USA > California > History of California, Volume V > Part 12
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Just before the pioneers crossed Green river, Samuel Brannan rode into camp, having come directly from the Bay of San Francisco. He, with two companions, had crossed the Sierra Nevada at Truckee pass, near the foot of which they had seen the bleaching bones of members of the ill-fated Donner party, a belated company of emigrants, caught in the heavy snows of
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the year before, thirty-nine of the original eighty- seven perishing. Brannan's purpose in meeting the pioneers was to persuade them to pass by the barren, forbidding region of the Great Salt Lake, and join him and his colony on the fertile slopes of the Pacific. He brought with him sixteen numbers of "The Cali- fornia Star," and the latest news from the battalion. He used every endeavor to convince President Young that it would be to the advantage of the Latter-day Saints to establish themselves on the western coast; but in this he was unsuccessful. The prospect painted by his eloquence had its pleasing features, but was not alluring to the sagacious leader, who had seen his people despoiled and driven, repeatedly, through sheer inability to hold their own against overwhelming odds, hostile to and arrayed against them. Until they became strong enough, not only in numbers, but in influence, through a proper understanding of their motives on the part of their fellow citizens, to defend themselves against further possible aggressions, it was better for them to seek isolation, and face the hardships and dangers of the desert. Moreover, their martyred prophet had predicted that they should become "a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky mountains;" and they proposed to stand by that prophecy and help on its fulfilment. "This is the place," said Brigham Young, indicating Salt Lake valley as the site for their first settlement, and Salt Lake valley was accordingly chosen for that purpose.
It was July 24, 1847, when Brigham Young arrived in view of the Great Salt Lake. Some of his followers had preceded him, and plowing and planting had
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begun two days before. It was difficult work, and more than one plowshare was broken in the hard sun-baked soil. To make the plowing easier, dams were placed in the mountain streams, and the ground well flooded. This was the beginning of irrigation in arid America, by men of the Anglo-Saxon race.
As a protection against hostile and thieving savages -Shoshones on the north, Utahs or Utes on the south- these settlers, and those who followed them that season, built a rude fort, in the form of a rectangle, thus forming the nucleus of Salt Lake City, the parent and model of hundreds of towns and villages now dotting the surface of the Great American Desert.
CRICKETS AND GULLS
From my History of Utah, I here reproduce, with slight revision, one of the early incidents in the pioneer colony :
"No event in Western history awakens more interest than the episode of the crickets and the gulls. It occurred when Salt Lake City, the earliest settlement in the Rocky Mountain region, was less than one year old. The so-called 'City' was not even a village at that time; it was little more than a camp, consisting of a log-and-mud fort, enclosing huts, tents, and wagons, with about eighteen hundred inhabitants. Most of these had come immediately after the Pioneers, who, with Brigham Young, their leader, arrived in July, 1847. President Young and others had returned to the Missouri River to bring more of the migrating people to their new home among the mountains, and those who remained here were anxiously awaiting the results of their first labors to redeem the desert and make the wilderness to blossom.
"Some plowing and planting had been done by the Pioneers upon their arrival, but the seeds then put in, such as potatoes, corn, wheat, oats, peas and beans, though well irrigated, did not
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mature, owing to the lateness of the season. The nearest ap- proach to a harvest, that year, were a few small potatoes, which served as seed for another planting. It was therefore their first real harvest in this region that the settlers of these solitudes were looking forward to, at the time of the episode mentioned.
"Much depended upon that harvest, not only for the people already here, but for twenty-five hundred additional immigrants, who were about to join them from the far-away frontier. The supplies brought by those who came the first season had been designed to last only about twelve months. They were gradually getting low, and these settlers, be it borne in mind, were well nigh isolated from the rest of humanity. 'A thousand miles from anywhere,' was a phrase used by them to describe their location. They had little communication with the outside world, and that little was by means of the ox team and the pack mule. If their harvest failed, what would become of them?
"In the spring of 1848, five thousand acres of land were under cultivation in Salt Lake Valley. Nine hundred acres had been sown with winter wheat, which was just beginning to sprout.
"Then came an event as unlooked for as it was terrible-the cricket plague! In May and June these destructive pests rolled in black legions down the mountain sides, and attacked the fields of growing grain. The tender crops fell an easy prey to their fierce voracity. The ground over which they had passed looked as if scorched by fire.
"Thoroughly alarmed, the community-men, women and children-marshalled themselves to fight the ravenous foe. Some went through the fields, killing the crickets-but crushing much of the tender grain. Some dug ditches around the farms, turned water into the trenches, and drove and drowned therein the black devourers. Others beat them back with clubs and brooms, or burned them in fires. Still the crickets prevailed. Despite all that could be done by the settlers, their hope of a harvest was fast vanishing-a harvest upon which life itself seemed to depend.
"They were rescued, as they believed, by a miracle-a greater miracle than is said to have saved Rome, when the cackling of geese roused the slumbering city in time to beat back the invading
THE GULL MONUMENT
This monument, commemorative of the episode of the Crickets and the Gulls, the destruction of the former by the latter, and the consequent rescue of the first harvest sown in Salt Lake Valley, stands upon the Tabernacle grounds, in the heart of the Utah Capital. It was unveiled September 29, 1913. The monument was designed and executed by M. M. Young, a grandson of Brigham Young.
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Gauls. In the midst of the work of ruin, when it seemed as if nothing could stay the destruction, great flocks of gulls appeared, filling the air with their white wings and plaintive cries. They settled down upon the half-ruined fields. At first it looked as if they came but to help the crickets destroy. But their real purpose was soon apparent. They came to prey upon the destroyers. All day long they gorged themselves, disgorged, and feasted again, the white gulls upon the black crickets, like hosts of heaven and hell contending, until the pests were vanquished and the people were saved. The birds then returned to the Lake islands, leaving the grateful settlers to shed tears of joy over their timely deliverance.
"A season of scarcity followed, but no fatal famine; and before the worst came, the glad people celebrated, with a public feast, their first harvest home.
"The gull is still to be seen in the vicinity of the Great Salt Lake. The wanton killing of these birds was made punishable by law. Rome had her sacred geese; Utah would have her sacred gulls, forever to be held in honor as the heaven-sent messengers that saved the Pioneers."
THE STATE OF DESERET
By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed February 2, 1848, the conquered Mexican provinces were ceded to the United States, and at the earliest practicable mo- ment the white inhabitants of the Basin took steps toward the founding of a civil government, agreeable to the constitution and laws of their country. In February, 1849, a call was issued to "all the citizens of that portion of Upper California lying east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains," inviting them to meet in a political convention at Salt Lake City. The conven- tion met on the fifth of March, and petitioned congress for the organization of a territory, to be known as Deseret-a word taken from the Book of Mormon,
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and signifying honey-bee. Pending action upon this petition, the convention organized the provisional government of the State of Deseret, the boundaries of which were the same as those of the proposed terri- tory, embracing present Utah and Nevada, parts of Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, and a strip of sea-coast in southern California, including the port of San Diego. Subsequently congress was asked to admit Deseret into the Union as a state.
The people west of the Sierra Nevada having also set up a provisional government, it was proposed to secure the admission of Deseret and California as one state, with the understanding that they would after- ward separate, and form two distinct commonwealths. President Zachary Taylor was said to favor this plan, which promised a solution of the slavery question in the newly acquired province, the inhabitants of which were to decide for themselves whether the state should be slave or free. Deseret consented to the proposed union, but with the understanding that the separation should take place at the beginning of the year 1851, when each state, with its own constitution, should become free, sovereign, and independent, without any further action by congress. Nothing came of the move- ment, however; California being unwilling to unite.
The building up of the State of Deseret went steadily on, though in the face of distressing conditions. Since the autumn of 1848 there had been almost a famine in the land. The scant harvest, resulting from the cricket plague and from drought and frost, had made the food question a serious one, and clothing and other neces- saries were almost as scarce as breadstuffs. Nearly
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every man in the colony dressed in buckskin, and wore Indian moccasins. Those who had provisions put their families upon rations, while those who were without, or had but little, dug and ate sego and thistle roots, or cooked the hides of animals, to eke out their scanty store.
Relief came in a manner most unexpected-and here my narrative again touches the history of California proper.
THE GOLD DISCOVERY
It has already been shown how the Mormon battalion received its discharge at Los Angeles in July, 1847, and how the main body of the volunteers set out to rejoin their families or friends, in the Great Basin or on the Missouri frontier. My story now has to do with these returning soldiers. Pursuing at first a northwesterly course, they came to Sutter's fort, near the present city of Sacramento, where some of them found temporary employment. The main body, reaching Lake Tahoe, met Samuel Brannan, returning from Salt Lake valley after his ineffectual attempt to persuade the pioneers to locate their new home on the Pacific. Brannan gave a doleful account of the place they had chosen for a settlement, and expressed the belief that they would yet follow his advice, and remove to California. Subsequently the returning volunteers met Captain James Brown, of the Pueblo detachment, on his way to San Francisco, with power of attorney, to draw the pay due to his men from the government. Captain Brown delivered to the battalion men an epistle from the presidency of the Church, advising such of them as
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had no families to remain on the coast, work through the winter, and come on to "The Valley" with their earnings the next season. About half of them turned back, and quite a number rejoined their comrades at Sutter's fort, where they also secured employment.
Among the mountains, in the little valley of Coloma, on the south fork of the American river, about forty- five miles east from the fort, a saw mill was erected for Captain Sutter, and after its completion the water was turned into the race, to clear away dirt and other debris, preliminary to a trial run. The stream having been shut off, Sutter's foreman, walking along the tail race, picked up from the bottom of the ditch a few yellow shining particles, about the size of wheat grains. These were assayed, and found to be gold. That foreman was James W. Marshall, famed as the discoverer of gold in California (January, 1848). But others, beside Marshall, were concerned in the event; "Mormon" picks and shovels had helped to bring the precious metal to the surface.
Henry W. Bigler, afterward of St. George, Utah, made what was probably the first record of the world- renowned discovery. The entry in his diary read as follows: "Monday, 24th. This day some kind of metal was found in the tail race that looks like gold." Six days later he wrote: "Our metal has been tried, and proves to be gold. It is thought to be rich. We have picked up more than one hundred dollars' worth last week." Associated with Bigler were Alexander Stephens, James S. Brown, James Berger, William J. Johnston, and Azariah Smith, all ex-members of the battalion. I give the names as they appear in James
HENRY W. BIGLER
Henry W. Bigler was born at Harrison, Virginia, August 28, 1815, and died at St. George, Utah, November 24, 1900. He was a member of the Mormon Battalion, and was with Marshall at Coloma, January 24, 1848, when the gold finder made his world famous discovery. Mr. Bigler was the first to record the fact that gold had been found in California. See narrative.
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S. Brown's "Life of a Pioneer." Some of the richest gold finds on the American river were by these men and their comrades who took part in extending the area of the original discovery. "Mormon Island," in that river, became noted for its "diggings." A number of the battalion men, while working on Sutter's land, shared the results of their labors with him and his partner, Marshall, who furnished provisions and tools for the prosecution of the enterprise. Afterward the em- ployes operated independently on claims of their own.
One of the most enthusiastic promoters of the gold excitement was our friend Brannan, who stirred San Francisco (at first indifferent) to a fever of agitation over the event. Coming down from Sutter's fort, where he had a store, he brought with him, as did others, gold dust and nuggets from the placers. "Gold! Gold!
Gold, from the American River!" shouted Brannan, as he strode down the street, swinging his hat in one hand, and holding in the other a bottle of the yellow dust, which he displayed to the gaping crowds that gathered round him. Sight, reinforcing rumor, kindled a fire that could not be quenched; Brannan's paper, "The California Star," added fuel to the flame; and from the wild rush to the gold fields that followed, San Francisco was in some danger of being depopulated.
The excitement was not confined to California. It extended over the civilized world, and by sea and land eager souls from many nations hurried to the new El Dorado. Much of this emigration passed through Salt Lake valley. Here the tired gold seekers halted for rest, or to obtain supplies to enable them to reach their journey's end. Some had loaded their wagons
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with merchandise and supplies for the mining camps. Impatient at their slow progress, and hearing that other merchants had arrived by sea before them, they all but threw away the valuable goods they had freighted over a thousand miles. Dry goods, groceries, provisions, clothing, implements-in short, all that was needed by the poorly fed, half-clad community in the moun- tains, was bartered off to them at almost any sacrifice, so anxious were the owners to lighten their loads and shorten the time of travel. In this manner "the gold emigration," as it was called, greatly benefited the settlers in the Basin.
The "gold fever" infected some of the citizens of Deseret, and an influence had to be exerted by leading men to prevent too large an emigration from these parts. "We cannot eat gold and silver," said Brigham Young, to the people who had elected him governor. "Devote yourselves to agriculture, manufacture, coal and iron mining; establish those industries that lie at the basis of every state's prosperity; and let the gold and silver stay where they are, until the proper time comes to bring them forth and utilize them." Such was the substance of his advice. Despite all persuasion however, some were hurried away, overcome by the prevailing thirst for sudden wealth.
On the other hand, it is a remarkable fact that the battalion men who had been advised from Salt Lake valley to rejoin the main body of their people here in 1848, did so, notwithstanding the prevalent and con- stantly growing excitement over the gold fields that was beginning to sweep the coast lands like a cyclone. Preparatory to their journey to Deseret, they rendez-
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voused at Dutch Flat, a few miles from Coloma, and crossed the Sierra Nevada at or near the head of the American river. Three of their number, David Browett, Daniel Allen, and Henderson Cox, moving out ahead, were waylaid and killed by Indians. The others reached their destination in safety. Many of the Brooklyn company-perhaps most of them-also came on to "The Valley"; but Brannan, their sometime leader, remained in California .*
While deprecating the extravagance of the gold excitement, and averse to the premature opening of precious mines nearer home, Governor Young had no prejudice against mining as a vocation. Party after party of "Mormon" missionaries, on their way to the Pacific islands and to other parts, were counseled by him, as president of the Church, to work in the Cali- fornia mines long enough to provide themselves with means of transportation to their various fields of labor; and they acted accordingly.
Much of the gold mined in California found its way to Deseret, and served a timely purpose. Money was exceedingly scarce, and great inconvenience had resulted. Exchange and barter was the rule, clothing and furniture being paid for with cattle, wheat, or potatoes. Frequently little bags of gold dust were handed around, in place of dollars and cents. Sub- sequently, however, the dust was coined, and gold pieces, ranging in value from two and a half dollars to twenty dollars, were issued under the authority of the State of Deseret. These coins, of unalloyed virgin gold, were designed purely for local use, and as
*He removed to Mexico in 1880 and died there in 1889 .- Ed.
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soon as government money became plentiful, they were called in and disposed of as bullion to the federal mints.
THE TERRITORY OF UTAH
Congress denied Deseret's prayer for statehood, and organized the territory of Utah, California at the same time being admitted into the Union. Utah was bounded on the west by the state of California, on the north by the territory of Oregon, on the east by the summit of the Rocky mountains, and on the south by the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude. This cut off the strip of sea-coast included in the proposed State of Deseret, but still left the territory an area of 225,000 square miles. The Organic Act, or act organ- izing the territory, was signed by President Fillmore on the ninth of September, 1850, but the news did not reach Salt Lake valley until late in January, 1851. Even then it did not come directly, or in an official way, but having been published in eastern papers, and carried across the isthmus and up to San Francisco, along with the tidings of California's admission, it was brought to Salt Lake City by Henry E. Gibson, a returning missionary.
While disappointed at the denial of their petition, and feeling that congress had been partial to the people of California, the citizens of Utah made the best of the affair, and were not without feelings of gratitude toward the administration, for its consideration in the matter of federal appointees. Brigham Young, who had been elected by the people governor of Deseret, became governor of Utah by presidential appointment, and three other prominent "Mormons," with about an
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equal number of non-"Mormons," were also commis- sioned to represent the general government in the territory. By this time western Utah had received its first settlers, and the beginnings of Carson county had been made. This part, about ten years later, was included in the territory of Nevada.
EVANGELICAL ACTIVITIES
The presence of many of their people, in a more or less scattered condition, on the Pacific slope, and a desire to extend their evangelical activities in that direction, determined the Church authorities at Salt Lake City upon the project of organizing a mission in "Western California," as the region beyond the Sierra Nevada was then called. For that purpose two of the "Mormon" leaders, Amasa M. Lyman and Charles C. Rich, were sent to San Francisco, the former in April, 1849, the latter in the ensuing October. Subsequently Parley P. Pratt, one of the original apostles of the Church, presided over the California and Oregon Mission, and was succeeded by George Q. Cannon, afterwards Utah's delegate in congress. In San Francisco, Mr. Cannon edited and published "The Western Standard," a paper founded by him in February, 1856.
THE SAN BERNARDINO COLONY
Just before the territorial government went into effect, the Church authorities decided to establish an outfitting post in southern California, with a view to facilitating their prospective emigration from the Pacific islands, and likewise from Europe, by way of Panama. The commission to secure a site for this
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purpose and plant a colony thereon, was entrusted to Messrs. Lyman and Rich. Concerning the project President Young says in his journal: "Elders Amasa M. Lyman and C. C. Rich, with some twenty others, having received my approbation in going to southern California, were instructed by letter to select a site for a city or station, as a nucleus for a settlement, near the Cajon pass, in the vicinity of the sea-coast, for a continuation of the route already commenced from this place to the Pacific; to gather around them the Saints in California; to search out on their route, and establish as far as possible, the best location for stations between Iron county and California, in view of a mail route to the Pacific; to cultivate grapes, sugar cane, cotton, and any other desirable fruits and prod- ucts; to obtain information concerning the Tehaun- tepec route, or any other across the isthmus, or the passage around Cape Horn, with a view to the gathering of the Saints from Europe; to plant the standard of salvation in every country and kingdom, city and village, on the Pacific and the world over, as fast as God should give the ability."
Early in 1851 a company of nearly five hundred men, women, and children, from Salt Lake valley, crossed the southern desert, threaded the Cajon pass, and encamped at Sycamore Grove, on the west side of San Bernardino valley. There they remained, pending further explorations, and the selection of a site for a permanent settlement. From Utah they had passed over much of the trail since covered by the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake railroad, popularly known as "The Salt Lake Route." While tarrying at the
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Grove, they established a school, taught by J. H. Rollins, afterwards assessor of San Bernardino county. The Los Angeles "Star" welcomed the colonists in these kindly words: "We learn that one hundred and fifty Mormon families are at Cajon pass, sixty miles north of this city, on their way here from Deseret. These families, it is said, intend to settle in this valley, and to make it their permanent home. We cannot yet give full credit to these statements, because they do not come to us fully authenticated. But if it be true that Mormons are coming in such numbers to settle among us, we shall extend to them, as good and industrious citizens, a friendly welcome."
The spot selected for a settlement was the site of the now flourishing city of San Bernardino. It was then a ranch, containing upwards of eighty thousand acres of land, for which the owners, the Lugo Brothers, who held it under a grant from the government of Mexico, were paid the sum of $77,500. The soil was rich, and water and timber were abundant. The ranch was described, for situation, as "about one hundred miles from San Diego, seventy miles from the sea-port of San Pedro, and fifty miles from Pueblo de los Angelos." The purchase was consummated on the twenty-second of September, some months after the arrival of the "Mormons" in the valley.
They at once went to work, making improvements, and by the tenth of December had built one hundred tenements, and projected a stockade fort, afterwards constructed, for protection against hostile Indians. They surveyed and fenced a field enclosing nearly two thousand acres of land, upon which plowing and
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