USA > Utah > History of Utah > Part 36
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Whereas, Strong fears have been, and still are entertained from the failure of Congress to provide legal civil authorities, that political aspirants may subject the government of the United States to the sacrifice of much blood and treasure in extending jurisdiction over that valuable country ; and
Whereas, The inhabitants of the State of Deseret, in view of their own security, and for the preservation of the constitutional right of the United States to hold jurisdiction there, have organized a provisional State government under which the civil policy of the nation is duly maintained ; and
Whereas, There are so many natural barriers to prevent communication with any other State or Territory belonging to the United States, during a great portion of the year, such as snow-capped mountains, sandy deserts, sedge plains, saleratus lakes and swamps, over which it is very difficult to effect a passage ; and
Whereas, It is important in meting out the boundaries of the States and Territories so to establish them that the heads of departments may be able to communicate with all branches of their goverement with the least possible delay ; and
Whereas, There are comparatively no navigable rivers, lakes, or other natural channels of commerce ; and
Whereas, No valuable mines of gold, silver, iron, copper or lead have as yet been discovered within the boundaries of this State, commerce must necessarily be limited to a few branches of trade and manufacture ; and
Whereas, The laws of all States and Territories should be adapted to their geographical location, protecting and regulating those branches of trade only which the country is capable of sustaining ; thereby relieving the government from the expense of those complicated and voluminous statutes which a more commercial State requires ; and
Whereas, There is now a sufficient number of individuals residing within the State of Deseret to support a State government, thereby relieving the general government from the expense of a Territorial government in that section ; and in evidence of which the inhabitants have already erected a legislative hall, equal to most and surpassed by few in the older States,-
Your memorialists, therefore, ask your honorable body io favorably consider their interests ; and, consistent with the institution and usages of the Federal government, that the constitution accompanying this memorial be ratified, and that the State of Deseret be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with other States, or such other form of civil government as your wisdom and magnanimity may award to the people of Deseret. And, upon the adoption of any form of government here, that their delegates be received and their interests properly and faithfully represented in the Congress of the United States. And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
A little later another plan was proposed, to secure the admission into the Union of Deseret and California as one State, with the understanding that they were subsequently to separate and form two distinct commonwealths. The following letter from Governor Young, Lieutenant-Governor Kimball and Secretary Richards, to Amasa
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M. Lyman, who was then in California, will fully explain this project : .
GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, September 6th, 1849.
Brother Amasa Lyman:
DEAR SIR-On the 20th of August, General Wilson arrived here, on his way to California, as general Indian agent, etc. We had an interview with him, and gathered from him the following particulars : that the President and council of the United States are friendly disposed towards us, and that he (General Wilson) is commissioned by . General Taylor to inform us that he fully appreciates our situation, that he considers we have been unjustly dealt with, and that so far as his power constitutionally extends, he will do us all the good he can.
The main point of the matter, however, is this : the President has his ends to sub- serve, and as he knows that we have been favorable to his election, he wishes further to appeal to our patriotism (so says General Wilson) to help him to carry out another measure, which will deliver him, the cabinet and the nation from a difficulty in which he thinks they are likely to be involved.
The subject of slavery has become more embarrassing than it ever has been before. The addition of the extensive territories of New Mexico and Upper California increases that difficulty. The gold emigration, etc., have tended to fan the flame. This subject will be the first, probably, broached in Congress, and if some active measures are not adopted, they fear it will be the last and only question. If it should be made 'into Territories, it will be under the direction of the United States, and the question of slavery will distract and annoy all parties, and General Wilson says they fear will have a tendency to break up the Union.
To prevent this, they have proposed a plan of making the whole territory into one State, leaving it to the power of the people to say whether it shall be a slave or a free State, and thus taking the bone from the Congress of the United States, and leaving them to pursue their course, 'peaceably, if they can,' undisturbed by this exciting ques- tion. They think it ought to be made into two States, but that the sparseness of the population at the present time would preclude the possibility of an act of that kind passing.
The cabinet think that all parties would agree to a measure of this kind if it should become a free State, and even General Wilson, the President, and other slaveholders are anxious that it should take this turn and are willing to make a sacrifice for the public good. He supposes that even the Southern members would go in for it, but without our help they think it could not be accomplished. They think that there would be a strong Southern influence used on the coast, calculated to place the matter in an embarrassing situation to them and the eastern population on the coast combined, but that by our influence we should be enabled to counterbalance that of the slaveholders, and thus settle the troublesome question. It is therefore their policy to seek our influence, and we need not add it is our policy to use theirs.
In our communications with General Wilson, we at first rejected altogether the idea of any amalgamation whatever with the government on the coast, but on the subject being presented in another form, we have agreed to the following :
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We are to have a general constitution for two States. The boundaries of the one mentioned by us, before referred to, is our State, the other boundaries to be defined by the people on the coast, to be agreed upon in a general convention ; the two States to be consolidated in one and named as the convention shall think proper, but to be dissolved at the commencement of the year 1851, eael one having its own constitution, and each becoming a free, sovereign, independent State, without any further action of Congress.
You will act as our delegate, in conjunction with General Wilson. Brother Piekett is also a delegate.
We need not say that it will be advisable for you to get Samuel Brannan, with the press, and all the influence you can collect around you to carry out your designs.
Should the convention objeet to sanction the few propositions that we have made, you can bring your influence to bear against them, and enter a protest against any amalgamation on any other terms. And it would be advisable for you to sign a remon- strance against their ineorporating any of this country, and send it to Washington, directed to John M. Bernhisel and Almon W. Babbitt, Esquires.
The present is a favorable moment for us to secure a State charter. Should the Wilmot proviso, or slave question, by any means, become settled before our admission into the Union, politicians might feel themselves more independent, and our interests might not lie so near their hearts.
Our minus population is the only serious objection to our admission into the Union, independent of western California, but notwithstanding this, we shall continue to press our suit at Washington for independenee, hoping to obtain the same before the joint petition from your western convention arrives there. Should such an event occur, it ean do neither party any harm, for the west will then come in alone.
Mueh has been, may be, and will be said concerning the comparative population of this valley and Western California, but what were they, previous to the opening of the gold mines ? and what are they now, independent of gold diggers ?
According to the best information we have been able to obtain, we outnumber them two to one, or five to three, and yet politicians will pretend that we are not more in num- ber than one to five, or six, or ten of those on the coast.
Fabulous as this pretension is you will have to meet it, and must stave off foreigners and transient miners as best you can, in making up the computation of joint ballot for a convention. Probably nine-tenths of the squatters of Western California have no legal or just claim to vote with the actual settlers of this valley.
There has been a great influx here this season, and a multitude of the brethren are still on the way, probably about the Pass, where our teams have gone to meet them ; and you may safely compute our strength in numbers at 15,000, and if there is not more than 75,000 here before the 1st of January, 1851, it will be because they cannot get here.
* **
Don't get too much in a constitution, lest it tie your own hands. This has been the grand difficulty with almost all constitution makers. The grand desideratum of a constitution is to be unalterable by the power that granted it, i. e., perpetual, and that the people under that constitution ean alter or amend the same at their election. But in case
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of a consolidated State, the constitution must bona fide remain unalterable during the consolidation. These are the great essentials and will do well, if there is not too much of other things. But even the Wilmot proviso, and many other things may be admitted, if necessity require, for they will find their remedy in future amendments.
BRIGHAM YOUNG,
HEBER C. KIMBALL, WILLARD RICHARDS.
Nothing resulted from this movement; for though the citizens of Deseret were willing to amalgamate according to the suggestion of President Taylor, the people of California were not willing, and so the matter ended.
July 24th, 1849, the Mormon people celebrated in grand style and for the first time Pioneer Day; it being the second anniversary of their advent into the Great Basin. Martial music and the firing of cannon awoke the inhabitants of "the Valley " at an early hour. A large, new national flag, sixty-five feet long, the materials for which had been procured from the east and put together by Mormon women, was unfurled to the breeze from the truck of a lofty liberty pole, and saluted with six guns and spirited patriotic airs. At 8 a. m. the multitude assembled at the Bowery,-a building of brush and timber one hundred feet long by sixty feet wide, enlarged for the occasion by a vast awning,-and awaited the arrival of Governor Young and the grand procession .. It started at nine o'clock from his residence under the direction of Lorenzo Snow, Jedediah M. Grant and Franklin D. Richards. The pageant was as follows:
" (1) Horace S. Eldredge, marshal, on horseback, in military uniform; (2) brass band; (3) twelve bishops bearing the banners of their wards; (4) seventy-four young men dressed in white, with white scarfs on their right shoulders, and coronets on their heads, each carrying in his right hand a copy of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, and each carrying a sheathed sword in his left hand; one of them carrying a beautiful banner, inscribed on it, 'The Zion of the Lord;' (5) twenty-four young ladies, dressed in white, with white scarfs on their right shoulders, and wreathes of white roses on their heads,
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each carrying a copy of the Bible and Book of Mormon, and one carrying a very neat banner, inscribed with 'Hail to our Captain;' (6) Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, Parley P. Pratt, Charles C. Rich, John Taylor, Daniel Spencer, D. Fullmer, Willard Snow, Erastus Snow; (7) twelve Bishops, carrying flags of their wards; (8) twenty-four Silver Greys, led by Isaac Morley, Patriarch, each having a staff, painted red at the upper part, and a bunch of white ribbon fastened at the top, one of them carrying the Stars and Stripes, bearing the inscription, 'Liberty and Truth.'
At the Bowery and along the way the Governor and his escort were greeted with shouts, songs, martial music and the roar of musketry and artillery. Jedediah M. Grant was master of cere- monies. He called the assembly to order and Erastus Snow offered prayer. The report of the ensuing exercises says:
"Richard Ballantyne, one of the twenty-four young men, came to the stand, and, in a neat speech, presented the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States to President Young, which was received with three shouts, 'May it live forever,' led by the President.
"The Declaration of Independence was then read by Mr Erastus Snow, the band following in a lively air.
"The clerk then read 'The Mountain Standard,' composed by Parley P. Pratt :
" 'Lo, the Gentile chain is broken, Freedom's banner waves on high.'
" After the above had been sung by the twenty-four young men and young ladies, Mr. Phineas Richards came forward in behalf of the twenty-four aged sires in Israel, and read their congratulatory address on the anniversary of the day. At the conclusion of the reading, the assembly rose and shouted three times, 'Hosanna! hosanna! hosanna! to God and the Lamb, forever and ever, Amen,' while the banners were waved by the Bishops. The band next played a lively air, and the clerk then rose and read an 'Ode on Liberty.'
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"The ode was then sung by the twenty-four Silver Greys, to the tune of 'Bruce's Address to his army.'"
A feast had been prepared, and several thousand people now sat down to it. Among the guests were hundreds of emigrants who were passing through to California, and three-score Indians.
The Mormons have been criticized-hypercritically they think- for celebrating thus grandly their glorious 24th, and letting July 4th, of that year, pass by without public commemoration. The truth is their intent was to blend the two days in one, a fact virtually proven by the patriotic character of the proceedings. Orson Hyde, in the Frontier Guardian, gave another reason for the amalgamation. Said he: "They had little or no bread, or flour to make cakes, etc., and not wishing to celebrate on empty stomachs, they postponed it until their harvest came in." A moment's reflection will show that this reason is a cogent one. Since the spring of 1848 the community had been living on rations, in a half-starved condition. But the harvest of 1849 was abundant, and for several years thereafter the cry of famine was unheard in the land.
The Bowery in which the celebration took place stood near the south-east corner of Temple Block. It was used for religious worship, and public gatherings in general, until other buildings more suitable supplied its place. It was then converted into a theatre, the original temple of the drama in Utah, where performances were given by the Musical and Dramatic Company and its successor the Deseret Dramatic Association, both of which sprang into existence about the year 1851. This building was the celebrated "Old Bowery,“ referred to in a former chapter.
It was on the 28th of August, 1849, a little over a month after the pioneer celebration, that Captain Howard Stansbury arrived at Salt Lake City at the head of an expedition having as its object an exploration and survey of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Captain Stansbury, as stated, was accompanied by Lieutenant J. W. Gunnison, like himself a member of the topographical corps of the U. S. Army; also by Lieutenant G. W. Howland, of the mounted rifles. These,
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with fifteen others, comprised the surveying party. A few emi- grants for California had traveled with them from the frontier. Rumors of the coming of the expedition, but not of its real purpose, had previously reached the. Valley, and considerable anxiety was felt and much speculation indulged in by the Mormon people as to the design of the Government in sending it. The impression prevailed that the object was to survey and take possession of the lands upon which the Saints had settled, with a view to breaking up and destroy- ing their colony. This fear had been enhanced by the arrival in the Valley a few days before, of General Wilson, the newly-appointed Indian Agent for California, previously named in the political letter of the Mormon leaders to their confrere Amasa M. Lyman. One of Wilson's men had boasted that the General held authority from the President of the United States-Zachary Taylor-to drive the Mormons from their lands, and that he would do so if he thought proper. Evidently General Wilson did not think it proper, or his boastful attache spoke, as officious underlings often will, without authority ; for nothing came of it. It was supposed, however, until Stansbury explained, that his coming was in some way connected with the malicious boast of General Wilson's subordinate.
This fact, which was known to the Captain, should have made clear to him, though it does not seem to have done so, why he met at Captain Brown's settlement on the Weber, by which he passed on his way to Salt Lake City, what he complains of as an ungracious and inhospitable reception, "strongly contrasted," says he, "with the frank and generous hospitality we ever received at the hands of the whole Mormon community." Captain Brown's record for generosity, save perhaps where he dealt with those whom he deemed his people's enemies, pursuing them into the wilderness to again deprive them of their possessions, was second to none in the community. His liberality to the poor around him during the famine-a proverb to this day in Weber County-sufficiently attests this fact.
Stansbury states that before reaching Salt Lake City he liad heard of the uneasiness felt by the Mormon community over his
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coming, and had been told that they would not permit a survey of the lake to be made, and that his life would scarcely be safe if he attempted it. "Giving not the least credence to these insinuations," says he, "I at once called upon Brigham Young, the president of the Mormon church and the governor of the commonwealth, stated to him what I had heard, explained to him the views of the Government in directing an exploration and survey of the lake, assuring him that these were the sole objects of the expedition. He replied that he did not hesitate to say that both he and the people over whom he presided had been very much disturbed and surprised that the Government should send out a party into their country, so soon after they had made their settlement. The impression was that a survey was to be made of their country in the same manner that other public lands are surveyed, for the purpose of dividing it into townships and sections, and of thus establishing and recording the claims of the Government to it, and thereby anticipating any claim the Mormons might set up from their previous occupation .;- So soon, however, as the true object of the expedition was fully understood, the president laid the
+ Regarding the land titles of the Mormons, Lieutenant Gunnison says : "They issue a right of occupancy from the State Registrar's Office. This is contingent on the grant of the general government, of course, and forms one of the subjects upon which they may come into collision with the supreme authority. They will not, without protest, buy the land, and hope that grants will be made to actual settlers or the State, sufficient to cover their improvements. If not, the State will be obliged to buy and then confer the titles already given."
The noted traveler and writer, Richard F. Burton, ten years later wrote upon the same subject as follows : "The Mormons have another complaint touching the tenure of their land. The United States have determined that the Indian title has not been extinguished. The Saints declare that no tribe of aborigines could prove a claim to the country, otherwise they were ready to purchase it in perpetuity by pay, presents and pro- visions, besides establishing the usual reservations. Moreover the Federal Government has departed from the usual course. The law directs that the land, when set off into townships, six miles square with subdivisions, must be sold at auction to the highest bidder. The Mormons represent that although a survey of considerable tracts has been completed by a Federal official, they are left to be mere squatters that can be ejected like an Irish tenantry."
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subject matter before the council called for the purpose, and I was informed, as the result of their deliberations, that the authorities were much pleased that the exploration was to be made; that they had themselves contemplated something of the kind, but did not yet feel able to incur the expense; but that any assistance they could render to facilitate our operations, would be most cheerfully furnished to the extent of their ability. This pledge, thus heartily given, was as faithfully redeemed."
Captain Stansbury was assisted, in his survey of Great Salt Lake, by Albert Carrington, a prominent Mormon, afterwards an Apostle of the Church. Mr. Carrington was a college graduate, well qualified to assist in this scientific labor. Stansbury's party also surveyed Utah Lake and its vicinity, and explored a new route from Salt Lake Valley to Fort Hall. As stated, they remained a whole year in this region, spending the winter of 1849-50 in Salt Lake City.
Still poured in from the frontier the Mormon emigration from the States and from Europe. The first company to arrive in the fall of 1849 was Captain Orson Spencer's. It had sailed from Liverpool in January, and reached Kanesville in May. This company had suffered severely from cholera while ascending the Missouri River. It arrived in Salt Lake Valley in the latter part of September. Orson Spencer had not before been to the mountains, having had charge of the British Mission since January, 1847. That mission, at this period, contained nearly thirty thousand Mormon converts, about ten thousand having joined the Church during the past fifteen months. Three companies following Captain Spencer's, not only suffered much from cholera on the Missouri,* but nearly perished in a fearful snow-storm at South Pass early in October. Seventy of their cattle were frozen, but no human lives were lost. These companies were
* Captain Dan Jones' company lost sixty lives from cholera that season, between St. Louis and Kanesville. It was such fatalities as this that caused the Mormon leaders to contemplate about this time a change in the route of their European emigration. Instead of ascending the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, it was proposed that the companies cross the Isthmus of Panama and land at San Diego, California, thence going overland to Utah.
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commanded by George A. Smith, in general charge of the Church emigration that season. Some weeks later a small party of travelers left their wagons in the snow forty miles east of Salt Lake City; and pushed on to the valley, arriving there in a destitute condition.
A movement was now set afoot by the Mormon leaders for the benefit of the poor among their proselytes in the Eastern States and in foreign lands. Hitherto the Church emigration had consisted almost entirely of persons able to pay their own way over sea and land to their new gathering place. There were many, however, too poor to pay, and who had no friends to pay for them. Some of these were scattered through Iowa, Missouri, and up and down the frontier, while othere were to be found among the thirty thousand Saints in the British Isles.
Thus far those who had emigrated from Great Britain, as well as many yet to come from that land, were mostly of the class of whom Charles Dickens, some years later, on visiting a Mormon emigrant ship in the Thames, wrote: "I should have said they were in their degree the pick and flower of England." Dickens meant by this, not only that they were handsome and healthy, but measurably thrifty and prosperous. They were made up of the material generally composing the Mormon emigrant companies, namely: farmers, laborers, mechanics and tradespeople, with a liberal sprinkling of artists, musicians, writers and other professionals, representing the lower and middle classes. But there were many British proselytes who, having little or nothing of this world's wealth, were utterly unable to pay their passage across the Atlantic. It was for the benefit of such that the Mormon leaders, in the fall of 1849, established the since famous Perpetual Emigrating Fund, to which so many in this land owe their deliverance from a state bordering upon pauperism, and their subsequent rise in the financial and social scale.
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