History of Salt Lake City, Part 125

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company
Number of Pages: 1194

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In the spring of 1850, Mr. Little with his wife left St. Louis for the Pacific slope, designing, however, to pass through Utah on to California there to make his home, after sojourning awhile with his family in the valley. Ile brought across the plains, for Livingston and Kinkade their sec- ond train of goods, which they opened in the Old Constitution building, which the Church had built to rent to that firmn. He was induced to remain in Utah but he did not join the Church until 1353. His mother died in Salt Lake City, May 5th, 1852.

His first business ventures in Utah, were in connection with the U. S. mail service across the plains, which he had more or less to do with for several years, to the period of the Buchanan expedition when the post office department set aside its contract with Mr. Kimball, upon which the Y. X. Company was projected.

FERAMORZ LITTLE.

Feramorz Little was engaged in carrying the mails across the plains nearly from the onset. In 1850, Samuel W. Woodson of Independence, Missouri, contracted with the U. S. Post Office Depart- ment, to carry a monthly mail between that place and Salt Lake City for four years, commencing the first of July of that year. This was the first mail service performed between Salt Lake City and any point east of the Rocky Mountains, under the auspices of the Government. Afterwards Mr. Feramorz Little contracted with Mr. Woodson to carry the mail between Salt Lake City and Fort Laramie on the Platte River, for two years and eleven months, the balance of the term of the four years for which Mr. Woodson had contracted Mr. Little was to put on service August Ist, 1851. In this business he associated with him Messrs. Ephraim K. Hanks and Charles F. Decker. The carriers from each end of the line were expected to meet at Laramie on the fifteenth of each month. There was at that time no settlement between Salt Lake City and Laramie, and the only trad- ing post was Fort Bridger, 110 miles east of Salt Lake City. The four hundred miles between Fort Bridger and Laramie was at first run without any station or change of animals, There was afterwards a trading post established at Devil's Gate which afforded the mail carriers further facilities, Messrs. Little and Hanks, as per contract, left Salt Lake City on the first of August with the eastern mail and extra animals with which to stock the road.

We cannot follow in detail Mr. Little's eventful and romantic experience as a contractor and carrier of the mails in those early days amid dangers among the Indians and the storms of winter ; suffice it to say that in the mail service he won a name for grit, energy and expedition second to that of none of the mail carriers of those days who ran between the Missouri River and the Pacific Coast. In December, 1856, when the mail contractor Magraw failed to bring in the mails, the post- master of Great Salt Lake City made a special contract with Mr. Little to take the mail east to the terminal point, Independence, Missouri ; and while on this service the Y. X. Company for carrying the mails having been started he was chosen by the company to take charge of their returning mails. It was while on his trip to Washington at this time, relative to the postal service, that the Drummond charges burst upon the country, resulting in the Buchanan expedition ; whereupon Mr. Little, hav- ing with Mr. Hanks carried the last mail from Salt Lake City to the States, made a statement to the publie, through the New York Herald, on Utah affairs. [See chapter XVI, on the mail service and the Utah war.]

In 1854-5, Mr. Little superintended the construction of the Big Cottonwood Canyon wagon road, and the erection of five saw mills on the canyon stream. The company that constructed that road were Brigham Young, D. H. Wells, A. O. Smoot, Frederick Kesler, Charles F. Decker and F. Little. The company afterwards divided up, and Little went into the lumber business on his own account, which he finally sold to Armstrong & Bagley. During the period of the building of this road he also built the Territorial penitentiary ; and in 1858, he superintended the building of the first passable wagon road in Provo Canyon.

In 1863, he went to Florence as emigration agent for the Church, where he spent the whole summer superintending the outfitting of 500 hundred wagons and 4,000 Latter-day Saint emigrants for Utah. In February, 1864, in connection with Brigham Young, he purchased the Salt Lake City House, himself becoming its proprietor for the suceeeding seven years.

In 1868-9, he was engaged in railroad work on the Union Pacific, and afterward became promi- nently identified with the Utah Central and Utah Southern, of which latter line for a number of years he was superintendent. His name repeatedly occurs in our local railroad history. He was one of the founders and directors of the Deseret National Bank. and is now its vice-president.

The most unique episode of Mr. Little's life was his visit to Jerusalem among the Jerusalem missionaries which started from Salt Lake City in October, 1872.

Of his connection with our municipal government it may be briefly summarized that in 1874 Feramorz Little was elected a councilor; in 1876 the mayor of Salt Lake City. He served the city as its mayor three terms, and, as observed in the body of this history, his administration of munic- ipal affairs was acceptable to all classes of the citizens. Many improvements were made in public works, and the financial business of the municipality was well conducted. He retired ftom office at the election of 1882.

HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

JAMES SHARP

Ex-mayor of Salt Lake City was born a: Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland. He is the son of Bishop John Sharp, the railroad king of Utah, whose assistant superintendent he is. The family left Scotland and came to America in 1848, stayed in St. Louis till the spring of 1850, when they took up their line of march for Salt Lake City, where they arrived in August of the same year. James Sharp is the second son ; his brother John is the elder. They have both been to England on missions. James went in 1867 and came home in the fall of 1869. He labored in Scotland and was president of the Edinburgh Conference. He went again in 1875, labored in the Liverpool office, and, during this mission he traveled over the Continent of Europe. 'To send a sound-headed young man like James Sharp (who came into these mountains at the age of seven), on a tour through Europe, was equivalent to giving him a revolution of ideas. He says that he discovered that there was something outside of Utah, and also something even outside of the United States ; and, as to himself he learned the very salutary lesson that he knew nothing in comparison to the knowledge of the great world. Some of our young elders, in whom the love of home is a pardon- able weakness, have gone abroad and have returned discovering nothing outside our mountain Zion ; but these practical men, who build railroads and travel over them, get their veneration and self- esteem sadly disciplined down to the common time and measure. But they are the better class of men to grapple with our issues of the future.

James Sharp was elected to the Legislature from Salt Lake County in 1878. He has served a number of terms as a member of the House, and in the session of 1884 was elected Speaker.

On his retiring from the office of Mayor of Salt Lake City, the Salt Lake Herald said :

" The people of Salt Lake part reluctantly with their late Mayor, Hon James Sharp, who re- tired from office last evening. When Mr. Sharp accepted the piace two years ago the Herald predicted a successful administration. We knew the man, and could safely put forth the prediction. The record of the city government for two years has more than verified our words, for Mr. Sharp has proven himself a most capable, energetic and progressive head of the municipality. Being familiar with the city, its needs and capabilities, he knew what could be done for its advancement and good, and was ever in the lead of movements having for their object the best interest of Salt Lake. His thorough business knowledge and training, and his excellent practical ideas of men, measures and things, have proven of incalculable value to the corporation. As illustrating this in one particular, it may be mentioned that notwithstanding the many and costly street improvements that have been made during the year, which include many miles of grading, and though there have been heavy public expenditures in other directions, as for City Creek Canyon, for the increase of the water supply, and so on, water bonds to the amount of $50,000 have been redeemed, and the floating debt of the corporation been reduced fully $50,000, Wise economy as distinguished from parsimony, has been a characteristic of Mayor Sharp's administration, and the result has been that while the city government has been carried on in a manner not at all suggestive ot stinginess, but rather of progressiveness, the corporation has saved money. The Mayor's idea has evidently been that it was better to expend less and get the full value of the money, than to indulge in extravagance and the people not obtain all they paid for. The Mayor's close attention to the details of the cor- poration's affairs involving the outlay of means, is what has told so well in Mr. Sharp's financial administration.

" It is not the Herald's purpose to enumerate the public improvements that have been made during Mayor Sharp's term, nor to tell of what has been accomplished under his successful administra- tion ; but there are two things which we think should be mentioned here. One of them is the bringing of water on to the north bench from Dry Canyon, and the consequent practical relief of the distressed people of that section. We have reason to know that a grateful feeling towards Mr. Sharp and the late council is entertained by many of the " Dry Benchers." If nothing more had been accomplished by the retiring city government than securing to the city of the ownership of City Creek Canyon, that alone would have placed the present and future generations under great obligations to Mayor Sharp and associates. The value of the purchase cannot be estimated in dol-

Francis. Amisting

FRANCIS ARMSTRONG.

lars, as it insures to the city for all time and with none to dispute, the absolute control of the cor- poration's only pure water supply.

" James Sharp was the Herald's candidate for Mayor two years ago, and his record has been such that this paper is proud that it advocated his election and stood by his administration. The gentleman may also retire with the perfect assurance that he enjoys the gratitude, the esteem and the confidence of the public he has served so faithfully, and with so much ability, intelligence and in- tegrity. It is ever a pleasant thing to be able to conscientiously approve the course of a public offi- cer when he retires, and in Mr. Sharp's case it is doubly enjoyable."

FRANCIS ARMSTRONG.

One of the most prominent of the business men of Salt Lake City is its present Mayor, Francis Armstrong. He is emphatically a self-made man, and his present position as the chief magistrate of our city is a substantial mark of the estimation of the general public of his probity and executive ability.

Francis Armstrong is by birth an Englishman. He was born at Plainmiller, county of North- umberland, England, October 3d, 1839, being the son of William Armstrong and Mary Kirk. For seven generations his family were natives of Northumberland. His father was a machinist, and he worked in the Stevenson & Harthorn machine shop in Newcastle-on-Tyne, building the first loco- motives made in England-namely, the Rabbit and Comet.

In the year 1851, the Armstrong family left England for Canada, and settled near Hamilton, Wentworth County, where his father and mother still live. Their family consisted of the parents and twelve children.

Our Mayor left his home in Canada and came to the United States in 1858, and made his way to Richmond, Missouri, where he engaged in a saw mill for a man by the name of Dr. Davis, and continued in the lumber business with him until the spring of 1861, when he started west for Utah. During his residence at Richmond he formed a familiar acquaintance with David Whitmer, one of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and from Whitmer and his family, he received their per- sonal testimony of the coming forth of that book and its divine origin.

Mr. Armstrong crossed the Plains in one of the independent companies, under the command of Captain Duncan. There were three teams which started from Richmond for Utah, two ox teams and a mule team. The company consisted of widow Russell from Canada, wife of Isaac Russell, one of the first missionaries to England, with her four daughters and a son, William Wanless and wife, now of Lehi, three young men, Andrew Grey, William Jemmerson, and Francis Armstrong. These journeyed together up to Florence and started from that place immediately after Captain Dun- can's train, with which they quickly united and traveled with him across the Plains, and arrived in Salt Lake City about the middle of September, 1861. Not long since the three families which started from Richmond, numbering eleven persons, had a reunion, and found that they number to- day seventy-eight souls living and ten dead. This example will illustrate what Mormon emigration does in peopling these valleys, and low impossible it would be to root up such a community.

On his arrival in Utah Mr. Armstrong commenced hauling wood from Mill Creek Canyon for a gentleman by the name of Mousley. He next engaged to work in President Young's flouring mill, at the mouth of Parley's Canyon. In the spring of 1862 he commenced in the lumber busi-

ness for Mr. Feramorz Little in his mill in Big Cottonwood Canyon. He worked for him seven years, at the expiration of which time Armstrong purchased Little's mill, paying him $21,000 for his claim, and started in business for himself in partnership with Mr. Bagley, under the firm name of Armstrong & Bagley. He also entered into partnership with Latimer, Taylor and Romney. This firm was originally started by Thomas Latimer, George H. Taylor, Charles F. Decker and Zenos Evans, in the lumber business and the manufacturing of doors and sash. In 1869, a new partnership was formed, consisting of Latimer, Taylor, Folsom and Romney. The two latter gentle-

HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

men. under the firm name of Folsem & Ronmey, had been the leading contractors and builders of the city. After a successful business of several years, during which this company built a number of our principal stores and dwellings, Mr. Folsom sold his interest to Mr. Francis Armstrong. The company then purchased the grounds where they now are, put up a large saw mill and continued to run under the name of Latimer, Taylor & Co., until the death of the senior partner, Mr. Latimer, in October, 1881, when the remaining partners purchased the interest of their former partner and changed the firm to Taylor, Romney & Armstrong.

Mr. Armstrong has engaged in numerous lines of trade and business and has become known as one of the most enterprising men of our Territory, as well as being one of the most substantial in' his financial rating. In 1872, he purchased the old Kimball flour mill, which he ran for a num- ber of years until the incorporation of the Pioneer Rolling Mill, when he became one of its incor- porators. He has taken pride in introducing thorough bred horses and cattle. Mountain Dell Farm is said to be the best stock farm in the country, and he has stocked it with thoroughbreds. Of horses and cattle of this grade he owns 80 head. Several of his race horses are quite famous.

The record of Mr. Armstrong in public affairs is recognized by our citizens with general ap- proval, both for its integrity and capacity. He has served both Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County. In 1878 he was elected a member of the city council, and he was again elected in 1880. In August, 1881 he was elected one of the selectmen of the county court and served a term of three years, and in 1885 he was again elected a selectman. Towards the close of the year 1885. when it became known that Mr. James Sharp was about to retire from office, the public eye looked around for a strong practical man suitable to take the helm of our city government in these trouble- some times, and very quickly it was decided that Francis Armstrong was the " coming man," and thus it proved to be at the election in February, 1886. Of the event, the Salt Lake Herald said :

" The election of Mr. Armstrong to the office of Mayor of Salt Lake City not only does that gentleman honor, but it is a tribute to that class of our community, of which the People's party is so largely composed, men of brawn and muscle, who have made their own fortunes by the persistent energy with which they have fought obstacles and beaten down barriers to their progress. Frank Armstrong was an obscure boy, raised in the family of Hon. Feramorz Little, and engaged in the mountains lumbering for that gentleman. A few years ago he was a driver of "bull " teams, but his never tiring industry has won for him substantial wealth in pretentious, real estate, flouring and lumbering mills, stock farms, railroad and other stocks and bonds, etc. In the accumulation of his property, he has acquired that practical experience which has qualified him to execute publie trusts imposed upon him in the most creditable manner. As a city councilor, and a county selectman his record is among the best ever made in this city and county. From his past record, we may, there- fore, confidently expect the future to add to his popularity, and that his administration as chief ex- ecutive of Salt Lake City will be crowned with that signal success which has thus far followed him through life."

ALEXANDER C. PYPER.

With the general approbation of all classes of citizens, in 1874, Alderman Alexander C. Pyper was appointed Judge of the Police Court of Salt Lake City. The appointment of Judge Pyper to this important position was very acceptable to the Gentiles and seceders, for he bore a character of unswerving impartiality. True, he was a Mormon, but, in his own words, the stamp of his admin- istration had been given. He said : "My education and religion have taught me to deal fairly and justly towards all men, under the law, irrespective of their conditions or opinions, and regardless of offenses."

It was also peculiarly satifactory to the " authorities " that Judge Pyper was so acceptable to the general public on the retirement of Judge Clinton, for there was at that moment a fast growing de- sire among all classes to see the city under a management suitable to the changed times, and espec-

ALEXANDER C. PYPER.

ially to have an unsectarian adminstration of the law. The Third United States Judicial Court had become quite an ecclesiastical inquisition, where the constant questions put by the United States Pros- ecuting Attorney, and allowed by the Chief Justice, and indeed often put by him, especially in "Mckean's reign," were: "Are you a Mormon ? Have you been through the Mormon Endow- ment House ? Do you believe that polygamy is a divine revelation ?" etc. This became so finely drawn between the Chief Justice and the Prosecuting Attorney that it had no practical limit to the person guilty of polygamy, but was extended to those merely guilty of the condition of faith in Mormonism. And these questions were also constantly put not only to jurors, but to applicants for United States citizenship. It was this condition of things that rendered Judge Typer's words just quoted so pertinent ; and in all his administration he made good those words.

Judge Pyper w.is a native of Ayreshire, Scotland. He emigrated' to the United States when a boy and subsequently graduated at Jones' Commercial College of St. Louis, Mo.

From 1853 to 1858 he conducted a very successful mercantile business at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and at Florence, Nebraska, being one of the principal founders of the last named place-and assisted in the Church emigration matters at that point, under the direction of H. S. Eldredge, for a period of four years. He moved to Utah in 1859, and in 1860 built a chemical manufacturing laboratory,. producing, in large quantities, a number of useful articles, used principally in licme manufactures. .

In August, 1874, he was elected police justice of the Fifth Precinct of this city, a position which he held to the time of his death. It is in this capacity, probably, that he is most widely known in this vicinity. As a rule the duties of this position are anything but satisfactory, and it is one which is open to much abuse, and one which can be greatly abused. But Judge Pyper combined those rare' characteristics which enabled him always to acquit himself with dignity and to maintain his self-re; spect. So fair and impartial had been been his course, so great a friend had he been to right, and so anxious to be just to all, that, despite the disagreeable character of the office he won for himself in its administration, the respect of every person, and was admired and feared alike by those of his own faith and those whose religious views were diametrically opposed to his own. While many may occupy the position he has left vacant, very, very few can fill it.

For sixteen years he had been a member of the city council of Salt Lake, and in this, as in all other spheres, distinguished himself for his good, sound judgment, his zeal in the public welfare, and his integrity to the trusts reposed in him.

In June, 1877, he was appointed bishop of the Twelfth Ward of this city, and won for himself the affection and love of those over whom he presided. Of late years he took a great deal of inter- est in the production of silk, and has probably contributed more towards the establishment of the silk industry than any other individual.

His life has been one of unceasing activity, not only in personal pursuits but in the interest of the public. In the latter he has displayed especial assiduity. Possessed of a clear and far-reaching mind, his judgment was necessarily sound, and was highly valued by all who knew him. He was free, fair and liberal, and his mind was so constituted that his perceptions of right and wrong were always clear. He had also a faculty of being on the right side, and of being a fearless and con- sistent defender of what he believed to be just: hence he made the office of police justice- usually degraded-an office clothed with dignity which commanded respect. He was homely in his manner, good-natured and generous; and in his death an unmistakable loss will be felt which can only be made up with great difficulty.

On the evening of his death the city council met to draft resolutions of respect to the memory of the deceased. Mayor Jennings and the members of the council generally spoke with great feeling. The mayor stated that the object of the meeting was to afford the council an opportunity to express their respect and esteem for their fellow-laborer.

Judge Pyper's position in our municipality is at present occupied by his son, George D. Pyper.

HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

HENRY W. LAWRENCE

Was born July 18th, 1835, near Toronto, Canada.

When Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, took his mission to Canada, he, with John Taylor, who had joined the Church in the British province, visited Toronto, and among their converts were Edward Lawrence und Margaret his wife, the parents of the subject of this sketch. In 1838 the Lawrences moved to Illinois to join the body of the Saints, but in 1840, the father died at Lima, from which place the family removed to Nauvoo. In 1850 the mother and children crossed the plains to Salt Lake City.

After having served as a clerk for several of the pioncer firms, Mr. Lawrence, in the spring of 1859, went into business with his brother-in-law, John B. Kimball, a Gentile, who was known as a prominent merchant of Salt Lake City before the period of the Utah war. Soon the firm of Kim- ball & Lawrence became famous both at " home and abroad," for its commercial integrity, solidity and prudence. John Kimball, though a gentile merchant, had always been on the most friendly terms with the Mormon people, to whom he was so nearly related, and was as faithful as any brother in paying his tithing to the Church, and as liberal as a prince in his donations to the poor. U'ndoubt- edly, however, it was Lawrence who gave to the firm its substantial influence with the community, for the strict moral life and uprightness of character of the young merchant, coupled with his excel- lent commercial ability, established him at once in the public regard and in the confidence of Presi- dent Young.

The record of Mr. Lawrence in connection with the Godbeite movement has been given in the general history, but this gentleman has since figured considerably in the political action of the Gen- tile " Liberal party," being in this particular the exception from his compeers. Nevertheless, Henry W. Lawrence stands high in the public mind for his integrity, and is still respected by the Mormon people, who, however, regret his subsequent anti-Mormon course, while they do not so much con- clemn his record as a Mormon reformer.

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History of Salt Lake City, Part 125

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company Number of Pages: 1194

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company
Number of Pages: 1194