History of Salt Lake City, Part 16

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

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The procession again formed, and proceeded to the northeast corner stone, which was laid by the Twelve Apostles, the First Presidency of the Seventies, and the Presidency of the Elders' Quorum. The Apostles then ascended the stone, and Elder P. P. Pratt delivered the oration, and Orson Hyde offered the consecration prayer.

On the 3Ist of October, 1853; Governor Young received an express giving an account of the massacre on the 16th of that month, by Indians, of Captain John W. Gunnison and seven of his party, near the swamps of the Sevier River. Captain Gunnison and twelve of his party had departed from the rest, and while at breakfast, a band of Indians, intending to destroy a Mormon village near at hand, came upon them and fired with rifles, and then used bows and arrows. Shots were returned by the Gunnison party, but they were overpowered, and only four escaped. Gunnison had twenty arrows shot into his body, and, when found, had one of his arms off. The notes of the survey, which had been nearly com- pleted, instruments, and the animals, were taken by the Indians. Governor Young immediately sent aid to Captain Morris, to release him from his critical position in the midst of the Indians, and endeavor to obtain the lost property.

In his message to the Legislature that year, the Governor said :

" In the military department of the Territory there is but little change from last year's report, except an increase of about seven hundred names to the mus- ter rolls. In the southern settlements a great portion of the troops have been kept in almost constant service in order to preserve the inhabitants and their property from Indian aggressions. * * *

" During the late troubles, twelve of our citizens have been killed at differ- ent times, and many wounded ; and seven of the exploring party, including the lamented Captain Gunnison, have been killed on the Sevier."

grulgrant

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CHAPTER XIV.

CARSON COLONY. THE GREAT FAMINE IN UTAH. THE HAND-CART COM- PANIES. CONSTITUTIONAL, CONVENTION. DEATH OF J. M. GRANT,

MAYOR OF GREAT SALT LAKE CITY. BIOGRAPHICAL, SKETCH.

In 1854-5, the Mormon colonists pushed forward to the western frontier of the Territory, and settled a large portion of the country now known as Nevada. This mission was given to about seventy families, who were directed to go to Carson Valley under the supervision of Orson Hyde, President of the Apostles. Soon afterwards the Legislature of Utah organized the whole of that district un- der the name of Carson County, appointing at the same time Orson Hyde as probate judge. Hon. Enoch Reese was its representative. Governor Young, in his message to the Legislature, in the winter of 1855-6, said : " In accordance with a law passed by the Assembly in 1854-5, the Hon. Orson Hyde repaired to Carson County, accompanied by the Hon. Judge Stiles and Marshal Heywood, and, in connection with authorized persons from California, approximately es- tablished the boundary line between this Territory and that State in the region of Carson Valley, and fullv organized the county."

The first house in Genoa was built by Col. John Reese, of Great Salt Lake City, in 1850. It was called Reese's Station. A few persons-namely, Orson Hyde, Chester Loveland, Christopher Merkley, Seth Dustin, George Hancock, Reuben Perkins, Jesse Perkins, and William Hutchings-colonized that country in 1855, but in the spring of 1856, an organized colony of about seventy families went, among were Christopher Layton, William Jennings, William Nixon, Joseph R. Walker (in the employ of Nixon), Peregrine Sessions (the founder of Sessions' settlement), Albert Dewey, farmer Cherry from Bountiful, William Kay (founder of Kaysward), George Nebeker, and a number of others who would rank as first class men in the formation of a new colony.

In the winter of 1855-6, the Legislature was removed from Great Salt Lake to Fillmore, which had been designated as the capital in former sessions.

There was a famine in Utah in 1856. The crops of the two previous years had failed, and in some of the settlements the winters had been very severe, and the cattle ranging in the valleys died in great numbers. The best provided families throughout the winter of 1855-6 had to ration themselves to the smallest amount of breadstuffs per day in order to subsist until the following harvest. The con - dition of the poor was appalling; and nothing but the semi-patriarchal character of the community preserved thousands from perishing.

The following letter from Heber C. Kimball to his son in England, gives a graphic picture of the famine of 1856:

"GREAT SALT LAKE CITY,

February 29, 1856.

To my dear son William, and to all whom it may concern .- My family, 1

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with yours, are all in good health and spirits. I have been under the necessity of rationing my family, and also yours, to two-thirds of a pound of bread stuff per day each ; as the last week is up to day, we shall commence on half-a-pound each. This I am under the necessity of doing. Brother Brigham told me to-day that he had put his family on half-a-pound each, for there is scarcely any grain in the country, and there are thousands that have none at all scarcely. We do this for the purpose of feeding hundreds that have none.

" My family, at this time, consists of about one hundred souls, and I sup- pose that I feed about as many as one hundred besides. My mill has not brought me i'n, for the last seven months, over one bushel of toll per day, in consequence of the dry weather, and the water being frozen up-which would not pay my miller. When this drouth came on, I had about seven hundred bushels of wheat, and it is now reduced to about one hundred and twenty-five bushels, and I have only about twenty-five bushels of corn, which will not provide for my own family until harvest. Heber has been to the mill to-day, and has brought down some unbolted flour, and we shall be under the necessity of eating the bran along with the flour, and shall think ourselves doing well with half-a-pound a day at that. Martin Wood stated to him that he had ground thirty bushels yesterday, but last night was a very cold night, which will check the water again, as the weather has not modified a great deal. Although the sun shines pleasantly through the day, the nights are still quite cold. You must remember that I did not raise one spoonful of wheat last year, and I have not received any from any other source than the mill. Brother James planted some late corn from which we obtained about forty bushels, and rather poor at that. We have some meat and, perhaps about seventy bushels of potatoes, also a very few beets and carrots ; so you can judge whether or not we can get through until harvest without digging roots ; still we are altogether better off than the most of the people in these valleys of the mountains. There are several wards in this city who have not over two weeks' provisions on hand.

"I went into the tithing office with Brother Hill, and examined it from top to bottom, and, taking all the wheat, corn, buckwheat and oats, there were not to exceed five hundred bushels, which is all the Public Works have or expect to have, and the works are pretty much abandoned, the men having been all turned off, except about fifteen who are at work on Brother Brigham's house, and mak- ing seed drills for grain, as we shall be obliged to put in our grain by drilling, on account of the scarcity, which probably will not take over one-third of the grain it would to sow broadcast.

"We shall not probably do anything on the Public Works until another har- vest. The mechanics of every class have all been counseled to abandon their pursuits and go to raising grain. This we are literally compelled to do, out of necessity. Moreover, there is not a settlement in the Territory, but is in the same fix that we are. Some settlements can go two months, some three, some can, probably, at the rate of half-a-pound per day, till harvest. Hon. A. W. Babbitt, even, went to Brother Hyde's provision store the other day, and begged to get twenty or twenty-five pounds of flour, but could not. This I was told by William Price, who is the salesman of the store. Money will not buy flour or

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meal, only at a few places, and but very little at that. I can assure you that I am harassed constantly ; I sell none for money, but let it go where people are truly destitute. Dollars and cents do not count now, in these times, for they are the tightest that I have ever seen in the Territory of Utah. You and your brethren can judge a little by this. As one of the old prophets said, anciently, ' As with the people, so with the priest,' we all ta ke it together."

This second famine was likened to the famine of Egypt. For months some families knew not the taste of bread. Settlements usually noted for good crops were so destitute that they sent teams several hundred miles to other settlements to get bran and shorts, and even that supply was considered a great luxury. The community had also to feed the thousands of emigrants who arrived that year in a starved condition in the handcart companies. The famine was the great sub- ject of the discourses of the Tabernacle; and, much to the credit of Governor Young and other leading men of substance, it is to be observed that they urged all the community to share with each other, and faithfully set the example them- selves. So much were the people appalled with the prospect of famine at some future period, by the experience of this year, that for nearly twenty years there- after they every season stored surplus wheat to be prepared when famine should come again. It took the railroad to dissipate this terror of famine from the peo- ple's mind.

It was also the year of the handcart emigration, in which several hundred perished in the snows and for lack of food. The story of the terrible sufferings of the poor emigrants and of the victims whose graves daily marked the journey can never be fully told, and it is too harrowing to the feelings of the people, even to-day, to render the effort desirable for the historian's pen. It is a page of history in the peopling of Utah which the people would fain have forgotten ; but it is due to Brigham Young and the noble conduct of the entire community to record something of the rescue of those companies. The following passages are culled from Mr. John Chislett's very graphic chapters on the handcart emi- gration :

" We traveled on in misery and sorrow day after day. Sometimes we made a pretty good distance, but at other times we were only able to make a few miles' progress. Finally we were overtaken by a snow-storm which the shrill wind blew furiously about us. The snow fell several inches deep as we traveled along, but we dared not stop, for we had a sixteen-mile journey to make, and short of it we could not get wood and water.

" As we were resting for a short time at noon a light wagon was driven into our camp from the west. Its occupants were Joseph A. Young and Stephen Taylor. They informed us that a train of supplies was on the way, and we might expect to meet it in a day or two. More welcome messengers never came from the courts of glory than these two young men were to us. They lost no time after encouraging us all they could to press forward, but sped on further east to convey their glad news to Edward Martin and the fifth hand-cart company who left Florence about two weeks after us, and who it was feared were even. worse off than we were. As they went from our view, many a hearty 'God bless you ' followed them."

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" Joseph A.," as the Prophet's eldest son is familiarly termed, was the last of the returning missionaries to leave the emigrant camp on the banks of the Platte River. Though ignorant of the apprehension that he felt for their welfare, and the presentiments he had of the inevitable suffering that awaited them, many of the emigrants clung to him with more than ordinary affection, and detained him till the warning of approaching night urged him to follow his companions. When he bade them good-by, he could scarcely say more than " You shall see me again soon." All speed was made by him and his companions, and imme- diately on arrival in Salt Lake City he reported to his father how far the emi- grants were yet behind.

Brigham comprehended their situation in a moment. Though his son had been absent two years from his home, he ordered him instantly to make ready to return to the assistance of the emigrants and gave him authority to take all the provisions, clothing, and vehicles that he could find on the way and press them forward to the rescue. Brigham Young on that occasion earned the good opinions of foes as well as friends. Mr. Chislett continues :

" The storm which we encountered, our brethren from the Valley also met, and, not knowing that we were so utterly destitute, they encamped to await fine weather. But when Captain Willie found them and explained our real con - dition, they at once hitched up their teams and made all speed to come to our rescue. On the evening of the third day after Captain Willie's departure, just as the sun was sinking beautifully behind the distant hills, on an eminence immediately west of our camp several covered wagons, each drawn by four horses, were seen coming towards us. The news ran through the camp like wild-fire, and all who were able to leave their beds turned out en masse to see them. A few minutes brought them sufficiently near to reveal our faithful captain slightly in advance of the train. Shouts of joy rent the air ; strong men wept till tears ran freely down their furrowed and sun-burnt cheeks, and little children partook of the joy which some of them hardly understood, and fairly danced around with gladness. Restraint was set aside in the general rejoicing, and as the brethren en- tered our camp the sisters fell upon them and deluged them with kisses. The brethren were so overcome that they could not for some time utter a word, but in choking silence repressed all demonstration of those emotions that evidently mas- tered them. Soon, however, feeling was somewhat abated, and such a shaking of hands, such words of welcome, and such invocation of God's blessing have seldom been witnessed.

" I was installed as regular commissary to the camp. The brethren turned over to me flour, potatoes, onions, and a limited supply of warm clothing for both sexes, besides quilts, blankets, buffalo robes, woollen socks, etc. I first dis- tributed the necessary provisions, and after supper divided the clothing, bedding, etc., where it was most needed. That evening, for the first time in quite a period, the songs of Zion were to be heard in the camp, and peals of laughter issued from the little knots of people as they chatted around the fires. The change seemed almost miraculous, so sudden was it from grave to gay, from sorrow to gladness, from mourning to rejoicing. With the cravings of hunger satisfied, and with

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hearts filled with gratitude to God and our good brethren, we all united in prayer, and then retired to rest.

" Among the brethren who came to our succor were Elders W. H. Kimball and G. D. Grant. They had remained but a few days in the Valley before start- ing back to meet us. May God ever bless them for their generous, unselfish kindness and their manly fortitude ! They felt that they had, in a great measure, contributed to our sad position ; but how nobly, how faithfully, how bravely they worked to bring us safely to the Valley-to the Zion of our hopes !

"After getting over the Pass we soon experienced the influence of a warmer climate, and for a few days we made good progress. We constantly met teams from the Valley, with all necessary provisions. Most of these went on to Martin's company, but enough remained with us for our actual wants. At Fort Bridger we found a great many teams that had come to our help. The noble fel- lows who came to our assistance invariably received us joyfully, and did all in their power to alleviate our sufferings. May they never need similar relief !

" After arriving in the Valley, I found that President Young, on learning from the brethren who passed us on the road of the lateness of our leaving the frontier, set to work at once to send us relief. It was the October Conference when they arrived with the news. Brigham at once suspended all conference business, and declared that nothing further should be done until every available team was started out to meet us. He set the example by sending several of his best mule teams, laden with provisions. Heber Kimball did the same, and hundreds of others followed their noble example. People who had come from distant parts of the Territory to attend conference, volunteered to go out to meet us, and went at once. The people who had no teams gave freely of provisions, bedding, etc .- all doing their best to help us.

" We arrived in Salt Lake City on the 9th of November, but Martin's com- pany did not arrive until about the Ist of December. They numbered near six hundred on starting, and lost over one-fourth of their number by death. The storm which overtook us while making the sixteen-mile drive on Sweetwater, reached them at North Platte. There they settled down to await help or die, being unable to go any farther. Their camp-ground became indeed a veritable grave-yard before they left it, and their dead lie even now scattered along from that point to Salt Lake. They were longer without food than we were, and being more exposed to the severe weather, their mortality was, of course, greater in proportion.

" Our tale is their tale partly told ; the same causes operated in both cases, and the same effects followed.

" Immediately that the condition of the suffering emigrants was known in Salt Lake City, the most fervent prayers for their deliverance were offered up. There, and throughout the Territory, the same was done as soon as the news reached the people. Prayers in the Tabernacle, in the school-house, in the family circle, and in the private prayer circles of the priesthood, were constantly offered up to the Almighty, begging Him to avert the storm from us. Such intercessions were invariably made on behalf of Martin's company, at all the meetings which I attended after my arrival. ·

" But it was the stout hearts and strong hands of the noble fellows who came

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to our relief, the good teams, the flour, beef, potatoes, the warm clothing and bedding, and not prayers nor prophecies, that saved us from death."

In March, 1856, a constitutional convention was held at Great Salt Lake City, and a constitution drafted, the preamble of which stated that the last cen- sus showed a sufficient population to justity the people to petition Congress for a State government. The State was named Deseret.

At the close of the year 1856, Great Salt Lake City met a sad bereavement in the death of its first mayor, to whose distinguished memory is dedicated the following brief biographical sketch :

Jedediah Morgan Grant , first mayor of Great Salt Lake City, was the son of Joshua and Thalia Grant, and was born in Windsor, Broome County, New York, February 21, 1816. We have been unable to procure definite intelligence of his childhood and education, but the foundation for mental pursuits and the love of books and study was evidently laid at that early period of life, before he appeared as a candidate for baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was baptized by Elder John F. Boynton, afterwards one of the Apostles, on the 21st of March, 1833. In the spring of the following year, when he was eighteen years of age, he accompanied "Zion's Camp" in the wonderful march to Missouri, " and in the fatigues, privations, trying scenes and arduous labors en- dured by that handful of valiant men, exhibited a goodly portion, for one so young, of that integrity, zeal, and unwavering effort and constancy in behalf of the cause of truth, that invariably characterized his life." The experience the young men of this expedition obtained, on this memorable journey, was such as few ever passed through in life.

He was among the first who left Nauvoo in the exodus of 1846, crossing the river in February, and with the body of the Saints turning his back upon the tyrannical oppression of mobs and treacherous friends to seek an asylum of peace in the fastnesses of the mountains of the great West.

He went east from Winter Quarters in the winter of 1846-7, on a short mis- sion, during which he purchased the materials for making a flag, which for several years floated over " the land of the free and the homes of the blest " in this city, and was familiarly known as "the mammoth flag." After transacting important business in the interests of the exodus, he returned in June, 1847, to the Missouri River, and was appointed Captain of the Third Hundred of the emigrating Saints, which he successfully led to the Salt Lake Valley, arriving in the follow- ing October. A year after, with characteristic energy and promptness, he went out beyond Fort Bridger with several men and teams to relieve President Willard Richards and accompany and assist them in.

May 26, 1849, he was elected Brigadier General of the first brigade of the Nauvoo Legion, and October 23d, 1852, was promoted to the Major Generalship of the First Division, which military office he held unto his death. He was an efficient officer, valiant, energetic and just. In the difficulties with the Indians he manifested considerable skill, and always was regarded as eminently jealous of the rights of the red men as well as of the safety of the whites.

In the fall of 1849, Elder Grant went to the States on business, together with about forty missionaries, who elected him captain of the company. Among the

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number were President John Taylor, Apostles Erastus Snow, Lorenzo Snow, F. D. Richards, Bishop Hunter, Colonel Reese, Curtis E. Bolton, and several other prominent elders.

Great Salt Lake City was incorporated on the 19th of January, 1851, and at the first election held under the charter, on the first Monday of the next April, Jedediah M. Grant was elected mayor, which office he magnified in an eminent degree and held uninterruptedly, by the unanimous vote of the people, until his death. During the period of his administration, the first ordinances for the government, safety and general welfare of the people were enacted, forming the basis of the municipal regulations under which the city has grown and pros- pered to the present time.

The following introduction to his famous series of letters, published in the New York Herald, upon the "runaway judges," will fitly represent Mayor Grant's bold, independent style, and thoroughly honest character :

" SIR : I will thank you to print, as soon as you can, the substance of this letter. Considered only as news, it ought to be worth your while. There is great curiosity everywhere to hear about the Mormons, and eagerness to know all the evil that can be spoken of them. Announce you that I am a Mormon Elder, just arrived from Utah -- mayor, in fact, of Salt Lake City, where my wife and family are still living-a preacher, brigadier of horse, and president of the quorumn of Seventies, and the like ; and not one subscriber that waded over shoe- tops through the slime of details you gave of the play-actor's divorce trial lately, will not be greedy to read all I have to say about the filthier accusations that have been brought against me and my friends and brethren. This is what I have to count upon, thank falsehood. And if you publish my letter entire, 1 will ask for no editorial help from you. I am no writer; but, with the help of the Power of Light, I am not afraid of what you can say against us. So long as I walk by the rule of my Master, you walk by the rude working of your fancies.

"I must say I have had my doubts about writing out upon these mat- ters ; my doing so not being approved by our Delegate in Congress, Dr. Bern- hisel. The Doctor is one of our gentlemen at home, a real gentleman, and would not say a rough word or do a rough thing to hurt the feelings or knock off the spectacles of any man for the world. But I am no gentleman, in his sense at least, and have had slights enough put upon me, personally, since I came east- ward, to entitle me to any amount of stand-up self-defence. Dr. Bernhisel's official course in this matter, I suppose I am bound to accept ; for I have under- stood that he had the advice of experienced men, who said to him : 'Take up the report of the three officers criminating your constituents, when it comes from the State Department into the House ; ask for a special committee with power to send for persons and papers, and put the false witnesses on oath ; but don't stoop to wrangle upon your religion, morals and political opinions with Mr. Webster or the Congressmen at large, whom the country considers to have enough to do to take care of their own.'

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History of Salt Lake City, Part 16

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