History of Utah, Part 40

Author: Whitney, Orson Ferguson
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Salt Lake City, Cannon
Number of Pages: 1026

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SEC. 11. And be it further enacted : That the governor, secretary, chief justice and associate justices, attorney, and marshal, shall be nominated, and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appointed by the President of the United States. The governor and secretary to be appointed as aforesaid shall, before they act as such, respectively take an oath or affirmation before the district judge, or some justice of the peace in the limits of said Territory, duly authorized to administer oaths and affirmations by the laws now in force therein, or before the Chief Justice or some Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to support the Constitution of the United States, and faithfully to discharge the duties of their respective offices ; which said oaths, when so taken, shall be certified by the person by whom the same shall have been taken, and such certificates shall be received and recorded by the said secretary among the executive proceedings ; and the chief justice and associate justices, and all other civil officers in said Territory, before they act as such, shall take a like oath or affirmation before the said governor or secretary, or some judge or justice of the peace of the Territory who may be duly commissioned or qualified, which said oath or affirmation shall be certified and transmitted by the person taking the same to the secretary, to be by him recorded as aforesaid ; and afterwards, the like oath or affirmation shall be taken, certified and recorded in such manner and form as may be prescribed by law. The governor shall receive an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars as governor, and one thousand dollars as superintendent of Indian affairs. The chief justice and associate justices shall each receive an annual salary of eighteen hundred dollars. The secretary shall receive an annual salary of eighteen hundred dollars. The

448

HISTORY OF UTAH.

said salaries shall be paid quarter-yearly, at the Treasury of the United States. The members of the Legislative Assembly shall be entitled to receive three dollars each per day during their attendance at the sessions thereof, and three dollars each for twenty miles' travel, in going to and returning from the said sessions, estimated according to the nearest usually traveled route. There shall be appropriated annually the sum of one thousand dollars, to be expended by the governor to defray the contingent expenses of the Territory. There shall also be appropriated annually a sufficient sum to be expended by the secretary of the Territory, and upon an estimate to be made by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, to defray the expenses of the Legislative Assembly, the printing of the laws, and other incidental expenses ; and the secretary of the Territory shall annually account to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States for the man- ner in which the aforesaid sum shall have been expended.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted : That the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah shall hold its first session at such time and place in said Territory as the governor thereof shall appoint and direct ; and at said first session, or as soon thereafter as they shall deem expedient, the governor and Legislative Assembly shall proceed to locate and establish the seat of government for said Territory, at such place as they may deem eligi- ble ; which place, however, shall thereafter be subject to be changed by the said governor and Legislative Assembly. And the sum of twenty thousand dollars, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, is hereby appropriated and granted to said Territory of Utah to be applied by the governor and Legislative Assembly to the erection of suitable public buildings at the seat of government.

SEC. 13. And be it further enacted : That a Delegate to the House of Representa- tives of the United States to serve during each Congress of the United States, may be elected by the voters qualified to elect members of the Legislative Assembly, who shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges as are exercised and enjoyed by the delegates from the several other Territories of the United States to the said House of Representa- tives. The first election shall be held at such time and place, and be conducted in such manner as the governor shall appoint and direct ; and at all subsequent elections, the times, places, and manner of holding the elections shall be prescribed by law. The person hav- ing the greatest number of votes shall be declared by the governor to be duly elected, and a certificate thereof shall be given accordingly : Provided, That said delegate shall receive no higher sum for mileage than is allowed by law to the delegate from Oregon.

SEC. 14. And be it further enacted : That the sum of five thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appro- priated, to be expended by and under the direction of the said governor of the Territory of Utah, in the purchase of a library, to be kept at the seat of government for the use of the governor, Legislative Assembly, judges of the supreme court, secretary, marshal and attorney of said Territory, and such other persons and under such regulations as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 15. And be it further enacted : That when the lands in said Territory shall be surveyed under the direction of the Government of the United States, preparatory to bringing the same into market, sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six in each township in said Territory shall be, and the same are hereby reserved for the purpose of being

449

HISTORY OF UTAH.

applied to schools in said Territory, and in the States and Territories hereafter to be erected out of the same.

SEC. 16. And be it further enacted : That temporarily, and until otherwise provided by law, the governor of said Territory may define the judicial districts of said Territory, and assign the judges who may be appointed for said Territory to the several districts, and also appoint the times and places for holding courts in the several counties or subdivisions in each of said judicial districts, by proclamation to be issued by him ; but the Legislative Assembly, at their first or any subsequent session, may organize, alter or modify such judicial districts, and assign the judges, and alter the times and places of holding the courts, as to them shall seem proper and convenient.

SEC. 17. And be it further enacted : That the Constitution and laws of the United States are hereby extended over and declared to be in force in said Territory of Utah, so far as the same, or any provision thereof, may be applicable.

Approved September 9, 1850.

In explanation of the reference to slavery in the opening section of the Organic Act, the reader is reminded that during the period which witnessed its passage the great question of slavery,-for which in part the war with Mexico had been undertaken and the provinces of California and New Mexico acquired,-was the reigning one in the halls of Congress. The people of California, in September, 1849, following the example of their trans-Sierran neighbors, had framed a state constitution and applied for admission into the Union. The constitution of California excluded slavery, but in that of Deseret the question was left open. During the debates in Congress over these applications for statehood, excitement ran high. The Union itself seemed imperilled; the pro-slavery party threatening that if California were admitted free, the south would secede. Just at this juncture Henry. Clay's celebrated "Omnibus Bill" was introduced as a measure of compromise. It proposed the admission of California as a free state, and the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. So much it gave the north. To the south it conceded the enactment of a stringent fugitive slave law, and the organization of Utah and New Mexico as territories, with the tacit understanding that they would eventually be admitted as slave states. The bill, becoming law, satisfied, or seemed to satisfy, for a time, both parties.

But only for a time. Ten years later the inevitable conflict

450

HISTORY OF UTAH.

came. It was written in the great book of destiny that slavery must perish ; that Utah, no less than California, should be free. Utah's freedom has long been deferred, but it is none the less inevitable; as inevitable as was the death of slavery, as is the abolition, in this free land, of Territorial serfdom, and the full triumph of the patriotic prediction : " All men are equal."

The Organic Act of Utah materially reduced the size of the Territory from the original scope of the State of Deseret. We were now bounded on the north,-as before,-by Oregon, which then included Idaho; on the east by the Rocky Mountains, and on the west by California. But on the south the thirty-seventh parallel shut us in, the portion of Deseret lying south of that line of latitude being given to California and New Mexico, the latter including Arizona.

The most serious loss sustained by the settlers of the Great Basin through this change in boundary lines, was that of the strip of sea-coast lying between Lower California and 118° 30' of west longitude. This took in the port of San Diego, and would have given the people of Utah open communication with the Pacific; thereby greatly facilitating their commerce and immigration. They were now hemmed in between two great mountainous walls-the Rockies and the Sierra Nevadas-in that portion of the desert basin which, as Senator Seddon of Virginia remarked, during the Congressional debates mentioned, "had been abandoned to the Mormons for its worthlessness."

Though somewhat chagrined at this event, and by what they deemed the partiality of Congress toward the people of California, the inhabitants of Deseret were still grateful for even a Territorial government, especially as President Fillmore, in appointing the Federal officers of the new dependency, did not forget the right to recognition of the founders of the commonwealth, but selected four of the seven officials from among the Mormon people. This act of courtesy, and it may be added of justice and wisdom, was very much appreciated, and won for the President the sincere and lasting gratitude of the citizens of Utah. It was for this that they

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HISTORY OF UTAH.

gave his name to Fillmore, the first capital of the Territory, and his surname, Millard, to the county in which that town is situated.

The President's appointments for Utah were made in September, the same month that witnessed the passage of the Organic Act. They were as follows: Brigham Young, Governor; B. D. Harris, Secretary; Joseph Buffington, Chief Justice; Perry C. Brocchus and Zerubbabel Snow, Associate Justices; Seth M. Blair, United States Attorney, and Joseph L. Heywood, United States Marshal.

Of these officials, Brigham Young, Seth M. Blair and Joseph L. Heywood-Mormons-were residents of Deseret. Judge Snow, also a Mormon, was a resident of Ohio, but was about to make Utah his permanent home. He was a brother to Erastus Snow, the Apostle. Secretary Harris was from Vermont, Judge Buffington of Pennsylvania, and Judge Brocchus of Alabama. Buffington declining his appointment, the President named in his stead Lemuel G. Brandebury, of Pennsylvania, as chief justice of Utah. These nominations were duly confirmed by the Senate of the United States.

Here is a copy of Governor Young's official appointment : .

Millard Fillmore, President of the United States of America, to all who shall see these Presents, Greeting :

KNOW YE, That reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity and ability of Brigham Young of Utah, I have nominated and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint him, to be Governor of the Territory of Utah, and do authorize and empower him to execute and fulfill the duties of that office according to law. And to have and to hold the said office with all the powers, privileges, and emoluments thereunto of right appertaining, unto him, the said Brigham Young, for the term of four years from the day of the date hereof, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States for the time being.

In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be made patent and the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed.

SEAL

Given under my hand, at the City of Washington, the twenty- eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the seventy-fifthi.

By the President, MILLARD FILLMORE.

DAN'L WEBSTER,

Secretary of State.

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HISTORY OF UTAH.

As stated, the news of the creation of Utah Territory did not reach Deseret until January, 1851. Even then it did not come directly, or officially, but having been published in eastern newspapers and carried in the mails to California, along with the announcement of the admission of that state into the Union, it came to the ears of certain Mormons who were then west of the Sierras, and they brought the glad tidings to the shores of the Great Salt Lake. The first to reach Salt Lake City with the news was Henry E. Gibson, one of the party of Elders who, under Apostle Charles C. Rich, went to California in the fall of 1849. Mr. Gibson, who is now a resident of Ogden, in a courteous reply to a letter of enquiry addressed to him by the author, says :

"In company with C. C. Rich, George Q. Cannon and others, in all twenty-five men, I left Salt Lake City October 12th, 1849, by way of a southern route-which had not yet been located-for Sacramento. On my return from California, in the fall of 1850, in company with Captain Jefferson Hunt, Marsh Hunt, Mr. Fifield and son, John Berry, James Brooks and John Mackey, we laid over for one month to recruit our animals in the vicinity of Los Angeles. While there I obtained New York papers-I think the Tribune- which came by the Panama route and contained the information that Utah Territory had been organized, and Brigham Young appointed Governor. We left Los Angeles about the 20th of December and I arrived in Salt Lake City on the 27th of January, 1851. My traveling companions had all stopped in the settlements south of Salt Lake, I think, all except John Mackey. The same day of my arrival Thomas Bullock, a clerk of Brigham Young's, called on me at Horace Gibbs' residence in the Seventeenth Ward, and I gave him the newspapers containing the account of the appointment of Governor Young and the organization of the Territory, with the understanding that it was to be published in the Deseret News."

President Young, at the time of Mr. Gibson's arrival, was absent from the city. In company with Heber C. Kimball, Jedediah M. Grant, Amasa M. Lyman and others he had started ten days before

Jeth M. J glass.

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HISTORY OF UTAH.

on a preaching tour through the northern settlements. They had organized several bishoprics in Davis County and the City of Ogden, had made Lorin Farr president of the Weber Stake of Zion, and were on their way home, when they were met at Judson Stoddard's, in Davis County, by General Wells, who informed the President of his appointment as Governor of Utah. This was on the 28th of January. General Wells had come at the head of a company of cavalry, with a brass band, to greet his chief, who was now escorted to the city "amid the firing of cannon and other demonstrations of rejoicing."

Deeming the news of his appointment reliable, though not yet officially notified of the fact, President Young at once took the oath of office and entered upon the discharge of his duties as Governor of Utah. The oath he subscribed was as follows:

UTAH TERRITORY, 1 SALT LAKE CITY, J

I, Brigham Young, Governor of said Territory, do solemnly swear, that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and perform the duties pertaining to the office of Governor of Utah Territory, according to the best of my skill and abilities.

So help me, God.

BRIGHAM YOUNG.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this third day of February, A. D. 1851. DANIEL H. WELLS, Chief Justice, Deseret.

On the 26th of March, Governor Young addressed a special message to the General Assembly of Deseret, suggesting the propriety of their making such arrangements as would facilitate and render most convenient the transition from the Provisional to the Territorial form of government. Acting upon this suggestion, the Assembly in joint session, two days later, unanimously passed the following preamble and resolutions :

PREAMBLE.

Whereas, In the winter and spring of the year of our Lord, 1849, the people of this Territory did form and establish a Provisional State Government, until the United States Congress should otherwise provide by law for the government of this Territory ; and

Whereas, It was under this authority and by virtue thereof, that this body have acted and legislated, for and in behalf of the people of said State, now Utah Territory ; and

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Whereas, The United States Congress has finally legislated in behalf of this Territory, by passing an act for the organization of the Territory of Utah; making appropriations for public buildings, and extending the Constitution of the United States over said Terri- tory ; and

Whereas, Previous to the first election under said law, the census has to be taken, and apportionments made, which will necessarily consume much time ; and

Whereas, The public buildings for said Territory are very much needed, and the United States Congress having made an appropriation of twenty thousand dollars towards defraying the expense thereof ;- and in order to facilitate the speedy erection of said public buildings for the use of the Territory, and further promote the mutual and easy organiza- tion of said Territorial government ;-

Therefore, Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret:

1. That we cheerfully and cordially accept the legislation of Congress in the Act to establish a Territorial Government for Utah.

2. That we welcome the Constitution of the United States-the legacy of our fathers-over this Territory.

3. That all officers under the Provisional State Government of Deseret, are hereby requested to furnish unto their successors in office every facility in their power, by returning and delivering unto them public documents, laws, ordinances, and dockets, that may or can be of any use or benefit to their said successors in office.

4. That Union Square, in Great Salt Lake City, be devoted for the use of public buildings of said Territory.

5. That Governor B. Young be our agent to make drafts upon the treasury of the United States for the amount appropriated for said buildings, and to take such other measures as he shall deem proper for their immediate erection.

6. That we appoint an architect to draft designs, and a committee of one, to superintend the erection of said buildings.

7. That Truman O. Angell, of said city, be said architect, and Daniel H. Wells, of said city, the committee; and that they proceed immediately to the designing and erection of said buildings.

8. That, whereas, the State House in Great Salt Lake City having been originally designed for a " Council House," and erected by and at the expense of the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," for the purpose, as well as to accommodate the Provisional Government; that we now do relinquish unto said Church the aforesaid building, tendering unto them our thanks for the free use thereof during the past session.

9. That we fix upon Saturday, the 5th day of April next, for the adjustment and final dissolving of the General Assembly of the State of Deseret.

H. C. KIMBALL, President of the Council.

J. M. GRANT, Speaker of the House. T. BULLOCK, Clerk.

Accordingly, on the 5th of April, 1851, the General Assembly was finally dissolved, and the provisional government of the State of Deseret merged into that of the Territory of Utah.

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HISTORY OF UTAH.

Among the more notable acts of the General Assembly under the old regime were the following:

An ordinance incorporating the University of the State of Deseret. Approved February 28th, 1850.

An ordinance prohibiting the sale of arms, ammunition, or spirituous liquors to the Indians. Approved March 28th, 1850.

An ordinance to control the waters of the Twin Springs and Rock Springs in Tooele Valley and County, for mills and irrigating purposes. Approved December 9th, 1850. This grant was to Ezra T. Benson, who, by his employes-herdsmen and mill-builders-had pioneered Tooele Valley the year before.

An ordinance concerning City Creek and Canyon. This ordinance was worded thus: "Be it ordained by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret: That Brigham Young have the sole control of City Creek and Kanyon; and that he pay into the public treasury the sum of five hundred dollars therefor." Approved December 9th, 1850.

An ordinance granting the waters of North Mill Creek Canyon and the water of the next canyon north, to Heber C. Kimball. Approved January 9th, 1851. This appropriation of waters was for running "a saw mill, grist mill and other machinery." It was provided that the grant should not interfere with the use of said water for irrigation whenever and wherever necessary.

An ordinance in relation to the timber in the mountains west of Jordan. Approved January 9th, 1851. The grantee in this case was George A. Smith.

An ordinance in relation to the timber in the canyons and mountains between Salt Lake Valley and Tooele. This grant, approved January 9th, 1851, was to Ezra T. Benson.

An ordinance pertaining to North Cottonwood Canyon. Approved January 18th, 1851. The control of said canyon was given to Willard Richards .*

* These grants, it should be understood, were not permanent, but temporary. Hon. George Q. Cannon, on retiring from Congress after the passage of the Edmunds Law in 1882, says upon this subject : " At no time and under no circumstances was any action of

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HISTORY OF UTAH.

An ordinance to incorporate Great Salt Lake City. Approved January 9th, 1851.

An ordinance to incorporate Ogden City. Approved February 6, 1851.

An ordinance to incorporate the City of Manti. Approved February 6, 1851.

An ordinance to incorporate Provo City. Approved February 6, 1851.

An ordinance to incorporate Parowan City. Approved February 6, 1851.

An ordinance to incorporate the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Approved February 8th, 1851.

An ordinance regulating the manufacturing and vending of ardent spirits. Approved February 12, 1851. By this act the establishment of distilleries and the vending of ardent spirits were prohibited, except at such time in the future as the Governor might deem it expedient to grant a license for such purposes under proper restrictions.

A resolution concerning the Washington Monument. Approved February 12, 1851. Therein the Governor was authorized and requested to procure a block of marble from the best specimens of stone to be found in the State, for a contribution to the Washington Monument, then in course of erection at the nation's capital. The stone was to be suitably sculptured at the State's expense and

this kind taken with a view to bestow the ownership or title upon any person who might occupy the land, or to whom any grant might be given. But our canyon roads had to be made, and it required some action on the part of the Legislature to induce men to build costly roads into our mountains, and to build bridges over our canyon streams. I have known canyon roads there costing over $12,000 to be swept away in a single storm. Grants of this kind were given in the early days of this Territory for such purposes, and also for herd grounds and other purposes that local rights might be preserved. * * We lived in Utah Territory twenty years before the land laws were extended over us ; we had to do the best we could. As soon as these laws were extended over our Territory we then obtained title to our lands."

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HISTORY OF UTAH.

forwarded to the Washington Monument Committee as soon as practicable .*

The Provisional Government being dissolved, Governor Young, on the 1st of July, 1851, issued a proclamation calling for the election of the Territorial Legislature. The choosing of a delegate to Congress was set to take place simultaneously. An enumera- tion of the inhabitants of the Territory had previously been made, at the Governor's order, by Thomas Bullock and his assistants. This enumeration, which excluded Indians, but included twelve colored free males and an equal number of colored free females, who were passing through the Territory at the time, was tabulated as follows :

RETURN OF THE NUMBER OF INHABITANTS IN UTAH TERRITORY ON 1st APRIL, 1851.

RECAPITULATION.

MALES.

FEMALES.

TOTAL.

1st. Great Salt Lake County

3119

3036

6155

2nd. Davis County

596

532

1128

3rd. Weber County

691

452

1143

4th. Utah County

1125

880

2005

5th. Sanpete County

197

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History of Utah, Part 40

Author: Whitney, Orson Ferguson Publication date: 1892 Publisher: Salt Lake City, Cannon Number of Pages: 1026

Author: Whitney, Orson Ferguson
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Salt Lake City, Cannon
Number of Pages: 1026