial Highway closely follows the route taken by the Mormon Pioneers through the Wasatch Mountains and into Salt Lake Valley. Starting at Henefer the route winds thirty-six miles through the crown of the Wasatch Mountains, and ends at the This Is the Place Monument, at the mouth of Emigration Canyon. From 1847 to 1862, except for a brief period in 1850, when Parley P. Pratt's Golden Pass Road was partially used, this route was the sole means of entrance into the valley from die east. Along this route came all the wagons of the immigrants, the freighters, the Pony Express, and Johnston's Army. Let us start at Henefer and trace those last thirty-six historic miles into Salt Lake Valley. The first wheeled vehicles over this route were those of the Donner Party, who preceded the Mormon migration by one year. These people, with their twenty-three wagons, required sixteen days of constant work cutting the trail through the Wasatch. The Mormons, who followed in their tracks a year later, came through in three days, but not without considerable labor—the Donner tracks, in some places, having been completely obliterated. Turning southwest at Henefer, a few rods north of a monument commemorating this famous route, we proceed up Main Canyon on a smooth oiled highway, with the old trail twisting its way along Henefer Creek. After winding six miles up Main Canyon we arrive at the summit or "Hogsback," where William Clayton of the Mormon party put up a guideboard, "80 miles to Fort Bridger." The old trail here was not extremely steep, but being mostly on the side hill, it required the expert care of the teamsters to *The author is a resident of Midvale, Utah. This present article is his first literary attempt, and he wishes to acknowledge considerable help from the use of "West From Fort Bridger; The Pioneering of the Immigrant Trails Across Utah, 1846-1850," Utah Historical Quarterly, XIX (1951).


364

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

keep the sliding wagons upright. Just over the summit of the Hogsback still can be seen the deep tracks of the wagons, as they wound down into Dixie Hollow. Here, at Dixie Hollow, is the site of the Dixie Creek Pony Express Station. This seems to have been a favorite campground, as both the Mormon and Donner parties made this their first camp after leaving the Weber River. Much labor was required by the Donners and Mormons in descending the next three miles down brush-choked Dixie Hollow. Both parties were forced to pull up a ravine to the west and detour the impassable bottoms. It was many years later before a road was cut completely through Dixie Hollow. Their labors were increased when they finally reached the floor of East Canyon. Orson Pratt wrote in his journal of the tremendous labor in cutting a road through the thick willows, which for the next eight miles covered the floor of the canyon. The trail crossed the stream thirteen times in this stretch, and even as late as 1860, the road up East Canyon still crossed the creek thirteen times. The trail today is covered largely by the waters of East Canyon Reservoir, and it is hard to imagine the extreme labor of those early immigrants in cutting their way through here. The site of Bauchmanh's Pony Express Station is reached next, and here the Pioneer Memorial Highway leaves the trail and turns to the right up Little Dutch Hollow, where it regains the trail at the summit of Big Mountain. The immigrants left East Canyon four miles above Bauchmann's Express Station and turned up a lateral ravine known as Little Emigration Canyon. The four mUes of trail up Little Emigration Canyon to the summit of Big Mountain probably gave the Pioneers their greatest trouble, as it required all their effort to get the wagons up the steep pitches and over the large boulders that filled the canyon. Looking at it today, it seems impossible that anyone could possibly bring wagons up through that rough ravine. However, up they came, and finally attained the summit of Big Mountain where they glimpsed a portion of Great Salt Lake Valley and journey's end. The trail down Big Mountain is best described by Albert Tracy, who was a member of Johnston's Army. He writes in his journal, under date of June 25, 1858: "So steep, so smooth, and so rocky was this descent, that a mule or horse


THIRTY-SIX M I L E S OF HISTORY

365

might scarcely keep his footing going down, while in spite of drags, wagons, or ambulances, could only be gotten to the base by means of ropes held hard by the men. . . V 1 The wheel scars of the thousands of wagons that came down that slope still can be seen today. The trail winds down to Mountain Dell Canyon and here, at the base of Little Mountain, the wagons stopped and prepared to ascend the last major obstruction before entering the valley. Passage on down through the narrow brush-filled defile of Parley's Canyon was impossible, and it was necessary to cross the summit of Little Mountain and attain the valley through Emigration Canyon. The trail winds down the west slope of Little Mountain and plainly is visible today and comes in at the Last Camp Monument on the highway. The wagons proceeded five miles on down Emigration Canyon where they arrived at Donner Hill. On arriving at this point, rather than cut through the thick brush around the side of this hill, the Donner Party doubled their teams and brought their wagons up and over the perpendicular incline. Mormon journalists of the Pioneer party also record the problem they had in gaining entrance into the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. On July 21, 1847, Orson Pratt observed that "the wagons last season had passed over an exceedingly steep and dangerous hill. Mr. [Erastus] Snow and myself ascended this hill, from the top of which a broad open valley, about 20 miles wide and 30 long, lay stretched out before us. . . . we could not refrain from a shout of joy which almost involuntarily escaped from our lips the moment this grand and lovely scenery was within our view." His companion, Erastus Snow, similarly described their entrance into the valley. William Clayton's journal entry for the following day says: After traveling one and three-quarters miles [down Emigration Canyon], we found the road crossing the creek again to the south [misprinted "north" in the published journal] side and then ascending up a very steep, high hill. It is so very steep as to be almost imi'The Utah War: Journal of Albert Tracy, 1858-1860," Utah Historical Quarterly. XIII (1945), 25.


366

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

possible for heavy wagons to ascend and so narrow that the least accident might precipitate a wagon down a bank three or four hundred feet,—in which case it would certainly be dashed to pieces. Colonel Markham and another man went over the hill and returned up the canyon to see if a road cannot be cut through and avoid this hill. . . . Brother Markham says a good road can soon be made down the canyon by digging a little and cutting through the bushes some ten or fifteen rods, A number of men went to work immediately to make the road which will be much better than to attempt crossing the hill and will be sooner done. . . . After spending about four hours' labor the brethren succeeded in cutting a pretty good road along the creek and the wagons proceeded on, taking near a southwest course. In short the Mormon wagons "kept down the gulch of Emigration to a point immediately above the present Hogle Gardens Zoo, then to avoid a marsh in the bottoms, pulled up on the benchland to the south, roughly paralleling the present Wasatch Boulevard but a few yards below it to arrive at the bench at the intersection of Wasatch Boulevard and Michigan Avenue, the northeast extremity of the present Bonneville Golf Course. From this point they wound down the sloping plateau to camp on Parleys Creek, in the vicinity of present 5th East and 17th South streets. This, it should be noted, was also the route of Brigham Young two days later. The 'This Is the Place Monument' north of the gulch of Emigration serves to commemorate imposingly the historic circumstance of the Mormon arrival in Salt Lake Valley, but is not to be taken as marking the site where Brigham Young got his first sweeping view of the future home of the Saints." 2 Anyone willing to spend a few hours' time tracing these last thirty-six miles over the Memorial Highway will be well rewarded. The wheel scars of the old covered wagons are still 2The above descriptions of the Donner and Mormon entrances into Great Salt Lake Valley are essentially those contained in footnote material to the journal of James Frazier Reed in "West From Fort Bridger," op. cit, 205, and conform to the facts as determined from die journals of the original participants.


THIRTY-SIX MILES OF HISTORY

367

there; Donner Hill still obstructs the mouth of Emigration Canyon, and Big Mountain still offers the sublime view the Pioneers saw when they first obtained its summit. With the linking of the last six and one-half miles of the Pioneer Memorial Highway by the National Guard, the old trail can be followed with comparative comfort in the family car.


REVIEWS A N D RECENT PUBLICATIONS John Williams Gunnison. By Nolie Mumey. (Denver, Artcraft Press, 1955, 189 pp. $10.00) A fact revealed by this excellent biography of Lieut. J. W . Gunnison, and one which at first seems somewhat odd, is that more natural features of the western landscape have been named for Gunnison than for Fremont, who is popularly rated as the greatest western explorer. This, of course, is due to the tragic death of Gunnison and most of his party at the hands of Indians on the Sevier River in 1853. The massacre was unexpected, the circumstances shocking, and it came at a time when the western landscape was being recorded on maps for the first time. For this reason Lieut. Gunnison never will be forgotten. A careful reading of Dr. Mumey's book indicates that Gunnison was an unusually brilliant young man, hard working, conscientious and thorough. He undoubtedly had a great future before him if he had not been so suddenly cut down. But however we may admire his good qualities, the truth is that up to the time of his death he had not distinguished himself, except as the author of an excellent book on the Mormons. The trails he followed and mapped long had been trodden by Rocky Mountain trappers, although they were hunting beaver rather than a railroad route. The real purpose of this book is to record and discuss the massacre in which Gunnison and his men died. This is done in detail, all known sources of information being brought together for comparison and discussion. After the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857, which even until 1932 was claimed to be strictly an Indian affair, it was natural to look backward four years and wonder if the Gunnison massacre actually was perpetrated by Indians. But Dr. Mumey's reseach has revealed no information connecting any white men with the tragedy, and this writer agrees with his conclusions. The best contribution to history made by this volume is the previously unknown journal of Dr. J. Schiel. It is very well


370

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

written, sheds new light on the Gunnison expedition, and identifies the odometer which was in this writer's personal collection for some time as the one actually carried by Gunnison. The book merits a few minor criticisms. First, there is no mention of the emigrant party which closely followed Gunnison's wagons into Sevier Valley. Second, an interesting footnote might have stated that the paints used by Solomon Carvalho in 1854, to paint the portraits of Chief Kanosh and Chief Walker, had been retrieved from the effects of Artist Kern of Gunnison's party. Third, the book ends so abruptly that it leaves the reader with one foot in the air. Torrey, Utah

Charles Kelly

The Contents, Structure and Authorship of the Book of Mormon. By J. N . Washburn. (Salt Lake City, Bookcraft, 1954, 247 pp. $3.00) Mormons are Peculiar People. By G. T . Harrison. (New York, Vantage Press, 1954, 180 pp. $3.00) Two books, kindred in topic, have come out of Carbon County the past year. Both are written by men raised in the same church; both pertain to the production of the Book of Mormon, and both present, in a limited way, a rationale of Mormonism. Here the analogy ends. It would be difficult to find two more disparate treatments of a subject. Mr. Washburn, confessing that he lives in Zarahemla as much as in Price, writes with missionary zeal. Fifteen years of research prepared him for his task. H e sees the Book of Mormon as complex but consistent—a book with a vital message, at once a history and the revealed word of God far beyond the ability of Joseph Smith to have produced alone. "There is throughout a pattern, a consistency of structure that none but the most derelict can fail to notice." ( P . 20.) Frequent assertions that the Book of Mormon contains no error in fact, chronology, or detail are interspersed with references to question-provoking passages which the author elucidates only with "strange," "interesting," or "intriguing." Concerning controversial Alma


REVIEWS AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS

371

22:27-34, key to Book of Mormon geography, he says, "I have often thanked Mormon in my heart for those eight long paragraphs. They pay richly for any amount of study." (P. 43.) These same verses caused J. M. Sjodahl, astute Mormon scholar, to declare, "There is, perhaps, no passage in the Book of Mormon more difficult to read understandingly. Judging from my own experience, I have no doubt that many have perused it again and again without being able to form a clear conception of the picture presented." 1 A thin chapter is devoted to the fascinating process of translation of the Book of Mormon record from Nephite into English. After summoning two key witnesses to the operation, the author disavows their testimony with, " W h o am I to say that Martin Harris and David Whitmer were laboring under a misapprehension? And yet I do say it. I am as sure as I can be of anything that the words in the BooA: of Mormon (the First Edition, that is) were Joseph Smith's words for the most part, and not the words of Mormon, Moroni, the Lord, or anyone else." (P. 163.) Mr. Washburn is idyllic in his treatment and often plausible in his conclusions. A cover subtitle proclaims: "An Answer to the Critics." This phase of the book might have been developed further to include specific objections of such critics as John Hyde, Clark Braden, or M. T . Lamb, each having written rather extended arguments which have not been explored. It is unfortunate that the author chose to end the book with his weakest chapter, the River Sidon. His information, like the river itself, seems to lead nowhere. In Mormons Are Peculiar People, Mr. Harrison has given us a peculiar book. He is guilty of the very faults he seeks to expose—special pleading, general rostrumism, and posing fiction as history. He mistakes coarseness for forcefulness and is often merely captious when he intends to be critical. These bon mots are tossed with a glee reminiscent of the pseudo-rapierists who passed for critics a hundred years ago. It seems it was Ethan Smith, the preacher from Poultney, Vermont, not Joseph, who wrote the Book of Mormon. Joseph confiscated the manuscript after conferring with his distant "relative" at Cumorah in SeplAn Introduction to the Study of the Book of Mormon. 407.


372

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

tember, 1825. Ethan then conveniently disappeared and a body was later "tentatively identified as Ethan." N o documentation is made for this skulduggery nor is it posed as a possibility. It is history, sui generis: "And that is the true story of how Joseph Smith, the uneducated country adolescent came into possession of the manuscript of The Book of Mormon." ( P . 17.) Thus, bebelatedly, Ethan is nominated to that exclusive position in a hall of fame occupied heretofore chiefly by Solomon Spaulding and Sidney Rigdon. Slight research would have revealed to Mr. Harrison that Ethan Smith outlived Joseph by four years, expiring in 1848, and that he had ample opportunity to protest the purloining of his manuscript. The bizarre exposition of the first half of the book detracts from the effectiveness of the second half—-fifty-eight prophecies that failed. Here Mr. Harrison is concise and well-documented though his interpretations are open to challenge. In the annual contest sponsored by the Thomas Paine Foundation, Mr. Harrison was awarded a second prize citation of a fifty-dollar U. S. savings bond for "his valuable contribution to Freethought in the Field of Literature and Science." Salt Lake City, Utah

LaMar Petersen

Bent's Fort. By David Lavender. (Garden City, New York, Doubleday, 1954, 450 pp. $5.50) In December of 1912, Theodore Roosevelt delivered the Presidential address before the annual meeting of the American Historical Association—his subject, "History as Literature." Immediately after, he wrote his good friend, Henry Cabot Lodge, that no professional historian of his day was particularly concerned about the literary qualities of the subject. Since then, and especially in the last twenty years, more American historians have come to emphasize history as a literary art. David Lavender rightly belongs in the forefront of this group, a hall of fame candidate for a place with those other portrayers of the early West—Parkman and Irving. W i t h a style as refreshing as the mountain scenes he describes, he in-


REVIEWS AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS

373

troduces the reader to the story of Bent's Fort, a swift-paced drama of fur traders and mountain men, of pueblos and tipis, and of the Bent brothers, Charles and William, directing this vast production from a tiny spot on the Arkansas River. In the best tradition of the great historian Herbert Eugene Bolton, the author dispenses with boundaries as we know them and depicts the development of the western plains and central Rocky Mountain area, from early American penetrations to settlement by miners and farmers. Bent's Fort, as the fulcrum that balanced the trade of St. Louis with that of Santa Fe, was an important link in the chain of posts reaching to the Pacific. But this is more than the story of an isolated fort. It not only gives a comprehensive picture of the Rocky Mountain fur trade, but also describes with candor and in detail the story of broken promises and military punishment visited on the Plains Indians by an indifferent and careless United States government. T o one interested in the story of the Indians of western America this is an accurate and vivid account of the meeting and eventual conquest of the Plains tribes by the whites. T o the student trained in western history the extensive footnotes in the back of the book present as much of a challenge as the narrative itself, and the bibliography reveals a wide use of the available materials in the field. Bent's Fort offers exciting reading to those interested in the story of the W e s t and helps proclaim a new era in the writing of history. Salt Lake City, Utah

Brigham D. Madsen


HISTORICAL NOTES

E

veryone familiar with Utah and Mormon history knows the story of the Mountain Meadows Massacre and the events leading to that great tragedy. On September 4, 1955, the Fancher Family, descendants of the members of the ill-fated emigrant train from Arkansas, held appropriate ceremonies for the unveiling and dedication of a Mountain Meadows Massacre Monument at Harrison, Arkansas. According to Mr. J. K. Fancher, president of the Fancher Family Organization, "There is no spirit of revenge or hatred connected with our p r o j e c t being done only as monuments are erected to loved ones, in the spirit of love and with no ill-will toward anyone. W e are all going to need love and mercy and forgiveness when we stand before the Judgment Bar of God." A featured speaker on the occasion was Mrs. Juanita Brooks, a member of the Historical Society's board of control and author of Mountain Meadows Massacre, an objective account of the tragedy. Judge Frank T. Fancher, of W e s t Palm Beach, Florida, family historian, made the unveiling talk. The people of Utah are grateful for the Christian spirit in which this monument was erected and extend their cordial thanks for the invitation to participate in the ceremonies. On July 21, 1955, the Board on Geographic Names, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C , officially changed the name of Pioneer Mesa, in Washington County, Utah, to Hurricane Mesa. This is the mesa at the junction of the Virgin River and LaVerkin Creek, between LaVerkin and Hurricane, where a supersonic sled track for the Air Force is being built. The persons proposing the change of name felt that Hurricane Mesa would identify the area more advantageously than the name Pioneer Mesa. The Archives Division of the Utah State Historical Society is indebted to Mr. Phillip P. Mason, Michigan Archivist, and the Michigan Historical Commission for their gift to the Utah


376

U T A H HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Archives of several documents of historical interest. T h e documents consist of numerous official proclamations by Utah territorial governors, an invitation to the Utah Territorial Fair, 1888, a Report of the Superintendent of Common Schools, 1872-73, and a circular letter dated November 12, 1850, sent by Utah Congressional Delegate John M. Bernhisel " T o the Authors, Editors and Publishers of the United States." This last document is worthy of fuller consideration in a future issue of the Quarterly. Mr. Gordon C. Young, president of the Brigham Young Family Association, has purchased the 82-year-old winter home of Brigham Young, in St. George, Utah. Through the efforts of Mr. Young and the National Society of the Sons of Utah Pioneers the ten-room residence will be restored to its original condition, complete with furnishings, and dedicated as a state shrine. Mrs. Olive Wooley Burt, well-known Salt Lake City author and newspaperwoman, received the Certificate of Merit awarded by the Boys Clubs of America for their favorite book published in 1954. Thirty-seven hundred boys voted on five hundred books, and Mrs. Burt's Camel Express came out the award volume. There are at present nine members of the Utah State Bar still living and practicing law who were admitted to the bar during the nineteenth century. They are, with their date of admittance, Thomas D. Lewis, July 1, 1892; Samuel W . Stewart, August 4, 1892; L. D. Naisbitt, July 25, 1894; George S. Halverson, July 27, 1894; R. H. Baumunk, August 30, 1895; Cyrus G. Gatrell, December 31, 1898; Albert H. Christensen, October 9, 1899; Edward A. Walton, January 8, 1900; Lee B. Wight, December 22, 1900. The Library of the Historical Society wishes to thank the many persons who have generously contributed to its collections, especially Mr. and Mrs. Angus Smedley, Mr. William Mulder for donating various microfilms concerning Scandinavian immigration to Utah, and Ray Nilson for a copy of American Antiquities and Discoveries in the West. Members of the Society, and all those interested in Utah, Mormon, and Western history, are invited to visit our offices and make use of our facilities.


HISTORICAL N O T E S

377

RECENT ACCESSIONS

Busch, Moritz. D e Mormonen.

(Amsterdam, H. W . Mooij, 1856)

DeVoto, Bernard. Forays and Rebuttals. and Company, 1936)

(Boston, Little, Brown,

Hafen, LeRoy R. and Ann W . To the Rockies and Oregon, 18391842. With diaries and accounts by Sidney Smith. Amos Cook, Joseph Holman, E. Willard Smith, Francis Fletcher, Joseph Williams, Obadiah Oakley, Robert Shortess, T. J. Farnham. (Glendale, The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1955) Howe, Henry. Historical Collections of the Great West. Vol. 1. (Cincinnati, Published by Henry Howe, 1854) Kluckhohn, Clyde and Dorothea Leighton. The Navaho. bridge, Harvard University Press, 1951)

(Cam-

Peck, John Mason. A Gazetteer of Illinois, in Three Parts. (2d ed„ Philadelphia, Grigg & Elliot, 1837) Powell, John Wesley. The Professor Goes West. Illinois Wesleyan University-^Reports of Major John Wesley Powell's Explorations, 1867-1874. Compiled and edited by Elmo Scott Watson. (Bloomington, Illinois, Illinois Wesleyan University Press, 1954) Simpson, George. Fur Trade and Empire; George Simpson's Journal. Edited with an Introduction by Frederick Merk. (Volume XXXI, Harvard Historical Studies.) (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1931) Tullidge, Edward W . Ben Israel; Or, From Under the Curse. (A Jewish Play in Five Acts.) (Salt Lake City, Star Printing Company, 1887)


I N D E X B Abell, John, 114 Ackley, R. T., 113 Adams, Charles Francis, 53, 59 Adams, Dr. David, 131, 133 Agate, 203 Allen, Clarence E., 314 Allen, James B., "The Evolution of County Boundaries in Utah," 261278 Allis, Samuel, 160, 161 Alton, Edward, 113 America Emma Mining Company, see Emma Mine American Fur Company, 152 American Heritage: The Magazine of History, reviewed, 288-289 American Psychiatric Association, 325 Ames, F. L„ 59 Amphitheatre, natural, 203, 214 Andersen, Gustave, 241 Anderson, George, 352, 353 Anderson, Dr. Washington F., 140 Antelope Island, apportioned to Davis County, 274 Appleby, W. I., 101 Armstrong, Benjamin, 114, 115 Armstrong, Francis, 46, 57, 59 Arrington, Leonard J., "Utah's Coal Road in the Age of Unregulated Competition," 35-63 Artichokes, 162 Ash Hollow, Nebraska, 166 Ashton, William, 122 Asylum, see Dr. Young's Insane Asylum Athletics in Utah, "Byron Cummings, Classic Scholar and Father of University Athletics," 145-150 Attwood, George, 348, 352, 353 Auerbach, Fred H., 48 Awl, Dr. William, 312 Azoo County, see Yazoo country Aztec Canyon, 215, 216, 219, 220

B. S. Kimball, 241 Babbitt, Rodney, 111, 112 Bacon, Francis, quoted, 238 Bake, Aagaata Ystensdatter, see Kimball, Ellen Sanders Baker, , 204 Baker, A. B., I l l Baker's Ranch, 204, 205 Bancroft, Hubert H., 23 Barker, Mary Ann Holt (Mrs. William), 168, 169 Barker, William, 169 Barton Creek, Tennessee, 10 Bauchmann's Pony Express Station, 364 Baumunk, R. H., 376 Baxter, General George, 342-344, 355 Bean, George Washington, 331 Bear Creek, Illinois, 7, 8 Bear River, 116, 267, 273 Beards, considered unsanitary, 136 Beaureguard, Don, 217 Beaver County, Utah: boundaries, 268, 270, 271; created, 268; first settlement in, 268 Beaver Creek, Utah, 264 Beaver Island, Lake Michigan, 159 Bedrock Dam Site, 206 Beeley, Arthur L., 321 Bellevue, Nebraska, 152, 154, 161 Benedict, Dr., 306, 307 Bennett, Samuel, 116 Bennett, Mrs. Samuel, 117 Benson, E. T., 158 Bent's Fort, by Lavender, reviewed, 372-373 Bernheimer, Charles L., visits Rainbow Natural Bridge, 218 Berry, Isabella (Mrs. Robert), 174 Berry, John W., 172-174 Berry, Joseph, 174 Berry, Robert, 174


INDEX Berry, William, 174 Berryville, see Glendale, Utah Bertelson, Sophus, 319 Betatakin, discovery of, 149 Beyond the Hundredth Meridian; John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West, by Stegner, reviewed, 90-91 Big Mountain, 364, 367 Birdseye, C. H., 199, 202, 206, 207, 213, 224, 230 "The Bishops' Railroad," see Utah Eastern Railroad Bitter Creek, 201, 335 Bitter Creek Divide, 203 Black Hawk War, 172, 173 Black Hills, South Dakota, 158 Black's Fork, 100, 102 Blake, Prof. W . J., 356 Blanding, Utah, site of, 148 Bleak, James Godson, 172, 173 Blood, Governor Henry H., 317 Bluff, Utah, county seat of San Juan County, 274 Board of Health, 138, 139; early fear of, 129 Bonneville Golf Course, 366 Boot of Mormon, given to Sioux Indians, 28 Booth, Harvey, 114 Boulder Canyon Dam, see Hoover Dam Boundaries, "The Evolution of County Boundaries in Utah," 261-278 Bown's Ranch, 200-202 Box Elder County, Utah: apportioned sections of waters and islands of Great Salt Lake, 274, 275; boundaries, 267; created, 267 Boyle, William H., 317 Bregninge, Denmark, 239 Brewyer, see Bruguiere, Theophile Bridge Canyon, 215, 216, 219 Bridge Canyon Dam Site, 215 Bridger Valley, 100, 101, 104, 105, 110, 113, 125 Brigham Young University, a check list of theses at, 279-284 Brimhall, Dean R., review by, 289291

379

British interests, Emma Mine, 339-362 Britsch, E. A., 317 Brizzee, H. W., 114 Brooks, Juanita, 332 Brouillard, John, 30 Brouillard, Joseph, 30 Brouillard, Louis, 30 Browne, A. G., Jr., 103 Bruguiere (Brewyer), Jacques, 30 Bruguiere (Brewyer), Theophile, 3032 Bryce Canyon, 202, 230 Buchanan, Pres. James, 105 Buckskin Mountains, 225, 226 Budge, William, 50 Buffalo, 157; meat, 27, 28, 30 The Buffalo Hunters; The Story of the Hide Men, reviewed, 181-182 Bull, Balum, 10 Bull, Sarah Holt (Mrs. Balum), 10 Bullock, Isaac, 101 Bullock, Thomas, 161 Bunting, James L., 165 Burns, Enoch, 26 Burr, David A., 104 Burt, Olive W., review by, 184-185 Burton, Robert T , 46, 48, 49, 59, 305 Burton, William W., 306 Butler, John Low, 7, 8, 22-24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 33, 152, 153 Cache County, Utah: boundaries, 267; created, 267; settlement, 271 Cache Valley, Utah, 267 Caineville, Utah, 204 Calder, Dr. David H , 303, 315; biennial report of, 323 Calderwood, Dr. William R., 317 Caldwell, R. E., 195, 196, 199, 200, 202, 205, 206, 213, 219, 221, 224, 226-228, 231 Caldwell, Robert, 114, 115 Caldwell County, Missouri, 4 California, 164-166, 175, 176; Utah county boundaries extended to, 264, 265 Call, Anson, 155, 331 Callahan, Francis G, 317


380

INDEX

Calomel, 129 "The Camel's Rest," 201 Camp Creek, see Chalk Creek Camp Division, 26 Camp Floyd, Utah, 115, 117, 118, 339 Camp of Israel, 2, 32, 154, 157 Camp Scott, Wyoming, 102, 104 Camphor, 129 Cannon, George Q., 135, 138, 243, 247 "Canopy Gorge," 203, 230 Capitol Building, first: commissioners for locating site of, 330, 332, 336; "Report of an Expedition to Locate Utah's First Capitol," 329-336 Capitol Gorge, see Capitol Wash Capitol Reef National Monument, 200 Capitol Wash ("Capitol Gorge"), 220, 230 Carbon County, Utah: boundaries, 227; coal mining in, 42, 44; created, 277; origin of name, 277 Carrington, Albert, 330, 336 Carroll, W. T , 115-117 Carson, Kit, 266 Carson County, Utah: boundaries, 266, 268; created, 266; disorganized, 267, 270; settlers petition California for annexation, 266 Carson Valley, 266 Carter, J. Van Allen, 121 Carter, Judge William A., 100, 104-106, 108, 110-115, 117-119, 121-125 Carthage Jail, 21 Casteel, Emaline, see Savage, Emaline Casteel Casteel, Margaret Jane, see Kartchner, Margaret Jane Casteel Casteel, Stephen F., 26 Castle County, see Emery County Castle Dale, Utah, county seat of Carbon County, 277 Castle Gate Mine, 63 Cattle, 156, 202 Cayenne pepper, used for medicinal purposes, 129 Cedar Breaks, Utah, 230 Cedar City, Utah, 175, 264; coal deposits near, 35 Cedar County, Utah: boundaries, 268; created, 268; disorganized, 270

Cedar Ridge, Utah, 228 Cedar Valley, 268; silver deposits in, 339 Central City, Utah, 340 Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company, 121, 123 Central Pacific Railroad, 54 Central, Utah, 179 Chalk Creek (Camp Creek, Nu-quin River), 331, 334, 335 Chalk Creek, Utah, coal deposits at, 37, 39, 40 Chambers, Robert G, 46, 51, 56 Chariton Ford, 153 Chatham, Ann, see Cummings, Ann Chatham Chenowith, W. R., 219 Chicken Creek, 333 Chinese, employment of, 47 Chisholm, Robert B., 340-342, 344 Chisholm, William, 340, 341 Cholera, 128, 129, 167 Chouteau, P., 27 Christensen, Pres., 199 Christensen, Albert H., 376 Christensen, Annie, see Olsen, Annie Catrine Christensen Christensen, Carl Christian Anton, 241, 242 Christensen, Hans, 239 Christiana, see Oslo, Norway Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: attitude toward railroads in Utah, 35-63; First Quorum of the Seventy, 16, 17; Twelve Apostles, 4, 22, 25, 29, 152, 155-157, 159. 163, 164, 173; see also Mormons Circleville, Utah, 272 Citizenship, 124 City Supply, 101 Civil War, 171 Clawson, Rudger, 60, 62 Clay, 214 Clay County, Missouri, 4 Clayton, William, 153, 154, 161, 363, 365 Cliff dwellings, 148 Climate, considered healthful, 128, 131 Clinton, Jeter, 300 Cluff, Bishop W. W., 38, 39


INDEX Coal, 46, 48, 49, 52, 63, 339; bituminous, 35; in Carbon County, 42, 44; "famine," 40, 41; prices, 38, 41, 42, 44, 47, 52, 53; "Utah's Coal Road in the Age of Unregulated Competition," 35-63 Coalville and Echo Railroad, 35, 37-39, 41 Coalville, Utah, 35, 37-46, 48, 50, 51, 53-55 Cockroft, J. G., 227 Cohen, Joseph M., 46 Colorado River, 274; dam sites, 195, 202, 206, 207, 215, 221-224; dredging for gold on, 206; hydrographic station, 225; journal of John A. Widtsoe (1922), 195-231 Colorado River Basin, 196, 202 Colorado River Compact, 195, 197 Colorado River Storage Project, 195 Colorado Territory, created, 270 Common law marriages, 246 Comstock Commotion, the Story of the Territorial Enterprise, by Beebe, reviewed, 87-88 Connor, Patrick E., 339 Constitution, Utah, Article 11 of, 261 The Contents, Structure and Authorship of the Book of Mormon, by Washburn, reviewed, 370-372 Converts, see Mormons Cooley, Everett L., "Report of an Expedition to Locate Utah's First Capitol," 329-336; review by, 88-90 Coon, Samuel, 26 Copenhagen, Denmark, 235 Corn, 33, 154, 156, 161, 162 Corn Creek, 334, 335 Costeller, Ed, 119, 120 Cotton, 172 Cotton Mission, 2, 171 Cottonwood Creek, 220 Cottonwood trees, 203-205 Council Bluffs (Kanesville), Iowa, 2, 30, 32, 33, 151, 153, 154, 156, 157, 161, 163 Council of the Fifty Princes of the Kingdon of God, 7 Council of Health, 127 Counterfeiting, 114 Counties, responsibility for mentally ill, 298, 299, 308

381

County boundaries, Utah, evolution of, 261-278 Courts, "Western Justice: T h e Court at Fort Bridger, Utah Territory," 99-125 Creer, L. H., review by, 285-288 Crickets, 170, 202 Criminal trials, 109 Crismon, Charles, 39 Crismon, George, 39 Crosland, Elizabeth, see Holt, Elizabeth Davis Crosland Crosland, Joshuay, 10 Crosland, Joshuay (Jr.), 10 Crosland, Lucretra, see Holt, Lucretra Crosland Crosland, Sarah, 10 Crossing of the Fathers, 219, 220 "The Crotch," 202 Cullen Springs Mine, 40, 45, 48 Cumberland River, 10, 12, 21 Cumming, Governor Alfred, 103, 104, 108 Cumming, Alfred, Jr., 118 Cummings, Ann Chatham, 150 Cummings, Byron, 217, 218; "Byron Cummings, Classic Scholar and Father of University Athletics," 145-150 Cummings, Isabel McLaury, 150 Cummings, James W . , 32, 33, 153, 154 Cummings, Malcolm, 148, 150, 217 Cummings, Moses, 145 Cummings, Roxana Headley, 145 Cummings Field, 147 Cutler, John C , 57 Daggett, Ellsworth, 278 Daggett County, Utah: created, 278; origin of name, 278 Dalton, 162 Darrah, William G , review by, 90-91 Davis, A. P., 199-202, 204, 206, 213, 224, 230 Davis, Elizabeth, see Holt, Elizabeth Davis Crosland Davis, Icona, 9, 10


382

INDEX

Davis, W . N., "Western Justice: The Court at Fort Bridger, Utah Territory," 99-125 Davis County, Utah: apportioned sections of waters and islands of Great Salt Lake, 274; boundaries, 264-266, 270; created, 264 Dawson, William A., 319 Dean, Samuel, 121, 123 Death rate, 128 Death sentence, 107 Death Valley, California, 164 Dellenbaugh, Frederick S., 225 Denmark: the Establishment, 234, 244; Grundtvigians, 244; Inner Mission, 245; Mormons in, "Utah's Ugly Ducklings: A Profile of the Scandinavian immigrant," 233-259; religious unrest in, 234 Dennis, H. W., 199, 200, 204, 206, 207, 213, 224, 230 Denver and Rio Grande Railway, 53-55, 63 Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway, 54 Dern, George H., 314 Des Moines River, 29 Deseret, see State of Deseret Deseret Hospital, 142 Deseret County, Utah: boundaries, 264, 267, 268; created, 264; disorganized, 270 Desert Range, 264 Devil's Coffee Pot, see Incinerary Urn Dickerman, Nelson, 146 Dickinson, E., 59 Dickson County, Tennessee, 10 Dillon, Sidney, 43, 53, 55, 59 Dinwoodey, Henry, 46 Diptheria, 128, 135 Diseases, epidemic, 128 District Court, Manti, Utah, 332 Divorce, 124 Dix, Dorothea Lynde, 298 Dixie, see Utah, "Dixie" Dixie Creek Pony Express Station, 364 Dixie Hollow, 364

Dr. Young's Insane Asylum, 142, 303305, 308; see also Salt Lake City Insane Asylum and Hospital Doctors: fear of, 133; "Medicine of the Pioneer Period in Utah," 127144; Thomsonian, 127 Dominguez, Father Francisco Atanasio, 220 Donner Hill, 365, 367 Donner Party, 363-365 Dooley, J. E., 60 Dotson, Marshal, 103 Drips, Andrew, 29 Duchesne County, Utah: created, 277; origin of name, 277 Ducks, 207 Dunn, Dr. Frederick, 315, 324; biennial report of, 318 Dunn, James, 306, 310 Dunn, Bishop Thomas, 169 Dunn Building, 311, 318 Durham, G. Homer, author of "Foreword" to John A. Widtsoe's Colorado River journal, 195-197 Dusenberry, Warren H., 305 E Eagle, Chief, 30-32 East Canyon, 364 East Canyon Creek, Utah, 46 East Canyon Reservoir, 364 Echo Cliffs, 228, 229 Echo and Park City Railroad, 35, 53-55, 57, 58, 61, 62 Echo Park Dam, 195 Echo, Utah, 37-41, 43, 53 Eckels, Judge D. R., 101-106 Eckelsville, 104 Eckersley, Pres., 199 Eden, Utah, 171 Edmunds Act, 60, 62 Edwards, Billy, 26 Edwards, F. M„ 23, 26 Edwards, Thomas L., Jr., 23, 26 Edwards, Thomas L., Sr., 23, 26 Edwards, William, 23, 26 Egan, Howard, 161 Eldredge, Horace S., 330, 333 Eliason, Anders, 239 Elkhorn River, Nebraska, 158


INDEX Ellison, A. R., 114 Elm bark, 162 Emery, Governor George W . , 48, 274; message to legislative assembly, 302 Emery County (Castle County), Utah: boundaries, 273, 274, 276, 277; created, 273; origin of name, 274 Emigration Canyon, 363, 365-367 Emigration Road, 265 Emma Mine (America Emma Mining Company; Emma Silver Mine of Utah; Emma Silver Mining Company, Limited; Emma Silver Mining Company of N e w York; New Emma Silver Mining Company, Limited): "The Infamous Emma Mine: A British Interest in the Little Cottonwood District, Utah Territory," 339-362; naming of, 340, 341 Emma Silver Mine of Utah, see Emma Mine Emma Silver Mining Company, Limited, see Emma Mine Emma Silver Mining Company of New York, see Emma Mine Emmett, Catherine, 165 Emmett, Catherine Overton (Mrs. Simpson), 164, 165, 168 Emmett, Dorcas E., 165 Emmett, Electa J., 165 Emmett, Ellen, 165 Emmett, Emma J., 165 Emmett, James, 2-9, 17, 22-33, 151, 153, 157, 158, 160, 163, 164 Emmett, Mrs. James, 153 Emmett, James S., 165 Emmett, Lucinda ("Lucindy"), 164 Emmett, Marinda, 165 Emmett, Moses S., see Emmett, Simpson Emmett, Phoebe, 165 Emmett, Simpson (Moses S.), 2, 9, 164, 165, 168, 175, 176 Emmett Company, "The Reminiscences of James Holt; A Narrative of the Emmett Company," 1-33; Part II, 151-179 Empire Mining & Milling Company, 51, 52 Ennerkulen, Sweden, 239 Eriksen, H . T . W . , 253

383

Erosion, 201, 203 Escalante, Father Silvestre Velez de, 220 Escalante Creek, 207 Escalante Desert, Utah, 175, 176 Escalante River, 207, 210, 218 Evansville, Wyoming, 114 Evarts, William, quoted, 242 Ewing, Archibald Orr, 349

Fair, Utah Territorial, 241, 242 Far West, Missouri, 4 Farnsworth, Philo T , 319 Farnsworth, Reed W . , review by, 93-94 Fayette, Utah, 332 Fenton, Capt. R. N., 173 Ferns, 214 Ferry across Missouri River, 152 Fillmore, I. A., 114 Fillmore, Millard, 264 Fillmore, Utah, 264, 301, 334; "Report to His Excellency Brigham Young, Governor of Utah Territory," 333-336; site of first capitol, 329, 330, 335 First Quorum of the Seventies, see Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints Fish Lake, Utah, 230 Fjeld, Carl, 240, 241 Flint 202, 203, 211 Flood marks in Grand Gulch, 203, 204 Flour, 162 Flowers, John, 26 Flowers, Wiley, 26 Ford, George, 119 Ford, Governor Thomas, 21 Forest Monarch, 238 Fort Bridger, Wyoming, 265, 363; "Western Justice: The Court at Fort Bridger, Utah Territory," 99-125 Fort Cameron, 310 Fort Harmony, Utah, 268 Fort Kearny, Nebraska, 166 Fort Laramie, Wyoming, 32, 155, 157, 167


384

INDEX

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 153, 154 Fort Madison, Missouri, 8, 9 Fort Supply, Wyoming, 101, 111, 265 Fort Vermillion (Vermillion Post), South Dakota, 27, 30, 33 Fortier, Charles E., 122 Forty Mile Creek, 218 Fountain Green, Utah, 332 Fountain Tanks, 203 Fox, Jesse W., 330, 331, 336 Fox River, Illinois, 234 Fraser, E. B., 113 Frazier, R. G, 220 Fredericia, Denmark, 235 Freeman, Lewis R., 205, 206, 224, 231 Fremont, John G, 335, 342 Fremont County, Iowa, 2, 163 Fremont Island, apportioned to Weber County, 274 Fremont River, 202 Fruita, Utah, 200 Fruits of Mormonism, see Harris, Franklin S. Fuel, shortage of, 35, 40, 42, 49 Fullmer, John S., 28-32 Fyen (Island), 235

Gale, Elizabeth, see Kartchner, Elizabeth Gale Gar eggs, 162 Gardiner, R. M., 354 Garfield, President James A., 276 Garfield County, Utah: boundaries, 276; created, 276; origin of name, 276 Garner, Edith, 319 Gas, 63 Gates, Jacob, 156 Gatrell, Cyrus G., 376 Gay, Lt. Ebenezer, 117 Geese, 201 Gendrup, Counsel, 255 General Brooke (boat), 28 Genoa, Nevada (Mormon Station), 335 Gentiles, 339, 340 Gilchrist, Sydney, 57

Glen Canyon, 197, 222, 230 Glen Canyon Dam Site No. 1, 224 Glen Canyon Dam Site No. 2, 224 Glendale (Berryville), Utah, fort at, 172, 175 Glenwood, Utah, 199 Goddard, George, 50 Gold, in Colorado River, 206 Golden Pass Road, 363 Gosiutes, see Indians Gould, Abram, 44 Gould, Jay, 44 Gove, Capt Jesse A., 104 Grand Canyon of the Colorado, 213, 216, 221, 230 The Grand Chain, of the Ohio River, 13, 21 Grand County, Utah: boundaries, 276; created, 276; origin of name, 276 Grand Gulch, 201-205, 213, 230; flood marks in, 203, 204 Grand Island, Nebraska, 152-156 Grand jury, 102, 105 Granger, Lafayette, 122 Grant, "Baron" Albert, 343, 344, 350, 356, 357, 360, 361 Grant, Jedediah Morgan, 169, 270 Grant Brothers and Company, 356, 357 Grass Creek Canyon, Utah, coal mines in, 37, 39, 40, 43, 48 Grass Valley, 199 Grasshoppers, 170 Greasewood County, Utah: boundaries, 267, 268; creation, 267; discontinued, 270; origin of name, 267 Great Basin, 176, 264 Great Salt Lake, 262, 264, 266, 267; water and islands apportioned to Utah counties, 274 Great Salt Lake County, see Salt Lake County Great Salt Lake Valley, see Salt Lake Valley Green River, 196, 274, 276 Green River County, Utah, 101, 102, 104, 105, 108, 121; boundaries, 265, 267, 270-272; created, 264; disorganized, 273


INDEX Green River Valley, 265 Grey, Zane, 217, 218 Grizzly mines, 362 Groesbeck, John A., 46, 57 Grover, , 105 Grover, Wendell, 319 Grundtvigians, 244 Gulley, Sam, 158 Gunlock, Utah, 179 Gunnison, Utah, 332 H Haggin, J. B., 56 Haggin & Lloyd Tevis, 56 Halifax County, North Carolina, 9 Hall, Charles, 199 Hall's Creek, 199, 201-206 Hall's Crossing, 199, 204, 206, 229 Hall's Divide, 203 Hall's Landing, 197, 206. 215, 219 Hall's Ranch, 203, 204 Halverson, George S., 376 Hamblin, Jacob, 175 Hamblin, Utah, 175, 176, 179 Hamilton, Richard H., 113, 122, 124 Hamilton, Dr. Samuel, 322; report of, 313 Ham's Fork, 101 Hancock County, Illinois, 8 Hanksville, Utah, 202, 204 Hansen, Peter, 258 Hanson, Olof, 245 Hardy, Bishop Leonard W . , 48, 55 Hardy, Dr. Milton H., 138, 314, 315; annual report of, 312 Hardy Building, 311 Harkness, Robert, 46 Harris, Elizabeth, 115-117 Harris, Franklin S., Fruits of Mormonism, 321 Harris, George W . , 115-117, 119 Harris, Mattie WatHs, 317 Hart, Sister, 26 Harvey, Anna Holt (Mrs. O n a ) , 10 Harvey, Ona, 10 Harvey, Thomas H., 29, 154 Hebron, Utah, 179 Henefer Creek, 363

385

Henefer, Utah, 363 Heneyman, see Herriman Heninger, Dr. Owen P., 319 Henry, Mr. ("Chief Henry," "Ongee"), 27, 28, 31, 32 Henry, John, 113 Henry Mountains, 199, 201, 202, 205 Herbs, used as medicine, 127, 129 Heron: blue, 207, 214; white, 207 Herriman (Heneyman), Henry, 24 Hewitt, Abram S., 358 Hickman, Dr. George W . , 141 Hickman, James, 26 Hidden Passage ("Maidenhair Gorge"), 214, 230 Higgins, Pat, 117 Hill, Rev. J. Wesley, 243 Hills, Lewis S., 305 Hinman, Helen, 157 Hinman, Lyman, 7-9, 25-27, 33, 153, 156, 157 Hinman, Mrs. Lyman, 157 Hixon, John B., 114 Hockaday, J. M., 102 Hog potatoes, 162 Hogges, , 15 Hogges, Susan Pain, 12 Hogle Gardens Zoo, 366 Holbrook, Joseph, 157 Holbrook, W a r d G , 319 Holdaway, A. D., 310 Hole-in-the-Rock, 199, 202, 274; described, 210-212 Holladay, Benjamin, 111, 121 Holloway, Nancy (Mrs. William), 165 Holloway, William (Smith?), 165 Holloway Party, massacre of, 165 Holmes, Harvey R., 146 Holt, Anna, see Harvey, Anna Holt Holt, Elijah, 10 Holt, Elizabeth, see Silivent, Elizabeth Holt Holt, Elizabeth Davis Crosland (Mrs. Jesse), 10 Holt, Ellen Lowe (Mrs. LeRoy), 171 Holt, Franklin Overton, 166, 167, 172, 173, 179 Holt, George Albert, 170, 179 Holt, Henry Davis, 172, 179


386

INDEX

Holt Icom, 10 Holt, James, "The Reminiscences of James Holt; A Narrative of the Emmett Company," 1-33; Part II, 151-179 Holt, James (grandfather), 10 Holt, Jesse, 10, 18, 20 Holt, Jesse Washington, 10, 18 Holt, Joseph, 169 Holt Laban (brother of James Holt), 10 Holt Laban (uncle of James Holt), 10 Holt, Leander, 24 Holt, LeRoy, 168, 171 Holt, Lucretra Crosland (Mrs. Jesse), 10 Holt, Lydia, see Morris, Lydia Holt Holt, Mary, see Wall, Mary Holt Holt, Mary Ann see Barker, Mary Ann Holt Holt, Mary Pain (Mrs. James), 12, 23, 24 Holt, Nancy, see Patten, Nancy Holt Holt, Parthenia Overton (Mrs. James), 23, 25, 26, 163, 168 Holt, Patay, 10 Holt Sarah, see Bull, Sarah Holt Holt, Sarah Wardle (Mrs. William A ) , 171 Holt William Alma, 3, 166, 168, 171, 172, 175, 179 Holt's Canyon, 176 Holt's Ranch, 3, 177, 178 Holy Cross Hospital, 142 Home Coal Company, 51, 62 Hoover Dam (Boulder Canyon Dam), 197, 202 Hopis, see Indians Horse stealing, 110 Horses, 30, 31, 153, 156, 165 Hospitals, 141, 142; see also Insane Asylums, Mental Hospitals Hot Springs, 264 The House Next Door, reviewed, 184, 185 Humbolt County, Utah: boundaries, 267, 268; created, 267; disorganized, 270; origin of name, 267 Humbolt River, 165 Hunt, Jefferson, 164, 171 Hunter, Bishop Edwards, 45, 49, 50

Hunter, O. F., 211 Huntington, Mae, 317 Huntsville, Utah, 171 Hurricane Mesa (Pioneer Mesa), 375 Hutton, G W . C , 354 Hyatt, Mrs. LaVerna, 3 Hyde, Dr. George E., 315, 324 Hyde, Orson, 6, 163, 266 Hydrographic station, Colorado River, 225

Iceland, Mormon converts from, 237 Illinois Tunnel Company, 346, 347, 350, 353, 360 Immigration Mormon: occupations, 238, 240, 241; ratio of male to female, 237, 238; "Utah's Ugly Ducklings: A Profile of the Scandinavian Immigrant," 233-259 Incidents of Travel and Adventure in the Far West, by Carvalho, reviewed, 289-291 Incinerary Urn ("Devil's Coffee Pot," "Loving Cup Creek"), 220 Indians: 153, 165-169, 172, 173, 178; artifacts, 202, 203; pottery, 211 Indian tribes: Hopi, 229; Navaho, 173, 174, 210, 217, 228; Paiutes, 174; Pawnee, 154-157, 159, 167; Poncas, 156, 160-162; Powieshiek, trading post, 26; San Pitch, 331; Sioux, 27-29, 31, 32, 154, 167; Ute, 172, 174 Infant mortality, 136, 172 Influenza, 128 Insane Asylum Commission, see State Board of Insanity Insane Asylums, see Dr. Young's Insane Asylum, Salt Lake City Insane Asylum and Hospital, Utah State Hospital Inscription House, discovery of, 149 Iowa City, 8, 9, 23, 26, 27 Iowa River, 8, 9, 23-27, 151 Iowa, state of, Mormons in, 2, 4, 23-27, 32, 33, 151, 152, 163, 165, 167 Iron, 339; deposits, 35; transport

of, 54


INDEX Iron County, Utah: boundaries, 264-266, 268, 270, 274, 276, 277; origin of name, 262, 264; settlement, 264 Irrigation, 201 Ivie, Brother, 199 Ivins, Stanley S., 164, 165

J Jackson, W . Turrentine, "The Infamous Emma Mine: A British Interest in the Little Cottonwood District Utah Territory," 339-362 Jackson County, Missouri, 17 Jacob Lake, 229 Jacobs, May, 218 Jails, lack of, 119 James Duane Doty, Frontier Promoter, by Smith, reviewed, 88-90 Jensen, Hans, 240 Jensen, James, 239, 254 Jewett, Oscar, 124 Jimson weed, 223 John Boyd, 240 John Williams Gunnison, by Mumey, reviewed, 369-370 Johnson, James, 121 Johnson, Price, 225, 226 Johnson, Price M., 227 Johnson, Price W., 227 Johnson, Warren M., 225, 226 Johnson County, Illinois, 13 Johnston, Albert Sidney, 103, 339 Johnston House, Richfield, Utah, 199 Johnston's Army, see Utah Expedition Jones, John E., 317 Jones, William W., 205, 206, 231 Jordan River, 266 Journals of Forty-Niners; Salt Lake to Los Angeles, by Hafen, reviewed, 285-288 Juab County, Utah, 333; boundaries, 265-268, 272, 276, 277; created, 264 Juab Valley, 266, 333 Judd, Neil Merton, 146-149, 217 Judges, "Western Justice: The Court at Fort Bridger, Utah Territory," 99-125

387

Jury, selection of, 110, 111 Justice of the Peace, 100, 101, 106, 107 Jutland, Denmark, 234-236 K Kaibab Plateau, 230 Kanab, Utah, 175; Navaho raid on, 173, 174 Kane, Thomas L., 271 Kane County, Utah: boundaries, 273, 274, 276; created, 271; origin of name, 271 Kane Creek, 220 Kanesville, see Council Bluffs, Iowa Kanosh, Utah, 334 Kartchner, Elizabeth Gale (Mrs. William D.), 23 Kartchner, Margaret Jane Casteel (Mrs. William D ) , 23 Kartchner, William Decatur, 7, 9, 23, 26-29 Kayler, Charles P., 199, 206, 230 Kearns Mansion, 189, 190 Keg Creek, Iowa, 33, 159, 165, 166 Kelly, Charles, 220; review by, 369-370 Kempe, Jens Christopher, 240 Kempe, Olina Torasen, 246 Kerr, Walter A., "Byron Cummings, Classic Scholar and Father of University Athletics," 145-150 Kimball, Ellen Sanders (Aagaata Ystensdatter Bake), 233, 234 Kimball, Heber G, 6, 102, 155, 161, 164, 169, 173, 330, 332, 333 Kimball, Rev. John G, quoted, 243 Kimball's Junction, 50-52 Kimball's Ranch, 45 King, Clarence, 353 Kingsbury, J. T , 138 Kingston's Fort, 266 Kipp, James, 30 Kirtland, Ohio, 4 Kitchen's Settlement, Iowa, 23, 24 Kolb, Ellsworth L., 216 Kolb, Emery G, 216 Krause, Anna Lucia, 247


388

INDEX

Krause, Maria, see Madsen, Maria W . G Krause

Lake Canyon, 206 Lake Valley, 334 Lambert, A. G, 319 Larsen, Hans, 241 LaRue, E. C , 199, 200, 202, 217, 224, 230 Last Camp Monument, 365 Last Chance Creek, 220 The Last War Trait, by Emmitt, reviewed, 291-293 Latter-day Saints Hospital, 142 Laudanum, 129 Law, early western, "Western Justice: The Court at Fort Bridger, Utah Territory," 99-125 Lawrence, G. A., Silverland, 346 Lead, 339 Lebanon, Tennessee, 9, 10, 18, 21 Lee, John D , 33, 152, 331; ranch described, 225 Lee's Ferry (Lonely Dell), 197, 207, 215, 219, 220, 222-230; steamboat at, 220, 226 Lee's Ferry Dam Site, 222, 223 Lehi, Utah, founders of, 234 Levan, Utah, 333 Levi, see Lewis, Brother Lewis (Levi), Brother, 166, 167 Lewis, Thomas D., 376 Liberty Branch, Illinois, 7, 23 Liljenquist, Ola Nilsson, 240, 255 Lim Fjorden, Denmark, 235 Limestone, 201, 203 Linford, Ernest H., review by, 182-184 "Lion Promontory," 214, 215 Lion root, 162 Little Colorado River, 229 Little Cottonwood Mining District: "The Infamous Emma Mine: A British Interest in the Little Cottonwood District, Utah Territory," 339-362 Little Dutch Hollow, 364 Little Emigration Canyon, 364 Little Mountain, 365

Little Salt Lake Valley, 262 Little Sioux River, 32 Livingston, Kinkead, and Co., 100; Fort Bridger store, 104 Llewellyn, Dr. John R., 317 Loa, Utah, 199, 203, 204 Lobelia, 23 "Locomotive Valley," 202 The Lodestar, 324 Lonely Dell, see Lee's Ferry Long Valley, Utah, 2. 172, 173, 225 Loquocore, see Niobrara River Lord, Clifford L., "What Are We Doing?" 65-73 Loup Fork, Platte River, 154 Loveland, Chester, 26 "Loving Cup Creek," see Incinerary Urn Lowe, Ann, 171 Lowe, Ellen, see Holt, Ellen Lowe Lowe, John, 171 Lucas, , 104 Lumber milling, 340 Lund, Anthon H., 234 Lund, Christian, 239 Lyman, Amasa M., 25, 26, 29, 235 Lyman, Utah, 200 Lyon, James E., 341-344 M Mabey, Charles R., 196 McCarty, George, 110, 111 McClellan, Scott, 199 McCormick, W . J., 105 McCullough, Hugh, attitude toward Mormon emigrants, 244 McDonough County, Illinois, 151 McDougall, Alexander William, 354 Mcintosh, E., 116, 117 McKean, Theodore, 300, 301 McKell, Charles R., "The Utah State Hospital: A Study in the Care of the Mentally 111," 297-327 McLaury, Isabel, see Cummings, Isabel McLaury McMillan, H. G., 60, 62 Madsen, Brigham D., review by, 372-373 Madsen, Maria W . G Krause, 247


INDEX Magotsu, 176 Mahon, Michael, 117 "Maidenhair Gorge," see Hidden Passage Main Canyon, 363 Malad County, Utah: boundaries, 267; created, 267; disorganized, 270 Malad River, 267 Malad Valley, 169 Malaria, 128 Malmo, Sweden, 235 Maloney, Thomas, 117 Mann, Luther, 124 Manti, Utah, 332 Maple sugar, 25 Marble Canyon, 225, 228 Marengo, Iowa, 26 Marine Insurance Company, 122, 123 Mariposa Estate, 342 Markham, Colonel, 366 Marshall, Dr. H . L., 317 Martin, Michael, 122-124 Mary, Doby, 115 Marysvale, Utah, 272 Mathews, Joe, 157 Maughan, Peter, 267 Mauritzdatter, Kristine, see Smoot, Kristine Mauritzdatter Maw, Governor Herbert, 319 Maxwell, William Audley, 165 Meadow Creek, 334 Medicine: "bleeding," 129-131; Board of Health, 138, 139; botanic, 23; "humoral theory," 128, 129; "Medicine of the Pioneer Period in Utah," 127-144; pioneers' attitude toward, 297, 304 Medill, William, 154 Meeks, Priddy, 23 Mental hospitals: description of buildings, 318, 319; governing boards of, 313, 314; patient capacity, 320; patients, statistics on, 309, 312, 315, 316, 3 2 1 ; personnel, 316; see also Utah State Hospital Mentally ill: cost to society, 322; progress in treatment of, 312, 326, 327; responsibility of society toward, 298, 299; understanding of, 300; "The Utah State Hospital: A

389

Study in the Care of the Mentally 111," 297-327 Mexican Hat, 217 Mexican traders, 332 Mexico, 159 Meyers, Mrs., 303 Michigan, Mormons in, 6 Millard County, Utah, 301, 331, 334, 336; boundaries, 265-268, 270, 271, 276; created, 264, 329, 330; origin of name, 264 Miller, Charles, 113 Miller, Bishop George, 2, 22, 33, 151159, 161-163 Miller, John, 154 Miller, Mary Ann Cottam, 3, 175 Miller, R , 304 Miller Company, 33, 151, 152, 155157, 159, 161 Miller, Russel, and Co., Fort Bridger store, 113 Millersville, Wyoming, 113, 123 Mills, H. W . , 151, 152 Mills, Utah, 333 Mining: "The Infamous Emma Mine: A British Interest in the Little Cottonwood District, Utah Territory," 339-362 Mining laws, ownership of veins, 347 Mississippi River, 8, 12, 21 Mississippi Valley, 1 Missouri River: 2, 7, 23, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 151-153, 155, 157, 159, 161, 166; ferry across, 152 Mitchell, F. A., 39 Moenkopi Village, 229 Moffitt, Armstead, 26 Molasses, 172 Monarch of the Sea, 241 Montgomery, Henry, 148 Montgomery County, Tennessee, 10 Monument Valley, 217 Moonlight Wash, 217 Morgan, Dale L., ed., "The Reminiscences of James Holt; A Narrative of the Emmett Company," 1-33; Part II, 151-179 Morgan, Nicholas G., Sr.<, 191 Morgan County, Utah: boundaries, 270, 273; created, 270; origin of name, 270


390

INDEX

Mormon Battalion, 154, 157 Mormon converts: cleanliness taught, 253, 254; economic conditions, 239, 240, 247, 248; English taught, 252, 253; equality among, 254, 255; occupations, 240, 241; persecution of, 242-245, 250, 251; submission to church authority, 256, 257 "Mormon Corridor," 262 Mormon-Gentile relations, 242, 243 Mormon Pioneer Memorial Highway, see Pioneer Memorial Highway Mormon pioneers: attitude toward medicine, 297, 304; route of, "Thirty-Six Miles of History,'' 363-367 Mormon Rebellion, see Utah Expedition Mormon Ridge, Iowa, 25 Mormon Station, see Genoa, Nevada Mormons, 1, 3-5, 35, 46, 48, 53, 62, 101-105, 151, 152, 201, 228, 339; attitude toward doctors, 127, 140, 141; "gathering," 233, 252; immigration, Scandinavian, 233-259; in Iowa, 2, 4, 23-27, 32, 33, 151, 152, 163, 165, 167; in Michigan, 6; in Nebraska, 152-162; in Ohio, 6, 17; persecuted, 15; in South Dakota, 2, 27-32, 151; in Tennessee, 6, 17-20; in Texas, 6, 22, 159; western expedition, 1-33, 151-179; see also Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Mormons Are Peculiar People, by Harrison, reviewed, 370-372 Moroni, Utah, 332 Morrell, Joseph R., "Medicine of the Pioneer Period in Utah," 127-144 Morris, Earl H., 217, 218 Morris, Elias, 59 Morris, Levitt 10 Morris, Lydia Holt (Mrs. Levitt), 10 Mortensen, A. R., ed., "A Journal of John A. Widtsoe," 195-231; review by, 91-93 Mose (an Indian), 173, 174 Mosquito Creek, Iowa, 163, 166 Mount Ellen, 202, 205 Mount Ellsworth, 202 Mount Hillers, 202 Mount Holmes, 202 Mount Pennell, 202

Mount Pisgah, 153 Mountain Dell Canyon, 365 Mountain Meadows (Vegas de Santa Clara), 2, 3, 175, 176 Mountain Meadows Massacre, 175, 225 Mountain Meadows Massacre Monument Harrison, Arkansas, 375 Mourning dove, 201 Mulder, William, 191; "Utah's Ugly Ducklings: A Profile of the Scandinavian Immigrant," 233-259 Muley Tanks, 202 Muley Twist, 202 Muley Twist Canyon, 202 Muley Water Holes, 202 Murder, 115 Murdock Academy, Beaver, Utah, 311 Murray, Governor Eh H., 306, 307 Music Temple, 214 N Naisbitt, L. D., 376 Natural bridges, 215, 218, 219 Nauvoo House, 16 Nauvoo House Association, 16 Nauvoo, Illinois, 1, 2, 4-9, 15-17, 20-22, 24-26, 28-30, 32, 151, 152 Nauvoo Temple, 16 Navaho, see Indians Navajo Bridge, 225, 228 Navajo Creek, 222 Navajo Mountain, 212, 215, 219, 221, 226 Nebraska: Mormons in, 152-162; Territory, 270 Needle Rocks, 116 Nelson, James, 7, 8, 24-26 Nelson, Rebecca, 7, 8, 24-26 Nephi, Utah, 332, 333 Nephites, Three, 178 Neuses River, 159 Nevada Central Railroad, 51, 56 Nevada Territory, 270; created, 268; first county government organized in, 266 New Emma Silver Mining Company, Limited, see Emma Mine New York Loan and Indemnity Company, 359


INDEX New York and Utah Prospecting Company, 340 Nicollet River, see Sevier River Nielsen, Christian, 257, 258 Nielsen, Elsie Rasmussen, 248, 249 Nielsen, Jens, 239, 248, 249 Nielsen, Johan, 245 Nielsen, Niels Emmanuel, 258 Nielsen, Peter, 253 Nine Mile Canyon, Utah, 147, 148 Niobrara River (Loquocore, Puncaw River, Running-water River, Swift River), 32, 156-158, 161, 162 "Nipple Mountain," 205 Nishnabotna River, 32 North Ogden Canyon, Utah, 171 North Ogden, Utah, 168-170; fort at, 169 North Platte River, 166 Northern Islander, 152 Norway, Mormons in, "Utah's Ugly Ducklings: A profile of the Scandinavian Immigrant," 233-259 Notom, Utah, 200 Nu-quin River, see Chalk Creek

Oak Creek Dam Site, 215 Oats, 154, 162 Odense, Denmark, 235 Ogden Canyon, Utah, 171 Ogden, Utah, 37, 38, 41-43, 54 Ogden Valley, Utah, 171 Ohio River, 12, 13, 17, 21 Ohio, state of, Mormons in, 6, 17 Oil seep, 206, 207 Old Spanish Trail; Santa Fe to 'Los Angeles, by Hafen, reviewed, 91-93 Oleson, Christina, see Warnick, Christina Oleson Olsen, Agnes, 245 Olsen, Annie Catrine Christensen, 245 Ongee, see Henry, Mr. Ontario Silver Mining Company, 50-52, 55-58, 61 Ophir Mining and Smelting Company of Utah, Limited, 353 Oregon Boot, 313 Organic Act, 106, 108, 329, 330

391

Oslo (Christiana), Norway, 235, 237 Otis, George K„ 111 Otterstrom, Jonas, 241 Overland Stage Line, 111 Overton, Catherine, see Emmett, Catharine Overton Overton, Parthenia, see Holt, Parthenia Overton Pace, Ada Cottam, 178 Pace, Dr. Garland H., 317, 319 Pace, Mr., 204 Padre Creek, 220 Page 26 Page, Ed, 217 Pain, Elizabeth (wife of John Pain), 12 Pain, Elizabeth (daughter of John and Elizabeth Pain), 12 Pain, John, 12 Pain, John (son of John and Elizabeth Pain), 12 Pain, Mary see Holt, Mary Pain Pain, Nancy, see Temmons, Nancy Pain Pain, Susan, see Hogges, Susan Pain Pain, William, 12 Painted Desert, 229 Paiutes, see Indians Panguitch Lake, 276 Panguitch, Utah, postmaster at, 23 "Panorama Point," 227 Paragoonah, Utah, 147 Paria River, 225, 226 Park, Trenor W., 342-344, 346-351, 353-357, 359-361 Park City, Utah, 39, 43, 46, 47, 50-55; silver mines at, 39, 54 Parley's Canyon, 365 Parleys Creek, 366 Parley's Park, 46 Parowan, Utah, 264 Patten, Nancy Holt (Mrs. TheodrickAmannel), 10, 12 Patten, Theodrick-Amannel, 12 Patterson, Robert A., 217 Pauvan Valley, 264, 329-331, 334, 335


392

INDEX

Pavant Mountains, 334 Pawnee mission station, 159-162 Pawnees, see Indians Pendergast, Joseph, 116, 117 Penitentiary, 112 Penrose, Charles W., 57 Petersen, LaMar, review by, 370-372 Peterson, Canute, 234 Peterson, Sarah (Mrs. Canute), 234 Pettigrew, David, 4 Petty, Maggie Cottam (Mrs. Charles B.), 3, 178 Phillips, Paul G, review by, 181-182 Pike, Dr., 314 Pike County, Illinois, 15 Pine Creek, 334 Pine Valley, Utah, 177 Pinto Canyon, Utah, 176 Pinto, Utah, 176, 177 Pioche, Nevada, 177, 178 Pioneer Memorial Highway, "ThirtySix Miles of History," 363-367 Pioneer Mesa, see Hurricane Mesa Pipe Springs, Arizona, 175; Navaho raid on, 173, 174 Piute County, Utah: boundaries, 274, 277; created, 271; origin of name, 271; settlement, 272 Plain City, Utah, 147 Platte River, 154, 166, 167; Bridge, 105 Pleasant Creek, 200 Pleasant Vale Stake, Illinois, 15 Pleasant Vale Township, Illinois, 15 Pleasant Valley Coal Company, 44, 51, 53 Poland Bill, 107 Poll, Richard D , review by, 288-289 Polygamy, 60, 62, 110 Ponca River, 2, 158, 159 Poncas, see Indians Pony Express, 363, 364 Potatoes, 163 Potter, Eveline (Mrs. Gardner G.), 33, 157 Potter, Gardner G., 9, 26, 33, 157 Potter, William, 26, 32, 33 Powell, Major John Wesley, 212-214, 222, 229 Powell, Walter Clement, 225

Powieshiek, see Indians Pratt, Addison, 164 Pratt, Orson, 129, 330-332, 336, 364, 365 Pratt, Parley P., 334, 363 Presbyterian Missionaries, 154, 160 Price River, 274, 277 Price, Utah, county seat of Carbon County, 277 Probate courts, "Western Justice: The Court at Fort Bridger, Utah Territory," 99-125 Proselytes, see Mormon converts Prostitutes, 117 Provo, Utah: site for territorial asylum, 306-308; water supply, 138, 139 Provo Valley, 270 Psychiatric Aide Achievement Award, 325 Psychiatric care: attitude toward, 304; nursing, 324; see also Mentally 111 Public Welfare Commission, 319, 322 Pulaski County, Illinois, 13 Puncaw River, see Niobrara River Quaking Ash Station, 121 Quicksand, 214 Qulgley, G A , 211

Rabbits, 202, 203 Raccoon Barracks, Iowa, 29 Raccoon River, Iowa, 27 Railroads: rolling stock, 37-40, 50, 52; "Utah's Coal Road in tie Age of Unregulated Competition," 35-63 Rainbow Lodge, 215 Rainbow Natural Bridge, 215, 216, 218, 230 Raleigh, Alonzo H., 57. 59 Ramsauer, L. G, 205, 231 Ramsauer, W . H., 205, 231 Ranney, Mr., 161 Rascoe, Annie, 123 Rasmussen, Elsie, see Nielsen, Elsie Rasmussen Read Family, 10 Read, Moses, 10


INDEX Red Creek, 334 Relief Society, 137, 142 Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter D a y Saints, 22 Rice, Asa, 168 Rice, Ira, 168, 169 Rice, Roger G , 227 Rich, Charles G , 271 Rich County (Richland County), Utah: boundaries, 273; created, 2 7 1 ; name shortened, 272; origin of name, 271 Richards, Franklin D., 236, 246, 249 Richards, Willard, 164 Richardson's Point, Iowa, 32 Richfield, Utah, 199, 229, 272 Richland County, see Rich County Ricks, Joel E., "The President's Report," 75-78 Riddle, Isaac J., 7 Rigdon, Sidney, 22 Riley, Harvey, 117 Rio Grande River, 159 Rio Virgin County, Utah: boundaries, 273; created, 272 Robert Campbell and Co., 122, 123 Robertson, John, 123 Robinson, John, 119, 120 Robinson, Bishop Joseph L., 331, 333, 336 Robinson, Lewis, 102 Robinson, W a y n e , 277 Robinson, Willis E., 277 Robinson Hotel, Loa, Utah, 199 Rock Creek, 220 Rock Springs, Wyoming, 38, 41, 42, 45, 47 Rockwell, Porter, 158 Rocky Mountains, 163, 164, 264, 265 329; expedition to, 22, 28, 32, 33, 159 Rolvaag, Ole, 247 Roosevelt, Theodore, 148; visits Rainbow Natural Bridge, 217 Rose, Major, 330, 333 Round Valley, 334 Roundy, Lorenzo H., 173 Running-water River, see Niobrara River Rush Valley, 268

393

Russel, Mr., 26 Russell, Majors and Waddell Co., 102 Russian Thistle, 201

S. S. Nevada, 238, 244 S t George, Utah, 171, 271; Temple, 179 S t Marie, Elissi, 26 S t Mark's Hospital, 142 S t Mary's County, Utah: boundaries, 267, 268; created, 267; disorganized, 270; origin of name, 267 S t Mary's of the Wasatch, site of first mental hospital, 300 Salmon Trout River, see Truckee River Salt Creek, 333 Salt Lake City Council, 49, 141 Salt Lake City Insane Asylum and Hospital, 298, 300-304 Salt Lake City, Utah, 35, 37-47, 49, 51-53,55, 63, 115, 168, 170,330, 331, 333, 335 Salt Lake County Hospital, 142 Salt Lake County (Great Salt Lake County), Utah, 101; apportioned sections of water and islands of Great Salt Lake, 274; boundaries, 262, 265, 266, 274; name shortened, 272; responsibility for mentally ill, 298 Salt Lake and Eastern Railroad, 55 Salt Lake Sanitarian, quoted, 129, 139 Salt Lake Theatre, 241 Salt Lake Valley (Great Salt Lake Valley), 163-166, 168, 262, 265, 363-366 Sample, W . C , 121 San Bernardino, California, 23 San Francisco Mountains, 229 San Juan Canyon, 215 San Juan County, Utah: boundaries, 274; created, 273, 274; creation vetoed by governor, 274; origin of name, 274; settlement, 274 San Juan Expedition, 210 San Juan River, 211-215. 274 San Pete County, see Sanpete County San Pete Creek, see San Pitch River San Pitch Indians, see Indians


394

INDEX

San Pitch River (San Pete Creek), 332 Sandstone: grey, 203; red, 201-203, 205-207, 210, 212, 215, 216; white, 201, 202 Sandy Creek, 200 Sanpete (San Pete) County, Utah: boundaries, 265, 266, 270, 271, 274, 276; coal deposits in, 35, 37; created, 262; origin of name, 262; spelling of name changed, 271 Sanpete Valley, 262, 266 Sanpitch, Chief, 262 Santa Clara Creek, Utah, 176 Santa Fe, New Mexico, Colorado River conference at, 195, 197 Sarpy, Peter A , 152, 153 Savage, Emaline Casteel (Mrs. John), 26 Savage, John, 26 Scandinavian immigrants, 129, 233259 Scania, see Skaane Schenck, Maj. Gen. Robert G, 343, 345, 350, 356-358 Schlect, John, 124 Scipio, Utah, 334 Scofield Mine, 63 Scott, George M., 46 Scott, L. B., 119, 121, 124 Scottish interests, Emma Mine, 348, 349, 351 Sea Gull, designated state bird, 190 Sentinel Rock, 222 Sentinel Rock Dam Site No. 1, 222 Sentinel Rock Dam Site No. 2, 222 Seventies, see Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Sevier County, Utah: boundaries, 274, 276; created, 271; origin of name, 271; settlement, 272 Sevier River (Nicollet River), 264, 271, 331-334 Sevier Valley, 334 Sevier Valley Railroad, 42, 54 Shale, 207 Shambip County, Utah: boundaries, 268; created, 268; discontinued, 270 Sharp, John, 43, 121 Sherman, Jason, 112 Sherwood, Henry G., 28-32

Shipp, Doctors, 129 Shoemaker, H. G, 319 Short Creek, Arizona, 175 Sierra Nevada Mountains, 329 Silivent, Elizabeth Holt (Mrs. Ona), 10 Silivent Ona, 10 Silliman, Prof. B., 343, 344, 348, 356 Silver Creek, Utah, 46 Silver mining, see Emma Mine Silverland, see Lawrence, G. A. Simmens, Andrew A., see Temmons Sioux, see Indians Sioux River, 27 The Sixth Ward Co-operative Association, 49 Skaane (Scania), Sweden, 236 Skunk River, 27 Smallpox, 128, 139 Smith, , 204 Smith, Brother, 174 Smith, George A., 6, 41, 161, 248, 330, 331, 333 Smith, Hyrum, 21 Smith, Jackson, 17, 18, 20 Smith, Joseph, 2, 4-8, 13, 14, 16-19, 22, 152; candidate for President of the United States, 4, 5, 17; death of, 19-22, 152; Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, 17 Smith, Joseph F., 60, 62 Smith, Lot, 102 Smith, Moses, 5, 6, 25 Smith, Dr. William, 166-168 Smith, William R., 306 Smithland, Kentucky, 21 Smith's Fork, 110 Smoot, Kristine Mauritzdatter, (Mrs. Abraham O.), 246 Smoot, Reed, 246, 314 Snow, Eliza R., 137 Snow, Erastus, 158, 172, 173, 365 Snow, William J., 332 Snow, Zerubbabel, 330, 332, 333 Snowflake, Arizona, 23 Songs, see Music Sorenson, Hannah, 245 South Dakota, Mormons in, 2, 27-32, 151


INDEX South Platte River, 166 Southern Exploring Expedition, 35 Southern Indian Mission, 173, 175 Spanish Fork, Utah, 175 Spanish Trail, 2, 175 Spencer, Daniel, 25, 237 Spencer, Orson, 129 "Sphinx Bluff," 202 Spring Hollow Canyon, Utah, 37 Springville, Utah, 170 Squirrel legs, eaten, 162 Stabler, Herman, 199, 206, 207, 213, 230 Staines, William G , 152, 153, 156, 160, 162, 330, 336 Stanton, Robert B., 206 Staples, Mr. and Mrs., 227 State Board of Insanity (Insane Asylum Commission), 314 State of Deseret, 261, 262, 264, 329 State House, "Report of an Expedition to Locate Utah's First Capitol," 329-336 State Training School, 315 Steamboat, at Lee's Ferry, 220, 226 Stephenson, Edward, attitude toward Mormon immigrants, 244 Stetson, Clarence G , 199-201, 205207, 213, 228, 231 Steward, Jackson, see Stewart, Andrew Jackson Stewart Andrew Jackson, 24 Stewart, Samuel W . , 376 Stewart, William M., 342-344, 348, 349, 355 Stockholm, Sweden, 236 Stone, John K., I l l , 113 Stony Creek, 262 Stout, Hosea, 26, 153, 157-159, 161 Stowell, William, 102 Strang, James J., 5, 159 Stucki, Caroline, see Addy, Caroline Stucki Sulphur Creek, 265 Summit County Railroad, 35, 39, 40, 42-44, 53, 55 Summit County, Utah: boundaries, 265, 273, 274; coal deposits in, 37, 40-43, 45, 51; created, 265 Sumner County, Tennessee, 12

395

Sunnyside Mine, 63 Sutherland, George, 310, 314 Sweden, Mormons in, "Utah's Ugly Ducklings: A Profile of the Scandinavian Immigrant," 233-259 Swift River, see Niobrara River

Talmage, James E., 138, 139 Taylor, Brother 6 Sister, 7, 157 Taylor, John, 45, 56 Taylor, Major Joseph, 102 Teasdale, Utah, 200 Temmons (Simmens), Andrew A., 12, 13 Temmons (Simmens), Nancy Pain (Mrs. Andrew A . ) , 12 Tennessee, 9, 10; Mormons in, 6, 17-20 Territorial Asylum for the Insane, see Utah State Hospital Texas, Mormons in, 6, 22, 159 Theses, check lists of: Brigham Young University, 279-284; University of Utah, 79-85 This Is the Place Monument, 363, 366 Thomas, Prof. Franklin, 199-201, 206, 213, 223, 228, 231 Thomas and Passin, St. Louis, 122, 123 Thompson, Mathew, 105, 106 Thompson Springs, Utah, 148 Thomsen, Peter, 239 Timber, 35, 37, 43, 46, 63 Tithing, 44 "Toadstool Curve," 203 Tokerville, see Toquerville Tomlinson, Fanny, 124 Tooele (Tuilla) County, Utah: apportioned sections of waters and islands of Great Salt Lake, 274, 275; boundaries, 262, 264-268, 277; created, 262 Tooele (Tuilla) Valley, 262, 268 Toquerville (Tokerville), made county seat, 273 Torasen, Olina, see Kempe, Olina Torasen Townsend, Arthur, 216 Townsend, Helen, 216


396

INDEX

Tracy, Albert, 364 Traders to the Navajos, by Gillmor and Wetherill, reviewed, 93-94 Trail, emigrant, to San Juan County, 204 Transportation, "Utah's Coal Road in the Age of Unregulated Competition," 35-63 Treason, charge of, 102, 105, 106 Trevithick, David R., 319 Trimbles party, 217 Truckee River (Salmon Trout River), 335 Tuba City, Arizona, 228, 229 Tuberculosis, 128 Tuilla County, see Toole County Tuilla Valley, see Tooele Valley Twelve Apostles, see Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Tyler, S. Lyman, review by, 291-293 Typhoid fever, 128 Typhus, 128 U Uinta Mountains, 278 Uintah County, Utah: boundaries, 276, 277; created, 273, 274; origin of name, 274 Union Pacific Railroad, 37-39, 41-45, 47, 52-57, 59-63, 113, 114, 121 Union Trust Company, N e w York, 39, 53 Unionville, Utah, 39 U. S. Geological Survey, 196, 200 U. S. government, responsibility for mentally ill, 299 U. S. Government Hospital, Brigham City, Utah, 311 U. S. Highway 89, 332 U. S. Highway 91, 331, 334, 335 U .S. Reclamation Service, 196 University of Utah: Athletic Association, 146, 147; check list of theses a t 79-85; football field, 146 Utah Central Railroad, 37, 38, 41, 43 Utah Commission, 307 Utah County, Utah: boundaries, 265, 268,271,276; created, 262; responsibility toward mentally ill, 298 Utah, "Dixie," 2, 271

Utah Eastern Railroad ("The Bishops' Railroad"), 35, 45-51, 53-63 Utah Expedition (Johnston's Army, Mormon Rebellion, Utah W a r ) , 100, 101, 103, 170, 267, 339, 363, 364 Utah Highway 11, 332 Utah Lake, 271, 333 Utah Natural Bridges, 148 Utah and Northern Railroad, 57, 59, 61 Utah and Pleasant Valley Railroad, 54 Utah, state of: county boundaries, evolution of, 261-278; first surveyor-general, 278; increase in mental illness in, 299, 321, 322; responsibility toward mentally ill, 299; Scandinavian immigration to, 233-259; theses on, 79-85, 279-284 Utah State Historical Society: acquires Kearns Mansion, 189, 190; "The President's Report," 75-78 Utah State Hospital (Territorial Asylum for the Insane, Utah State Insane Asylum, Utah State Mental Hospital): appropriations for, 305, 308; board of directors' report, 305, 306; Board of Trustees, 317; expansion of facilities, 3 1 1 ; number of patients, 310, 320, 321; official opening, 308; selection of site, 306; superintendents' reports, 320, 322, 323; "Utah State Hospital: A Study in the Care of the Mentally 111," 297-327 Utah State Insane Asylum, see Utah State Hospital Utah State Mental Hospital, see Utah State Hospital Utah State Press Association, 199 Utah territorial legislature, 264, 270, 329, 332; provision for erection of an asylum, 305, 309; responsibility for mentally ill, 299, 308 Utah Territory, 106, 261, 264, 272 Utah Valley, 262 Utah W a r , see Utah Expedition Utes, see Indians Utica Cribs, 310

Vaccination, 136, 139; fear of, 128 Van Praag, Henry, 52


INDEX Vegas de Santa Clara, see Mountain Meadows Vendsyssel, Denmark, 234, 235, 240 "Venus' Stairs," 216 Vermilion Cliffs, 225, 228 Vermillion Post, see Fort Vermillion Vermillion River, 27-30, 151, 153 Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, by Joseph Smith, 17-19 Vig, P. S., 234 Virgin City, Utah, 2, 172-174, 271 Virgin River, Utah, 2, 172 Virgin River Valley, Utah, 171

W W a g o n roads, 35 W a h w e a p Creek, 222, 224 Waite, Charles B., 107 Walke, A. W . , 124 Walke, Nicholas, 124 Walker Brothers, 341 Walker, Don D., review by, 87-88 Wall, Burges, 10 Wall, E. A., 149 Wall, M a r y Holt (Mrs. Burges), 10 Wallace, William R., 195 Walton, Edward A., 376 Wanship, Utah, 39, 46 W a r of 1812, 10 Wardle, John, 171 Wardle, Sarah (wife of John), 171 Wardle, Sarah (daughter of Sarah and John W a r d l e ) , see Holt, Sarah Wardle W a r m Creek, 220-222 Warnick, Christina Oleson, 245, 248 Wasatch Boulevard, 366 Wasatch Coal Company, 43 Wasatch Coal Mine, 40, 51 Wasatch County, Utah: boundaries, 270, 271, 274, 276, 277; created, 270; origin of name, 270 Wasatch Mountains, 264, 270, 272, 329, 335, 340, 363 Wasatch Range, 46 Washington County, Utah, 331; boundaries, 265, 268, 270-273, 276, 277; created, 264; settlement, 271 Washington, Utah, 2, 172

397

Wassworth, Mrs., 216 W a t e r supply: Provo, 138, 139; Salt Lake City. 138 Waterpocket Fold, 201, 202 Waters, W . E., 120 Watson, Thomas, 111, 112 Watson, Wingfield, 152 Waubonsie Creek, Iowa, 2, 163 W a y n e County, Utah: boundaries, 277; created, 277; origin of name, 277 Weber County, Utah, 2, 168; apportioned sections of waters and islands of Great Salt Lake, 274, 275; boundaries, 265-267; created, 262 Weber River, 46, 116, 168, 266, 364 Weber Valley, 262 Weggeland, Dan, 242 Weibye, Jens, 240 Weight, Dr. Jesse J., 317 Wells, Gen. Daniel Hanmer, 102, 173, 330, 333 Wells, Gov. Heber M., 139 Wells-Fargo, 56 West, Caleb, attitude toward Mormon converts, 243 Wetherill, John, 217 Wetherill, Louise, 217 Wheat, 154, 155, 169, 170 Whipping post, 119 Whirlpool Rapids, 206, 207 White Brothers, 205 White, J. Parley, 319 White Canyon, natural bridges, located, 148 "White House on the Hill," 303 Widerborg, Carl, 236 Widtsoe, Anna Karine, 245 Widtsoe, John A.: Colorado River journal, 195-231; Memorial Foundation, 195 Widtsoe, Leah D. (Mrs. John A.), 200 Wight, Lee B., 376 Wight, Lyman, 6, 21, 22 Wilcox, W a y n e , "Thirty-Six Miles of History," 363-367 Wilkes, Edmund, 46 Willard, Utah, 147 Williams 9


398

INDEX

Williams, Archibald, 114, 115 Williams, P. L., 62 Williams, Silas, 355 Willow trees, 215, 364 Wills, execution of, 121-124 Willyams, Brydges, 346, 353 Wilson, Zachariah D., 6-8, 13-15, 23, 26 Wilson, Mrs. Zachariah D., 26 Wilson County, Tennessee, 9, 10, 12, 18 Wimmer, Andy, 205, 206, 231 Wimmer, J. G, 216, 217 Wimmer, Thomas G., 205, 206, 227, 231 Winder, John R, 47, 48, 57, 59, 305 Winter Quarters, 157-159, 163 Winter Quarters Mine, 63 Woman's Exponent, quoted, 135, 136 Women: medical education of, 137, 142; ratio in emigration, 237, 238 Women's Legislative Council, 325 Wood, price of, 44 Woodman, J. F., 340-342, 344 Woodruff, Wilford, 169 Woods, Gov. George L., message to legislative assembly, 301 World War II, effect on hospital personnel, 316 Wyoming Territory, 108, 270. 273; created, 272

Wyoming's War Years, 1941-1945, reviewed, 182-184

Yazoo country (Azoo County?), 12 Yellow fever, 128 Yellowstone River, 23, 29, 158 Young, Brigham, 6-8, 21, 22, 24, 25, 29, 33, 35, 37, 43, 45, 102, 110, 128, 140, 141, 151-159, 161, 163. 164, 168-170, 173, 179, 261, 262, 265, 267, 270, 330-333, 366; attitude toward doctors, 131-133, 136, 137 Young, Joseph, 303 Young, Joseph A., 39 Young, Joseph W., 236 Young, Robert D , 200, 205, 206, 211, 216, 218, 226, 231 Young, Dr. Seymour B., 303, 304; see also Dr. Young's Insane Asylum Young, Steve, 217

Zane, Charles S., 60 Zealand, Denmark, 236 Zion Canyon, 200, 230 Zion's Camp, 16 Zobell, Hans, 240


Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.