WebSadhu

IN THE VALLEY OF THE GREAT SALT LAKE.
1848.

Food and Raiment—Houses—Home Manufactures—the Fort—Wild Beasts—Cannon From Sutter's Fort—Indian Children for Sale—Measles—Population—Mills and Farming Machinery—the Plague of Crickets—They Are Destroyed By Gulls—Scarcity of Provisions—the Harvest Feast—Immigration—Five Thousand Saints Gathered in the Valley—Fencing and Farming—Distribution of Lots—Organization of County Government—Association for the Extermination of Wild Beasts.

At the opening of January 1848, the saints were housed, clad, and fed in moderate comfort, and general content prevailed. The season was exceptionally mild; there were occasional light falls of snow, but not enough to interfere with ploughing and sowing, and a large tract of land was partially enclosed and planted with wheat and vegetables.

So many people were now in the valley that notwithstanding the abundant crops food at length became scarce. Families weighed out their flour and allowed themselves so much a day. The wheat was ground at a mill on City Creek, but as there was no bolting-cloth, the shorts and bran could not be separated. The beef was very poor, 3 as most of the cattle had been worked hard while driven to the valley and after their arrival, while those turned out to range did not fatten quickly. Butter and tallow were needed. One wild steer, well fattened, was brought in from Goodyear's rancho. A herd of deer crossing from one range of mountains to another was startled by the unexpected obstruction of the fort, and one sprang into the enclosure and was killed. Wild sago and parsnip roots constituted the vegetable food of the settlers. A few deaths occurred from poisonous roots. The bracing air and hard work stimulated appetite as stores decreased. For coffee parched barley and wheat were used, and as their sugar gave out, they substituted some of home manufacture. In the spring thistle tops were eaten, and became an important article of diet.

Anxiety began to be felt about clothing, and the hand-looms were now busily at work, although wool was scarce. As shoes wore out, moccasins were substituted, and goat, deer, and elk skins were manufactured into clothing for men and women, though most unsuitable for use in rain and snow.

At the time of Parley P. Pratt's arrival, the city of Great Salt Lake consisted of a fort enclosing a block of ten acres, the walls of part of the buildings being of adobes and logs. There were also some tents. As additional companies came in, they extended the south divisions, which were connected with the old fort by gates. Wagon-boxes were also brought into line, and served for habitations until better accommodations were provided. The houses were built of logs, and were placed close together, the roofs slanting inward, and all the doors and windows being on the inside, with a loop-hole to each room on the outside. As everything indicated a dry climate, the roofs were made rather flat, and great inconvenience resulted. In March the rains were very heavy, and umbrellas were used to protect women and children while cooking, and even in bed. The clay found in the bottoms near the fort made excellent plaster, but would not stand exposure to rain, and quickly melted. All breadstuffs were carefully gathered into the centre of the rooms, and protected with buffalo skins obtained from the Indians. The rooms in the outer lines all adjoined, and many of the families had several rooms. On the interior cross-lines rooms were built on both sides, the streets being eight rods wide.

There were serious depredations committed by wolves, foxes, and catamounts, and great annoyance occasioned by the howling of some of these animals. 8 Further discomfort was caused by innumerable swarms of mice. Digging cavities and running about under the earthen floor, they caused the ground to tremble, and when the rain loosened the stones of the roofs, scampered off in hordes. Frequently fifty or sixty had to be caught and killed before the family could sleep.

The furniture was home-made, and very little of it at that. The table was a chest, and the bedstead was built into the corner of the house, which formed two of its sides, rails or poles forming the opposite sides; pegs were driven into the walls and rails, and the bed-cord tightly wound around them. The chimneys were of adobe, and sometimes there was a fireplace in the corner with a clay hearth.

In the early part of the year two brass cannon were purchased at Sutter's Fort for the church, by the battalion brethren.

During the winter of 1847-8, some Indian children were brought to the fort to be sold. At first two were offered, but the settlers peremptorily refused to buy them. The Indian in charge said that the children were captured in war, and would be killed at sunset if the white men did not buy them. Thereupon they purchased one of them, and the one not sold was shot. Later, several Indians came in with two more children, using the same threat; they were bought and brought up at the expense of the settlers.

Measles now appeared for the first time among the natives, who did not know where the disease came from or what to do. They assembled in large numbers at the warm springs, bathed in the waters, and died.

Public meetings were generally held near the liberty-pole in the centre of the fort; religious and secular meetings were also held in private houses. In March 1848 the population of the city was reported at 1,671, and the number of houses 423. 14 Bridges were built over Mill Creek and Jordan River. Daniel Spencer was appointed road-master, and authorized to call on men to assist in making roads. In order that the burden might fall equally on all, a poll and property tax were instituted.

There were several mills soon in working order. A small grist-mill on City Creek was built by Charles Crismon near the pioneer garden; then there were Chase's saw-mill and Archibald and Robert Gardiner's on Mill Creek, and Nebeker, Riter, and Wallace's in a cañon ten miles north of the city. A carding machine was erected near Gardiner's saw-mill by Amasa Russell, and a flouring mill during the summer by John Neff. Leffingwell constructed a threshing machine and fanning mill on City Creek, with a capacity of two hundred bushels per day. Mill-stones cut out of the basalt in the valley were of very good quality. Millions, mill-stones, printing-presses, type, paper, and the carding machine were brought by the first bands of emigrants in 1848.

The spring saw everybody busy, and soon there were many flourishing gardens, containing a good variety of vegetables. In the early part of March ploughing commenced. The spring was mild and rain plentiful, and all expected an abundant harvest. But in the latter part of May, when the fields had put on their brightest green, there appeared a visitation in the form of vast swarms of crickets, black and baleful as the locust of the Dead Sea. In their track they left behind them not a blade or leaf, the appearance of the country which they traversed in countless and desolating myriads being that of a land scorched by fire. They came in a solid phalanx, from the direction of Arsenal Hill, darkening the earth in their passage. Men, women, and children turned out en masse to combat this pest, driving them into ditches or on to piles of reeds, which they would set on fire, striving in every way, until strength was exhausted, to beat back the devouring host. But in vain they toiled, in vain they prayed; the work of destruction ceased not, and the havoc threatened to be as complete as was that which overtook the land of Egypt in the last days of Israel's bondage. "Think of their condition," says Mr Cannon—"the food they brought with them almost exhausted, their grain and other seeds all planted, they themselves 1,200 miles from a settlement or place where they could get food on the east, and 800 miles from California, and the crickets eating up every green thing, and every day destroying their sole means of subsistence for the months and winter ahead."

I said in vain they prayed. Not so. For when everything was most disheartening and all effort spent, behold, from over the lake appeared myriads of snow-white gulls, their origin and their purpose alike unknown to the new-comers! Was this another scourge God was sending them for their sins? Wait and see. Settling upon all the fields and every part of them, they pounced upon the crickets, seizing and swallowing them. They gorged themselves. Even after their stomachs were filled they still devoured them. On Sunday the people, full of thankfulness, left the fields to the birds, and on the morrow found on the edges of the ditches great piles of dead crickets that had been swallowed and thrown up by the greedy gulls. Verily, the Lord had not forgotten to be gracious!

To escape the birds, the crickets would rush into the lake or river, and thus millions were destroyed. Toward evening the gulls took flight and disappeared beyond the lake, but each day returned at sunrise, until the scourge was past. 19 Later grasshoppers seem to have taken the place of crickets. They were of a kind popularly called iron-clad, and did much mischief.

Though the crops of this year of 1848 were thus saved from total destruction, fears were entertained that there would not be food enough for those already in the valley, and the expected arrival of large additional numbers was looked upon as a calamity. The stock of provisions was therefore husbanded with care, many living principally on roots and thistles, to which fare was sometimes added a little flour or milk. The wheat crop, however, turned out better than was expected, and pumpkins, melons, and corn yielded good returns.

On the 10th of August, however, the harvest being then gathered, a feast was held in the bowery, at which the tables were loaded with a variety of viands, vegetables, beef, and bread, butter and cheese, with cakes and pastry. Sheaves of wheat and other grain were hoisted on harvest poles; "and," says Parley, "there was prayer and thanksgiving, congratulations, songs, speeches, music, dancing, smiling faces, and merry hearts."

The rendezvous for westward-bound brethren in the spring of 1848 was the Elkhorn River, and thither at the end of May came the president, who organized the people and gave them instructions to be observed on the way. Good order was to be preserved in camp; there must be no shouting; prayers were to be attended to, and lights put out at 9 o'clock. Drivers of teams must walk beside their oxen, and not leave them without permission. Brigham was general superintendent of the emigrating companies, with Daniel H. Wells as aide-de-camp, H. S. Eldredge marshal, and Hosea Stout captain of the night-guard. Moving west early in June, on the 14th the emigrants were fired on by Indians, two being wounded. At this time also there was sickness in the camp. To secure grass and water, the emigration was separated into divisions, of which there were two principal ones, under Brigham Young and H. C. Kimball, with several subdivisions.

The first letters received at Great Salt Lake City from Brigham came twelve months after his departure from the valley, and were sent on in advance from the encampments. The excitement was great as Taylor and Green rode into the city and distributed the letters, without envelopes, tied round and round with buckskin thongs, and bearing the cheering news that a large body of brethren was on the way, and bringing plenty of food.

In June and July two small parties left the city to meet the immigration, and another in August. In September Brigham and the first companies arrived; and under the organization of the president and his two counsellors, Willard Richards and Heber C. Kimball, during the autumn months most of the brethren from Winter Quarters and other camps reached the valley.

Before the expiration of the year, there were nearly three thousand, and including the pioneers, the battalion men, and the companies that arrived under Parley, at least five thousand of the saints assembled in the valley.

Thus about one fourth of the exiles from Nauvoo were for the present beyond reach of molestation. That five thousand persons, including a very large proportion of women and children, almost without money, almost without provisions, excepting the milk of their kine and the grain which they had raised near their own camps, should, almost without the loss of a life, have accomplished this journey of more than twelve hundred miles, crossing range after range of mountains, bridging rivers, and traversing deserts, while liable at any moment to be attacked by roaming bands of savages, is one of the marvels that this century has witnessed. To those who met them on the route, the strict order of their march, their coolness and rapidity in closing ranks to repel assault, their method in posting sentries around camp and corral, suggested rather the movements of a well-organized army than the migration of a people; and in truth, few armies have been better organized or more ably led than was this army of the Lord. 27 To the skill of their leaders, and their own concert of purpose and action, was due their preservation. And now, at length, they had made good their escape from the land of their bondage to the promised land of their freedom, in which, though a wilderness, they rejoiced to dwell.

In a private letter written in September 1848, Parley writes' "How quiet, how still, how free from excitement we live! The legislation of our high council, the decision of some judge or court of
the church, a meeting, a dance, a visit, an exploring tour, the arrival of a party of trappers and traders, a Mexican caravan, a party arrived from the Pacific, 28 from the States, from Fort Bridger, a visit of Indians, or perhaps a mail from the distant world once or twice a year, is all that breaks the monotony of our busy and peaceful life…Here, too, we all are rich—there is no real poverty; all men have access to the soil, the pasture, the timber, the water power, and all the elements of wealth, without money or price."

On his arrival in the autumn, Brigham stirred up the people to the greatest activity. Fencing material being scarce, and the city lands all appropriated, it was proposed that a large field for farming purposes adjoining the city should be selected and fenced in common. By October there were 863 applications for lots, amounting to 11,005 acres.

A united effort was made to fence the city, which was done by enclosing each ward in one field, and requiring the owner of every lot to build his proportion of the fence. 30 No lots were allowed to be held for speculation, the intention, originally, being to assign them only to those who would occupy and improve them. The farming land nearest the city was surveyed in five-acre lots to accommodate the mechanics and artisans; next beyond were ten-acre lots, followed by forty and eighty acres, where farmers could build and reside. All these farms were enclosed in one Common fence, constituting what was called the 'big field,' before mentioned.

The streets were kept open, but were barely wide enough for travel, as the owners cultivated the space in front of their houses. At a meeting on the 24th of September, permission was granted to build on the lots immediately, all buildings to be at least twenty feet from the sidewalk; and a few days later it was voted "that a land record should be kept, and that $1.50 be paid for each lot; one dollar to the surveyor and fifty cents to the clerk for recording." A council-house was ordered to be built by tithing labor; and it was suggested that water from the Big Cottonwood be brought into the city; the toll for grinding grain was to be increased, and a resolution was passed against the sale or use of ardent spirits. That all might be satisfied, the lots were to be distributed "by ballot, or casting lots, as Israel did in days of old."

On the 1st of October Brigham called the battalion brethren together, blessed them, and thanked them for the service they had rendered. "The plan of raising a battalion to march to California," he said, "by a call from the war department, was devised with a view to the total overthrow of this kingdom, and the destruction of every man, woman, and child."

Winter was now at hand, and there was sore need that the saints should bestir themselves. The president and others of the church dignitaries worked indefatigably with their people, carrying mortar and making adobes, hauling timber and sawing it. There were but 450 log cabins within the stockade, and one thousand more well-filled wagons had arrived this season.

A county government was organized, and John D. Barker elected sheriff, Isaac Clark judge of probate, and Evan M. Green recorder and treasurer. Two hunting companies in December were formed, under the leadership of John D. Lee and John Pack, for the extermination of wild beasts. There were eighty-four men in all, and their efforts were successful. 36 From the 1st of December until the end of February there were heavy snow-storms. On the coldest day the mercury fell below zero, 37 and on the warmest marked 21° of Fahrenheit. On account of the snow in the cañons it was difficult to bring in the necessary fuel. As the previous winter had been warm, the settlers were unprepared for such cold weather, and there was much suffering.