History of Utah, Part 45

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

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Thus will a people be redeemed from servile bondage, both mental and physical, and placed upon a platform upon which they can build, and extend forth as far as their capa- bility and natural rights will permit ; their thralldom will no longer exist, although the seed of Canaan will inevitably carry the curse which was placed upon them until the same authority which placed it there shall see proper to have it removed. Service is necessary; it is honorable ; it exists in all countries, and has existed in all ages ; it probably will exist in some form in all time to come.

It has long since ceased to become a query with me who were the most amenable to the laws of righteousness, those who through the instrumentality of human power brought into servitude human beings, who naturally were their own equals, or those acting upon the principle of nature's law, brought into this position or situation those who were natur- ally designed for that purpose, and whose capacities are more befitting that than any other station in society. Thus, while servitude may and should exist, and that, too, upon those who are naturally designed to occupy the position of "servants of servants," yet we should not fall into the other extreme and make them as beasts of the field, regarding not the humanity which attaches to the colored race ; nor elevate them, as some seem disposed, to an equality with those whom Nature and Nature's God has indicated to be their masters, their superiors, nor yet again drag into servitude through the circumstance of penury or misfortune those who are our equals, peradventure of a common parentage with our- selves ; but rather let us build upon a foundation which the God of Nature has furnished, observing the law of natural affection for our kind, and subserve the interests of our fel- lows by extending the principles of true liberty to all the children of men, in accordance with the designs of their Creator.

Most of the settlements of the Territory were now supplied with post offices. Hon. Willard Richards was post-master of Salt Lake City. Between that point and Independence, Missouri, a monthly mail service-or the contract for one-had been established in July, 1850. Colonel Samuel H. Woodson, of Independence, was the con- tractor with the United States Post Office Department for this service, probably the first one between the Missouri River and Salt Lake Valley performed under contract with the general government. It was to run for four years. That it was poorly conducted is evident from the fact, previously mentioned, that the news of the creation of Utah Territory, in September, 1850, did not reach Salt Lake City

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until January, 1851, and then came via California by private messenger.

Since the summer of 1851, however, a sub-contract had been in operation between Colonel Woodson and Feramorz Little, the latter a Mormon and a citizen of Utah. By the terms of this contract, Mr. Little-who associated with him his two brothers-in-law, Charles F. Decker and Ephraim K. Hanks-was to carry the mail between Salt Lake City and Fort Laramie for two years and eleven months, the balance of the term for which Colonel Woodson had contracted. The carriers from east and west, between the Missouri and the Rocky Mountains, were to meet at Laramie on the 15th of each month. From this on, though the enterprise was both difficult and dangerous, the arrival and departure of the mails from Salt Lake City were more regular. At first the entire distance between Forts Laramie and Bridger-four hundred miles-was run without a change of animals, but a trading post having been established at Devil's Gate, on the Sweetwater, Mr. Little kept relays of animals at that point. On their initial eastern trip, early in August, 1851, Messrs. Little and Hanks had encountered Judge Brocchus and his party on their way to Salt Lake City.

Other improvements at the Mormon metropolis in 1852 were the erection of several merchants' stores on East Temple or Main Street, which was already becoming the business centre of the city. The first 'store of any consequence had been opened by Messrs. Liv- ingston and Kinkead in 1849. They were non-Mormons. Their stock of goods was valued at $20,000. The most convenient building to be obtained for their purpose was a long, low adobe house, belonging to the pioneer John Pack, which stood until several years ago on the north-east corner of the block where the Seventeenth Ward meeting-house now stands. That old adobe house was then one of the largest buildings in the city. Following this pioneer firm, Holliday and Warner, in 1850, opened a store in a small adobe school-house, east of the Eagle Gate, and subsequently in a building that for many years stood opposite the south gate of Temple

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Block, and which was used successively as a store, as soldiers' barracks, a department of the University, and finally as the Deseret Museum. William H. Hooper, who married a Mormon girl and joined the Church, had charge of Holliday and Warner's mercantile business in Salt Lake City. Then came John and Enoch Reese, who had a store near the Council House, which has also since disappeared. J. M. Horner and Company opened for a short time in the Deseret News building, where Hooper and Williams soon succeeded them. Livingston and Bell, successors to Livingston and Kinkead, Gilbert and Gerrish, and others were later firms. William Nixon, called "the father of Utah merchants," from the fact that so many of the future commercial men of the Territory were in his employ, also conducted a flourishing business in Salt Lake City in 1852. Nixon was a Mormon and a native of England. The Walker Brothers and Henry W. Lawrence, then Mormons, George E. Bourne, John and James Needham, John Chislett, David Candland and other well known mercantile men were also in the field, either as employers or employed. William Jennings, the future merchant prince, was also in Utah at this time, beginning at the very bottom round of the ladder, up which he rapidly climbed to commercial eminence.

Among the advertisements of those days preserved in the early files of the Deseret News or some old way-bill to the mines, are many that now read very quaintly. For instance, John and Enoch Reese in 1851 announce that "We have constantly on hand all necessary articles of comfort for the wayfarer; such as flour, hard bread, butter, eggs and vinegar. Clothing-buckskin pants, whip lashes, as well as a good assortment of store goods, at our store near the Council House."

Marsena Cannon, the pioneer photographer, father to Deputy- Marshal Bowman Cannon, expresses the "opinion that he can satisfy any taste as to the matter of a likeness." The price of photographs was then from four to five dollars apiece, but a year later fell to two-and-a-half dollars each, or "two persons taken on the same plate four dollars."

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Alexander Neibaur, surgeon-dentist from Berlin and Liverpool, informs the public that he examines and extracts teeth, besides keeping constantly on hand a supply of the best matches, manufactured by himself.

William Hennefer caps the climax by announcing that in connection with his barber shop he has just opened an eating house, where his patrons will be accommodated with every edible luxury that the Valley affords.

William Nixon is particular to point out the exact locality of his "shop;" it being "at Jacob Houtz' house, on the south-east corner of Council House Street and Emigration Street, opposite to Mr. Orson Spencer's." He states that the goods he carries will be sold cheap for cash, wheat or flour. This indicates in part the mixed character of the currency of that period. Those humorists who assert that theatre and ball tickets were paid for in those days with pumpkins and potatoes, were not far wide of the truth.

What was then called "cheap" may be gathered from the following partial list of prices :

An inferior cooking stove cost from $75 to $150.

Glass sold for $15 to $18 per half box.

Foolscap and letter paper, $10 to $12 per ream.

Brown shirting and sheeting, 20 to 30 cts. per yard.

Hickory shirting, 25 to 30 cts.

Kentucky jeans, 75 cts. to $1.25.

Cotton flannel, 30 to 40 cts.

Prints, 25 to 50 cts.

All kinds of manufactured steel and iron goods commanded high prices.

Wheat brought from 75 cts. to $1.00 per bushel.

On New Year's day, 1853, the Social Hall, recently erected, was dedicated and formally opened; not with a dramatic performance, but with a sociable and a ball; speeches, picnic and vocal and instrumental music being interspersed. A distinguished company was present. President Heber C. Kimball called the assembly to

fre farming

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order and Apostle Amasa M. Lyman offered the dedicatory prayer. President Young is not mentioned by the News reporter as being present, but he is well known to have been the projector of the building. His well-known saying, "The people must have amusements," with the interest that he ever manifested in furnishing pure and wholesome recreations for the community, were only another evidence of the practical wisdom and superior good sense of the founder of Utah. There were also present the members of the Deseret Dramatic Association, then under the presidency of Alonzo H. Raleigh. James Ferguson, soldier, lawyer, orator and actor, the "leading man" of the talented organization, and the silver-tongued declaimer and speech-maker of those days, delivered an eloquent address to those assembled, congratulating them on the completion and opening of the first hall erected in Salt Lake City for the practice of the dramatic art. John Kay and family, Horace K. Whitney, William C. Dunbar, Mrs. Mary Wheelock, and a minstrel combination called "The African Band," were among the vocalists and reciters of the occasion. At the close of the ball in the evening President Jedediah M. Grant dismissed the assembly with prayer.

The first dramatic performance given in the Social Hall was on the evening of Monday, January 19th, 1853. The play was that historic and romantic favorite, Pizarro, so popular in the "fifties" and "sixties." The brilliant and capable Ferguson sustained the role of Rolla, and John Kay impersonated Pizarro. The rest of the main cast, as remembered and furnished by Hon. John T. Caine, was as follows: Alonzo, Joseph M. Simmons; Las Casas, J. M. Barlow; Atalaba, James W. Cummings; High Priest, James Smithies; Soldier, Philip Margetts; Old Peruvian, Robert Campbell; Child, H. B. Clawson, Jr .; Cora, Mrs. M. G. Clawson; Elvira, Mrs. Coray.

* Porter convulsed his audience and the dramatis personæ at one time in this very play, Pizarro. His speech, addressed to the Old Peruvian: " Another word, grey- headed ruffian, and I strike," being uttered, Porter, turning nervously toward the prompter, asked in a loud whisper: "Shall I stick him ?"

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Hiram B. Clawson at times played Alonzo, and Porter Rockwell essayed the Spanish soldier .*

The first play ever produced in Utah, however, antedated the original Social Hall performance by at least two years. It was in the Old Bowery in 1850, or 1851-authorities differ as to which-that the Musical and Dramatic Company, the original Thespian organization of the Rocky Mountains, presented the drama of "Robert Macaire," with the following cast:

Macaire, John Kay.

Jacques, - Hiram B. Clawson.

Pierre, - Philip Margetts.

Marie, - Miss Orum.

Clementina,

Miss M. Judd.

John Kay's Macaire, and Hiram Clawson's Jacques-the only parts in the piece affording much opportunity-are said to have been unrivalled. Miss Judd, who played Clementina in this pioneer presentation, afterwards became Mrs. Margaret G. Clawson, for many years a favorite local comedienne. As for Philip Margetts, the popular comedian of today, the whole Pacific slope has heard of him.

Utah's first dramatic company was organized at the house of William Clayton in the Seventeenth Ward, Salt Lake City. Robert Campbell was its President, and A. M. Musser, Secretary. The corps dramatique, a portion of whom appeared in the initial performance at the Bowery, were: Hiram B. Clawson, James Ferguson, Philip Margetts, John Kay, Horace K. Whitney, Robert Campbell, Robert T. Burton, George D. Grant, Edmund Ellsworth, Henry Margetts, Edward Martin, William Glover, and Willian Clayton. The ladies were Miss Orum, Miss Judd and Miss Mary Badlam. The orchestra consisted of William Pitt, violin and flute; Jacob F. Hutchison, violin and clarionette; James Smithies, cello, and others. Messrs. Kay, Burton, Clayton and Whitney when not taking part upon the stage, also assisted in the orchestra. The Musical and Dramatic Company was succeeded by the Deseret Dramatic Associa-

A. H. Raleigh

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tion, organized in 1851 with A. H. Raleigh as president. For it the Social Hall was erected in 1852. Until ten years later, when the Salt Lake Theatre was opened, the Social Hall continued to be the chief altar in Utah upon which ineense was burned to the drainatic muse .*

The spring of 1853 was rendered locally memorable by witness- ing the inception of the great Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City, a structure unsurpassed, if not unequalled for beauty and sublimity, by any other edifice in America. The preliminary steps toward the erection of this magnificent architectural pile were taken on the 14th of February. On the morning of that day the First Presidency, the Apostles, and other dignitaries of the Church repaired to Temple Block, where the ceremony of consecrating the ground, preparatory to excavating for the foundations of the building, took place in the presence of assembled thousands. The Presidency, having pointed out the exact spot where the edifice should stand, Truman O. Angell, the architect, and Jesse W. Fox, surveyor, at once began to lay off the grounds. By 11 a. m. the survey was completed. After music by the bands, President Young delivered an address, and the consecrating prayer was offered by President Heber C. Kimball. The Twelve Apostles assisted in breaking the ground for the foundations. Mayor Grant and other city officials also took part in the proceedings ; Marshal Little and the police being present to preserve order and guard against accidents.

The ceremony of laying the corner-stones of the Temple was reserved for the 6th of April, the twenty-third anniversary of the Church. On that day, which fell upon Wednesday, the city swarmed with people from all parts of the Territory, assembling, as was their wont, to the general conference at the metropolis. The day was delightful, and every countenance reflected the glad smile that beamed from the face of universal nature. The occasion was one of deep and thrilling interest to all.

* The Utah Legislature held several sessions at the Social Hall in the " tifties."

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General Wells, who was also Superintendent of Public Works, had detailed Captains David Pettigrew and Philemon C. Merrill, with companies of guards, to take part in the day's proceedings, and Captain Leonard W. Hardy and the city police were ordered out for the same purpose by Mayor Grant, who was marshal of the day.

The conference having been duly opened at the Tabernacle, a procession was formed at the vestry door in the following order : Martial music, colors; Nauvoo Brass Band, colors; Ballo's Band, colors ; Captain Pettigrew with Relief Guards, colors ; singers; First President and counselors and aged patriarchs ; The Twelve Apostles, first presidency of the Seventies, and president and counselors of the Elders' quorum; president of the High Priests' quorum and counselors, with the president of the stake and the High Council ; Presiding Bishop, with his counsel, and the presidents of the lesser priesthood and their counsel; architects and workmen, selected for the day, with banner representing "Zion's Workmen;" Captain Merrill, with Relief Guards in uniform.

Says the report taken at the time: "The procession then marched through the line of guards to the south-east corner of the Temple ground, the singers taking their positon in the centre, the Nauvoo brass band on the east bank, Captain Ballo's band on the west bank, and the martial band on the mound southwest. Captains Pettigrew, Hardy, and Merrill, with their commands, occupied the front of the bank (which was sixteen feet deep), and moving from corner to corner with the laying of the several stones, prevented an undue rush of the people, which might, by an excavation, have endangered the lives of many; Presidents Young, Kimball and Richards, with Patriarch John Smith, proceeded to lay the south-east corner stone, and ascended the top thereof, when the choir sang. President Young delivered the chief oration, and Heber C. Kimball offered the consecration prayer.

"The procession again formed and moved to the south-west corner, when the presiding bishop, Edward Hunter, his counsel, and the various presidents of the lesser priesthood, with their associates,

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laid the south-west corner stone, when, from its top, Bishop Hunter delivered the oration and Bishop Alfred Cordon offered the consecra- tion prayer.

"The procession again formed and moved to the north-west corner stone, accompanied with martial music, when John Young, president of the high priests' quorum, with his counsel, and the president of the stake, with the high council, proceeded to lay the stone. That being done, they ascended the stone and President John Young delivered the oration, and George B. Wallace offered the consecration prayer.

"The procession again formed and proceeded to the north-east 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."

Thus was begun the great Salt Lake Temple, now nearing completion after a lapse of nearly forty years. From the first, work upon the edifice,-which has been much interrupted,-proceeded slowly; the poverty of the people and the difficulty of obtaining building materials being among the main causes. Until the advent of the railway, every rock that went into the building was hauled by oxen from the mountains southeast of Salt Lake City, a distance of nearly twenty miles. It was at first decided to build the temple of adobes and rock from Red Butte, and a wooden railway was laid to that canyon for the purpose, but subsequently the Cottonwood granite was chosen. John Sharp, afterwards Bishop and railway magnate, opened the Cottonwood quarries and superintended for many years the quarrying and hauling of the temple rock. The chiseling of these huge granite blocks into the various forms devised by the architect's plans, with other necessary work about the grounds and building, has furnished employment from the start to mechanics and laborers who were continually arriving in the yearly immigrations from abroad.

33-VOL. 1.

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The architect of this temple, who not only drew the original plans, but had general oversight of the construction from its beginning until his death in 1887, was Truman O. Angell, brother-in- law to President Brigham Young. His successor, the present temple architect, is Joseph Don Carlos Young, one of the President's sons. The early carpenters and builders about Temple Block were under Miles Romney, father of Bishop George Romney, of Salt Lake City ; the blacksmiths were under Thomas Tanner, the pioneer artilleryman, the painters under William Pitt, Captain of the Nauvoo brass band, and the machinists under Nathan T. Davis. But if all who have had a hand in the construction of the great edifice were to be mentioned, a volume would scarcely suffice to hold the names.

On the 5th of June, 1853, Hon. Lazarus H. Reed, the new Chief Justice of Utah, arrived at Salt Lake City, and on the day following took the oath of office, administered to him by Governor Young. Associate Justice Shaver and Secretary Ferris had arrived, the latter in the summer, and the former in the autumn of 1852. Of his reception by the Mormon leader, Judge Reed said, in a letter written soon after his arrival:

I waited on His Excellency, Governor Young, exhibited to him my commission, and by him was duly sworn and installed as Chief Justice of Utah. I was received by Governor Young with marked courtesy and respect. He has taken pains to make my residence here agreeable. The Governor, in manners and conversation, is a polished gen- tleman, very neat and tasty in dress, easy and pleasant in conversation, and I think, a man of decided talent and strong intellectual qualities. * * I have heard him address the people once on the subject of man's free agency. He is a very excellent speaker ; his gesture uncommonly graceful, articulation distinct, and speech pleasant.

* * * The Governor is a first rate business man. As civil Governor of the Territory and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, we would naturally suppose he had as much to do as one man could well attend to; but in addition to those employments, he is also President of the Church-a station which is no sinecure by any means. His private business is extensive ; he owns several grist and saw mills, is extensively engaged in farming operations, all of which he superintends personally. I have made up my mind that no man has been more grossly misrepresented than Governor Young, and that he is a man who will reciprocate kindness and good intentions as heartily and as freely as any one, but if abused, or crowded hard, I think he may be found exceedingly hard to handle.

€

Truman O angell

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Judge Shaver wrote letters in a similar strain, and he and the Chief Justice, by their friendly epistles and fair speeches, dispelled much of the prejudice engendered by their predecessors and others. This won for them the respect and love of the Mormon people, by whom they were highly esteemed.

Benjamin G. Ferris, the new Secretary of the Territory, unlike his colleagues, had no friendship for the Saints. He spent much of his time in Utah collecting materials for an anti-Mormon book which he afterwards published. After a six months' sojourn in Salt Lake City, he followed the example of his predecessor, Secretary Harris, and abruptly left the Territory. His wife also wrote a book against the Saints. Mr. Ferris was succeeded temporarily as Secretary, by Hon. Willard Richards-again appointed by the Governor to fill an interim-and eventually by Colonel Almon W. Babbitt, appointed by the President of the United States.

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CHAPTER XXV.

1853-1854.

ANOTHER INDIAN WAR-CAUSES OF THE OUTBREAK-PEDRO LEON AND HIS ASSOCIATES- GOVERNOR YOUNG PROCLAIMS AGAINST THE MEXICAN SLAVE-TRADERS-PURCHASE OF FORT BRIDGER- WALKER ON THE WAR PATH-INDIAN RAIDS IN UTAH AND SANPETE VALLEYS- THE WAR BECOMES GENERAL-COLONEL GEORGE A. SMITH GIVEN COMMAND OF THE SOUTHERN UTAH MILITARY DISTRICTS-GOVERNOR YOUNG'S LETTER TO CHIEF WALKER- THE GUNNISON MASSACRE-END OF THE WALKER WAR-OTHER EVENTS OF 1853-4- SUMMIT, GREEN RIVER, AND CARSON COUNTIES CREATED-UTAH SETTLEMENTS AT THE CLOSE OF 1853-JOHN C. FREMONT . AT PAROWAN-DEATH OF PRESIDENT WILLARD RICHARDS- A GRASSHOPPER VISITATION.

NOTHER Indian war broke out in Utah in the summer of 1853.

It was known as the Ute or Walker war, so named from the fact that Walkara, or to give him his full English title, Joseph Walker, the restless and belligerent chief of the Ute nation, was at the bottom of the trouble, and at the very head and front of the hostiles.

We say that Walker was at the bottom of the trouble. This statement may need some qualification. His was the visible hand, without doubt; but that other agencies were at work inciting him to hostility seems just as certain.

As early as November, 1851, the Deseret News, then the only paper published in Utah, had called attention to the fact that one Pedro Leon and a party of about twenty Spanish Mexicans were in Sanpete Valley trading horses for Indian children, firearms, etc., and that they held licenses, spurious or genuine, signed by James S. Calhoon, Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs for New Mexico, purporting to authorize them to trade with the Utah Indians. One of these licenses was made out to Pedro Leon. It was signed by Superintendent Calhoon, and dated at Santa Fe, New Mexico,

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. August 14th, 1851. It authorized Leon to trade with the Utah Indians without reference to locality. But there was another, a blank license, in the possession of the party, dated July 30th, of that year, signed by the same official, authorizing its holder, whose name was not given, to "proceed to Salt Lake country, in the Territory of Utah, for the purpose of trading with the Utah Indians in said region." Editor Richards commented on these facts as follows :

We have not seen or heard His Excellency, Governor Young, upon the subject, he being confined to his house by sickness, but we shall speak our own sentiments on this matter ; and first, the license given to Pedro Leon to trade with the Utah Indians, was designed, as we believe, to be confined to the Utah Indians in New Mexico, and that said Pedro has exceeded his license in coming within the limits of Utah Territory ; and if we are mistaken in these premises, the next most reasonable conclusion is, that some other person than James S. Callioon, as Governor and Superintendent of Indian affairs in New Mexico, has issued such license, and if this be a wrong conclusion and said Calhoon is Governor and Superintendent in said Territory, that he ought to try and watch his boys a little closer and keep them out of other dominions.

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History of Utah, Part 45

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