Chapter XXVIII.
Commerce and Communication.
1852-1885.

Common Roadways — Railroads — the Union and Central Pacific — The Utah Central — The Utah Southern — The Utah and Northern — The Utah Eastern — The Salt Lake and Western — The Utah and Nevada — The Denver and Rio Grande Western — Imports and Exports — Commerce and Trade — Banking — Insurance — Taxation and Revenue — Mails and Mail Services — The First Telegraphic Message — The Deseret Telegraph Company.

    In 1860 the principal route from the Missouri to Utah was still the old emigrant-road which had been mainly used during the Utah and California migrations, and which was traversed by the army of Utah in 1857. Between Utah and California there were three principal lines of travel—the northern, the central, and the southern. The first skirted the upper edge of Great Salt Lake, and thence after crossing an intervening stretch of desert followed the valleys of the Humboldt and Carson rivers, being, in fact, almost identical with the Frémont route of 1845. Notwithstanding its length, it was still preferred by travellers, as pasture and water were fairly plentiful, and only two small tracts of desert land were met with.¹ The central, better known to the settlers of Utah by the name of Egan's and to the California-bound emigrants as the Simpson route, though the two were by no means coincident, varied but a few miles from the fortieth parallel until reaching the

Hastings pass in the Humboldt Mountains, where it branched off in a south-westerly direction toward Carson lake and river, and from Carson City south to Genoa.² The southern route was by way of the Sevier, Santa Clara, and Virgen rivers, striking the Frémont trail near Las Vegas, thence partly across desert tracts to the junction of Indian River and the Colorado, and from that point to San Bernardino.³ On neither of the last two were grass and water abundant, but the southern route had the advantage of being rarely blocked with snow, except for the portion of it that lay between Salt Lake and the Rio Virgen.

    At the close of 1883 there were more than 3,000 miles of common roadway in Utah,⁴ and 1,143 miles

³Portions of this route were traversed by Chandlees and Remy, by whom it is described in their respective works.

⁴For reports of commissioners, appropriations, work done, condition, and other matters relating to local roads, see Utah Acts, 1855-6, 44-6; Utah Jour. Legisl., 1859-60, 96-8; 1860-1, 58-9, 113-14, 149, 165, 168; 1861-2, 59, 70, 73, 104, 116-17, 121, 132, 144; 1862-3, 29-30, 45, 51, 63; 1863-4, 54-5, 85, 108, 131-2: 1864-5, 53-6, 73, 140-1; 1865-6, 20-3, 29, 53, 70-1, 102, 122, 156-7; 1866-7, 20, 23-5, 28-9, 61-3, 66; 1868, 21-2, 25, 44-6, 75-6, 92, 116-18, 129; 1869, 20-1, 23-4, 55-6, 71-2, 79-80, 82-3, 88, 93-4, 102, 112, (cont.)

of railroad,⁵ of which 297 belonged to the Union Pacific, 150 to the Central Pacific, 386 to the Denver and Rio Grande, 280 to the Utah Central, and 30 to the Sanpete Valley.

    In 1854, as we have seen, a memorial was addressed to congress by the territorial legislature, urging the construction of an overland railroad. In 1860 a second memorial was presented, to the same purport,⁶ and though neither of them was regarded, none rejoiced more heartily over the advent of the railroad than did the settlers of Utah. They felt now strong enough to have let in on them the advancing tide of civilization without being swept away by it. Brigham had long foreseen that the railroad would bring with it a new and manifest destiny to his people. Being himself a man of destiny, he quickly adapted himself to the altered condition of affairs, and declared that he believed in it. As all Utah believed in Brigham, it followed that his people would do their utmost to help it to completion. They were for the most part too poor to subscribe money, but whatever of aid or material their land and labor could supply was cheerfully furnished.

    In May 1868 a contract was made between Brigham

⁵In 1860 there was a weekly stage to S. L. City, conducted by Russell & Waddell, who during the same year started a pony express. In 1861 they were bought out by Ben Holliday, and in that or the following year a daily line was established to S. L. City. In 1866 Wells, Fargo, & Co. purchased Holliday's interest, believing that the railroad would not be completed for six or seven years. They lost by the transaction, among their purchases being $70,000 worth of new coaches which they never used, and afterward sold to Gilmer & Salisbury for one fourth of the cost. John T. Gilmer commenced staging in 1859 under Russell & Waddell. In 1864 he was appointed division agent at Bitter Creek by Ben Holliday. About 1876 he began mining in the Black Hills, Utah, and afterward in Nev., Id., Ariz., and Cal. He was also connected with the Stewart mine in Bingham cañon, and others. In 1884 he was conducting a staging business in Utah, Id., Ariz., and Cal. Gilmer's Mails and Staging in Utah, MS. Descriptions of stage-coach travel in Utah in the years before the opening of the railroad will be found in almost every book that treats of Mormonism up to that thee. Among others, see Burton's City of the Saints; Remy's Jour. to G. S. L. City; Chandler's Visit to S. Lake; Bowles' Across the Continent; Dilke's Greater Britain; Greeley's Overl. Jour.

⁶See Utah Acts, 1858-9, 37-8; House Misc. Doc., 36th Cong. 2d Sess., 34.

and a superintendent of construction on the Union Pacific, for grading and other work on the road between the head of Echo cañon and the terminus of the line, yet to be located. At Weber cañon, through which point it entered the valley, there was much tunnelling, blasting, and mason-work to be done, including the heavy stone-work of the bridge abutments. The contract amounted to about $1,000,000, gave employment to 500 or 600 men, and, according to its terms,⁷ eighty per cent of the payments were to be made monthly as the work progressed, and the remainder when it was completed and accepted. As soon as the contract was closed, the superintendent urged that the work be commenced immediately, promising that if men and teams were collected he would have the line surveyed and made ready for them within a few days. On this understanding, workmen were concentrated at various points on the line, but weeks passed, and still the line was not surveyed. Many of the sub-contractors were thus compelled to wait until the cost of their operations was largely increased by the severity of the weather, and to incur debt from bankers, merchants, and farmers, who supplied them with funds, goods, grain, and material, thinking that the money due from the promoters of the Union Pacific would be promptly paid; but the payments were not made as specified.

    Notwithstanding these drawbacks, the contracts were faithfully executed, and it was acknowledged by all railroad men that nowhere on the line could the grading compare in completeness and finish with the work done by the people of Utah. Before the last tie was laid,⁸ all the contracts with the Union and

⁸For celebration at S. L. City on the completion of the railroad, see Deseret News, May 12, 1866. On March 8th a railroad celebration was held at Ogden, an account of which is given in Id., March 8, 1869; Tullidge's Mag., i. 476-7. (cont.)

Central Pacific, including forty miles of road between Ogden and the promontory, had been completed and accepted; but on the 10th of May, 1869, it was claimed by the saints that the former company was indebted to them in the sum of $1,000,000, and the two companies about $1,250,000. Toward the close of the year John Taylor, Joseph A. Young, and John Sharp⁹ went eastward, with a view to bringing the

⁹Bishop Sharp, known in Utah also as the railroad bishop, was born in 1820 at the Devon iron-works, Scotland, and when eight years of age went to work in a coal-pit. In 1847, being then a coal-miner in Clackmannanshire, he was converted to Mormonism, and the following year sailed for New Orleans with his two brothers, who had also joined the faith. They reached S. L. City in 1850. Here Sharp was first employed in quarrying stone for the tabernacle and tithing-office, and was soon afterward made superintendent of the quarry. In 1854 he was ordained a bishop, and ten years later was appointed assistant superintendent of public works. When the contract was made with the Union Pacific by Brigham, as above mentioned, Sharp was one of the principal sub-contractors. In 1871 he became superintendent of the Utah Central, and in 1873 president, having previously been elected vice-president of the Utah Southern. While employed as purchasing agent for the latter company in the eastern states, he became associated with the directors of the Union Pacific, by whom he was afterward elected a member of the board. Among those who were awarded contracts by the Central Pacific was Lorin Farr, who, with Benson and West as partners, graded 200 miles of the road, Aaron F. Farr being employed as superintendent. Lorin Farr also took an active part in the building of the Utah Central and Utah Northern, of which more later, and was one of the prime movers in bringing the Denver and Rio Grande into Ogden. In 1868 he built the Ogden woollen-mills in conjunction with Randall Pugsley and Neil, and for 20 years was mayor of that city. Aaron F. Farr was for six years probate judge of Weber co., and was elected a member of the Utah legislature.

    In connection with the Central Pacific may be mentioned the name of James Forbes, their agent at Ogden between 1869 and 1884, and in connection with the Union Pacific, A. G. Fell, at the latter date superintendent of division in the same city. Forbes, a native of Conn., came to Cal. when 16 years of age, and after being engaged in mining for several years, was appointed agent for the C. P. R. R. at Elko, Nev., soon after the line was opened, removing thence to Utah a few months later. Fell, a native of Ontario, Can., and in 1867 employed in the train-despatcher's office at Montreal, also removed to Utah in 1867.

    Joshua R. Nichols, appointed assist super. U. P. R. R. in July 1869, says (cont.)

matter to an issue, and so vigorously and adroitly did they press their claim, that, in the absence of funds, rolling stock and material to the value of $600,000 were assigned to them in payment.

    On the 17th of May, one week after the completion of the transcontinental railroad, ground was broken near the Weber River for a line between Ogden and Salt Lake City, to be named the Utah Central.¹⁰ The road was built and equipped mainly with the material and rolling stock transferred from the Union Pacific; for even at this date there was little money in Utah, mining and traffic being as yet undeveloped, and the entire floating currency of the community was probably less than $5,000,000. This, the pioneer line of Utah, is the only one which has preserved its original identity, and that it has done so is perhaps due to the fact that it forms the main connecting link between the route of transcontinental traffic and the principal distributing point for the country.

    In May 1871 ground was broken at Salt Lake City for the Utah Southern,¹¹ the line being pushed forward at intervals both north and south through some of the richest lands in Utah, until, in June 1879, its northern terminus was at Provo,¹² and its southern limit at Juab, 105 miles south of the capital.¹³ Later

¹⁰For act granting right of way, see House Ex. Doc., 46th Cong. 3d Sess., xxvi. 974; Cong. Globe, 1870-1, p. 329; Zabriskie's Land Laws, 1877, suppl. 19; Grant's Rights and Priv. Utah Cent. R. R. Co., in which last are the articles of association, by-laws, and a copy of the mortgage executed by the company to secure its first-mortgage bonds. Brigham Young was president, W. Jennings vice-president, Dan. H. Wells treasurer, and John W. Young secretary; the first three, together with Feramorz Little and Christ. Layton, forming the board of directors. The original capital was $1,500,000, divided into 15,000 shares of $100 each. It does not appear that the directors had much faith in the undertaking, for none of them, except Brigham, subscribed for more than twenty shares, while Layton took only 10, and Little 5 shares. For celebration when ground was broken, see S. F. Bulletin, May 19, 1869; Tullidge's Mag., i. 477; for ceremonies, etc., when the road was completed, Deseret News, Jan. 12, 1870; S. F. Abend Post, Jan. 12, 1876; Scientific Press, Jan. 15, 1870; Tullidge's Life of Young, 362-3.

¹¹Deseret News, May 3, 1871.

¹²For bill granting right of way, see Cong. Globe, 1874-5; for special privileges, Provo City Revised Ordin., 127-9.

¹³For further items as to the Utah Southern, see Williams' Pac. Tourist, 131-2; (cont.)

during this year the Utah Southern Extension was commenced at the latter point, completed during the following spring as far as Milford,¹⁴ and a few weeks later to Frisco, the location of the Horn Silver mine, its distance from Juab being 138 miles.¹⁵ In 1881 both these lines were incorporated with the Utah Central.¹⁶

    The Utah and Northern was organized in 1871, ground being broken at Brigham City in September of that year, and the road completed to Logan at the close of January 1873, and to Franklin, Idaho, by way of Ogden, early in the following year.¹⁷ The means for building this line were raised by the people of northern Utah with great difficulty, and after being maintained for years, first at a loss and then with meagre returns, it was sold to the Union Pacific for an insignificant sum, in February 1877,¹⁸ extended through Idaho into western Montana, and in 1883 had become one of its most profitable branches.

    During Emery's administration a bill passed the legislature authorizing the counties of Salt Lake, Davis, Summit, and Tooele to issue bonds for the purpose of constructing a road from Coalville to

¹⁴The first train ran through to Milford in May. S. L. Wkly Tribune, May 22, 1880.

¹⁵Utah Gazetteer, 1884, 108. See also S. L. Herald, Jan. 1, 1879; S. L. C. Tribune, July 8, 1879.

¹⁶In the Contributor, iv. 182, is a report of freights received and forwarded over the Utah Central for eleven and a half months in 1882.

¹⁷The road from Ogden to Franklin was built entirely by the settlers. Doddridge's U. & N. R. R., MS. For act granting right of way through public lands of Utah, Idaho, and Montana in 1873, see Zabriskie's Land Laws, suppl., 1877, p. 57; House Ex. Doc., 46th Cong. 3d Sess., 47, pt 2, 976-7. In 1772 an act was passed granting right of way through to the Utah, Idaho, and Montana road, which was to connect with the Utah and Northern. Id., 975.

¹⁸During 1879 the income had increased to about $80,000 a month. Deseret News, July 16, 1879. For further items concerning the Utah and Northern, see Id., Oct. 10, 1877; S. L. C. Herald, Nov. 21, 1877; Portland Ev. Telegram, May 3, July 24, 1879; Utah Gazetteer, 1884, 108-9; Doddridge's U. & N. R. R., MS. W. B. Doddridge, a native of Circleville, O., came to Ogden in 1867, and though only 19 years of age, readily obtained employment on the U. P. R. R. In 1882 he was appointed to the charge of the Idaho division.

Salt Lake City, the main object being to obtain a supply of coal at cheaper rates than was charged for fuel taken from the Wyoming mines of the Union Pacific. The bill was vetoed by the governor; but in 1880 an effort was made to build the line by private enterprise, among the subscribers being many who could ill afford such a venture. Like others of the Utah lines, it was thus commenced on a slender capital, but through the aid of wealthy stockholders in the Ontario mine, it was completed as, far as Park City, a distance of twenty-five miles from Coalville. Soon afterward a parallel branch, named the Echo and Park City, was built by the Union Pacific, and in 1883 the control of the former, which was known as the Utah Eastern, fell into the hands of the latter.¹⁹

    The Salt Lake and Western, fifty-seven miles in length, and later a branch of the Union Pacific, was built in 1874-5 from Lehi junction, a mile north of Lehi City, to the Tintic mines. It was at first intended to push the line through to California, tapping some of the rich mining districts of Nevada; but this project was abandoned. In 1883 it was used mainly for hauling gold, silver, and iron ore.²⁰ the Utah and Nevada, first named the Salt Lake, Sevier Valley, and Pioche Railroad, was commenced in 1872, the intention being to build the line through the mining and agricultural lands of the Sevier Valley as far as Pioche, in south-eastern Nevada. After some twenty miles had been completed, work was abandoned in 1873, but resumed later, and the road completed as far as Stockton, in Tooele county, its terminus in 1883, at which date it was also under control of the Union Pacific. On account of the failure of the Pioche mines, and for other reasons, there seems little prospect of the original project being executed. The Sanpete Valley Railroad, built in 1880, between Nephi, in Juab

²⁰Williams' Pac. Tourist, 147; S. L. C. Tribune, Dec. 19, 1874; S. F. Bulletin, July 6, 1881; Utah Gazetteer, 1884, p. 110.

county, and Wales, in Sanpete county, its length being thirty miles, was constructed by an English company for the purpose of securing a market for the output of its coal mines.²¹

    The Denver and Rio Grande Western, the Utah division of the Denver and Rio Grande system of railroads, first began work here in 1881, and in 1883 had 386 miles of road in operation, running through Emery, Utah, Salt Lake, Davis, and a portion of Weber counties, with branch lines named the Little Cottonwood and Bingham Cañon, the former running east into the Wasatch Mountains and the latter west into the Oquirrh Range, both being built solely to facilitate mining operations.²² Ninety miles of the Denver and Rio Grande Western were built entirely by local enterprise, including fifty miles of the main line extending through Spanish Fork cañon, completed by the citizens of Springville, and first known as the Utah and Pleasant Valley Railroad.²³

    During the years immediately preceding the completion of the overland railroad, the imports of Utah seldom exceeded 12,000 tons, while the exports were of trifling amount. Commerce with the east and west was entirely insignificant, supplies being drawn mainly from St Louis and San Francisco, and paid for in part with the money received for surplus grain, stock, and garden produce from passing emigrants, who, together with the soldiery and the stage lines, furnished almost

²²Companies were organized to build both these roads in 1872, and they were constructed by local enterprise, afterward becoming tributary to the Denver and Rio Grande.

²³In addition to the above roads, there were two short lines, formerly in operation, and known as the Summit County and American Fork. Both have been abandoned. For further particulars as to the Utah railroads, see Hollister's Res. and Attract. of Utah, 58-65; Utah Gazetteer, 1884, 105-11; Crofutt's Overl. Tourist, 126-42; Utah Res., 43-8; Hayden's Gt West, 319; Duffus-Hardy's Through Cities, 97; Utah Laws, 1878, 13, 1882, 12-18; Utah Jour. Legisl., 1880, 135-7; Sec. Int. Rept, 42d Cong. 3d Sess., pt i., 167; Sen. Ex. Doc., 45th Cong. 2d Sees., 40. In 1883 the bonded debt of the Utah Central was $4,900,000, of the Utah Eastern $400,000, of the Utah and Northern $972,000, of the Salt Lake and Western $1,080,000, of the Sanpete Valley, $750,000. The Utah and Nevada had no bonded debt.

the principal cash receipts of Utah.²⁴ In 1871 the volume of domestic imports and exports had increased to 80,000 tons, and since that date has averaged about 125,000 tons, of which two thirds were imports, and nearly one half consisted of material needed for mining operations.

    The total value of imports for 1882 was estimated at $11,410,000, and of exports at $11,525,000, the chief items among the former being dry goods, groceries, clothing, lumber and other building material, agricultural implements, leather and leathern manufactures; among the latter, gold, silver, lead, copper matte, live-stock, beef, wool, hides, pelts, furs, and tallow,²⁵ the exports of metals alone amounting to $9,000,000. The shipment of iron ore and charcoal to Utah, which at one time were important factors in the imports, has now practically ceased; but the territory must always import more or less of lumber, agricultural implements, wagons, and furniture; for there are no hard or finishing woods of native growth, and lumber of good quality cut from native timber is scarce and difficult to obtain. Imports of leathern and woollen goods will doubtless decrease with the growth of manufactures, though for reasons that are explained elsewhere, the leather produced in Utah is of inferior quality.

    While Utah could without difficulty produce a large surplus of many agricultural products, distance from market and an exorbitant freight tariff make it almost impossible for her to compete with the Pacific and western states. Several efforts have been made in this direction, but the results were not satisfactory, and it is doubtful whether Utah has yet sent away in all more than 1,000,000 bushels of grain. The experiment

²⁵Hollister's Res. and Attract. of Utah, 67-8; Utah Gazetteer, 1884, 113, where are tables of imports and exports for 1882.

was first tried on a large scale in 1878, when a ship was laden at San Francisco with 64,000 bushels of Utah wheat, the cargo being sold before the vessel put to sea. A few months later a ship was chartered for England with 78,000 bushels,²⁶ but though a small profit was realized, it was not sufficient to encourage further operations.

    If to the $11,410,000 of imports there be added 25 per cent as the profits of jobbers and retailers, we have a total of about $14,250,000, which represents approximately the general business of Utah. It is worthy of note that while this large amount of business is transacted, the average number of failures for the eight years ending 1883 did not exceed fourteen, with liabilities averaging about $11,000.²⁷ The credit of Utah merchants is for the most part exceptionally good; not that they are considered more upright than other merchants, but because a very large proportion of cash is now employed in their transactions; and while many import on a small scale, the bulk of the business is done by a few large firms, which trade on a sufficient capital and do not require much credit.

    In 1883 it was estimated that the Zion's Coöperative Mercantile Institution, with its 800 stockholders, its cash capital of $1,000,000, its surplus of $150,000, and its branches at Ogden and Logan, imported at least one third of all the merchandise consumed in Utah. Soon after this association was established, coöperative stores were opened in every large town, and in nearly every village and farming settlement, all of them purchasing from the so-called parent institution, and through its agency disposing of the produce received in barter. Every one who could purchase or earn a share of stock contributed his labor or capital, and though many of them succumbed through opposition or over-anxiety to disburse

²⁷See reports of R. G. Dun & Co.'s agency.

large dividends, it is probable that at least two thirds of the settlers patronize them at this day.²⁸

    The progress and development of trade in Utah froth the days of 1848, when probably the entire cash capital of the community did not amount to $3,000, present some interesting and anomalous features. At first, as we have seen, the Mormons desired to avoid all traffic with the outside world; but as emigrants passed over their roads and through their settlements, goods were exchanged with advantage to both sides. It was not until two years after the pioneers entered the valley that the first store was opened at an adobe house, in the seventeenth ward of Salt Lake City, by the firm of Livingston & Kinkead,²⁹ whose stock was worth some $20,000. In 1850 the firm of Holliday & Warner established a branch of their business in the capital, through their agent, William H. Hooper, who opened a store in a building erected for school purposes, on the block occupied by Brigham Young, thence removing to the structure later occupied by the museum.³⁰

    Soon the unerring scent of commerce discovered the direction which business must take, and Main

²⁹Richards' Reminiscences, MS., 31. At this date the firm occupied what was considered the most convenient house in the city. Later it was pulled down. In the Deseret News of Sept. 28, 1854, it is stated that Capt. Grant of Fort Hall was the first outsider who brought goods to the Utah market for sale, offering sugar and coffee at $1 a pint, calico at 50 to 75 cents a yard, and other articles in proportion. Livingston & Kinkead, who came with the intention of trading for five years, realizing a certain net profit, and then returning to Egypt, which they did, sold coffee and sugar at 40 cents a pound (a little more than a pint), calico at 25 cents a yard, etc. At this date there were few eastern, or, as they were termed, states goods in the market; and if we can believe Beadle's Life in Utah, 197, the firm took in $10,000 in gold the first day their store was opened. As this amount then probably represented almost the entire floating capital of the Mormons, the statement must be taken for what it is worth.

³⁰In 1851 David Smith and E. N. Cook, bound for Oregon with a large band of stock from St Joseph, stopped at Salt Lake City for three weeks, trading dry goods, etc., for additional cattle. Clark's Sights, MS., 11.

street, then dubbed Whiskey street, the denizens of which were often rebuked in the tabernacle for their iniquities, rapidly became the business quarter of the city, John and Enoch Reese, the third firm in historic date, building a store on the ground later occupied by the express office, and J M. Horner & Co., the fourth, occupying a portion of the premises of the Deseret News.³¹ Among the men who had become prominent at the time of the Utah war were Gilbert & Gerrish and William Nixon, the latter being still termed the father of Utah merchants.³²

    Before the Utah war and for several years afterward, internal trade was conducted mainly by barter and the due-bill system. At this period the settlers had little use for money, and preferred taking in exchange for their commodities something that they could eat, or drink, or wear, and which could not be had at home. Thus scores of well-to-do farmers, with families to clothe and educate, while living in greater comfort perhaps than those of the western or Pacific states, seldom possessed a dollar in coin. Should one of them, for instance, require clothing for wife or child, he consulted the store-keeper, who agreed, perhaps, to supply him for so many loads of wood. If he should have no spare wood, he searched out some neighbor who had a surplus and offered him its equivalent in butter or poultry. Perhaps, however, this neighbor did not need butter or poultry, but required a few loads of gravel or adobes. In that case the farmer must find some one who was willing to exchange

³²Gilbert & Gerrish were a gentile firm, and William Nixon was a Mormon of English descent, who began his commercial career at St Louis. Among his pupils were the Walker brothers.

for his poultry or butter, gravel or adobes, which he delivered in return for wood, hauled the wood to the store, and thus, at length, wife and child were clad. For the tuition of his children he would pay, perhaps, so many dozens of eggs per quarter; for admission to the theatre, a score of cabbages; for the services of a laborer or mechanic, a certain number of watermelons per day; and his tithes were usually, but not always, paid in kind.

    In this primitive fashion, until the advent of the railroad, trade was for the most part conducted in Utah; and notwithstanding the wisdom and economic system of their rulers, there were times, as will be remembered, when the settlers were really needy. The country was relieved only by a train of fortunate, or as the settlers believed providential, circumstances. These were, first, the presence of the army of Utah, which after disbursing large sums among the community sold them its substance at nominal rates; second, the arrival of a second army under Colonel Connor, with the interchange of traffic and demand for labor thereby occasioned; third, the needs of the overland mail and telegraph lines.

    In part through such adventitious aid, the merchants of Utah, putting forth their might, built up a commerce as wonderful in its growth and development as that of any of the states on the Atlantic or Pacific seaboard. As early as 1864 there were several houses in Salt Lake City that purchased in New York, St Louis, or Chicago goods to the value of $250,000 or more at a time, among them being William Jennings,³³ Godbe & Mitchell, the Walker Brothers,

and Kimball & Lawrence, than whom few firms throughout the United States, outside, perhaps, of Boston, ranked higher as to commercial integrity. After the founding of Zion's Coöperative Mercantile Institution, mentioned elsewhere, and the development of its banking system, the trade and commerce of Utah assumed a more homogeneous character.³⁴

    In 1883 there were twelve private and five national banks in operation in Utah, of which six were at the capital, three at Ogden, two at Logan, and one each at the several towns of Provo, Corinne, St George, Richfield, Silver Reef, and Park City. Their aggregate paid-up capital was estimated at $1,000,000, their loans at $3,000,000, their deposits at $3,500,000, and the amount of their exchange business at from $12,000,000 to $15,000,000.³⁵

³⁴Until the advent of the railroad, the prices of all commodities continued extremely high. At a convention held at the Bowery, S. L. City, Oct. 4, 1864, the price of flour was fixed at $12 her 100 lbs of wheat corn and beans at $5, $4, and $10 per bushel respectively, of pork at 30 cents, and of dried apples at 75 cents per lb., all in gold. Deseret News, Oct. 19, 1864. Bowles says that in June of the following year lumber was worth $100 per thousand feet, sugar 75 to 85 cents, coffee $1 to $1.10 and tea 3.50 to $5 per lb. Across the Continent, 101-2. These prices were in currency.

³⁵Utah Gazetteer, 1884, 115. The firm of Hooper, Eldredge, & Co.—W. H. Hooper, H. S. Eldredge, and L. S. Hills—commenced business at S. L. City May 1, 1869, with a capital of $40,000. They were succeeded by the Bank of Deseret, incorporated under territorial law Sept. 1, 1871, with a capital of $100,000, Brigham Young being president, H. S. Eldredge vice-president, and W. H. Hooper, W. Jennings, F. Little, and J. Sharp the remaining directors. L. S. Hills was cashier. this institution was again succeeded by the Deseret National Bank, organized under the act of Nov. 1, 1872, (cont.)

    At this date there were some fifty insurance agencies having business with Salt Lake City and Ogden, their risks on buildings amounting to $500,000, and on merchandise in stock to $3,500,000.³⁶

    Thus with her 1,143 miles of railroad, her agricultural and stock-raising interests, now valued at $12,000,000 a year, her manufactures at $5,000,000, her mining output at $7,000,000 or $8,000,000, her commerce at $23,000,000, and her seventeen national and commercial banks, it will be seen that Utah compares

    The Ogden banks were the Commercial National Bank, the Utah National Bank of Ogden, and the First National, of which last H. S. Eldredge was president in 1885. The business of the Commercial National was purchased from J. M. Langsdorf and H. O. Harkness, the former organizing the firm of J. W. Guthrie & Co. at Corinne in 1874. J. M. Langsdorf, a native of Pittsburg, Pa, came to Utah in 1869. His first occupation was to sweep out the bank at Corinne, of which he was soon made book-keeper, and afterward manager. Langsdorf's Stock-raising in Weber Co., MS. Guthrie & Co.'s business afterward fell into the hands of R. M. Dooly, by whom the Utah National Bank of Ogden was organized in 1883. Dooly, a native of Ill., came to Cal. in 1872, removing to Utah the following year, and being employed by Wells, Fargo, & Co. until Oct. 1881. In 1878 he was married to Mary Eliza Helfrich, a native of Grass Valley, Cal. Dooly's Ogden Banks, MS. Among the bankers of Ogden may also be mentioned Watson N. Shilling, a native of Ohio, where he was born in 1840. Removing to Michigan when he was twelve years of age, he enlisted in 1861 in the 1st Michigan cavalry, serving throughout the war, and being mustered out, in 1865, at Fort Collins, Col. Two years later he proceeded to Oneida co., Id., where he engaged in farming, trading, and stock-raising, and where in 1884 he still retained his interests, his residence in Ogden being mainly with a view to the education of his family. In 1883 he was a delegate to the national republican convention, throwing in his influence to secure the nomination of Blaine. Utah Biog. Sketches, MS., 56. The Logan banks were those of Charles Frank and Thatcher Bros & Co., the latter having a capital of $75,000. The bank at Provo was named the First National, its capital being $50,000, with A. O. Smoot as president; the one at St George was conducted by Woolley, Lund, & Judd; the one at Richfield by Jas M. Peterson; and the one at Silver Reef by R. T. Gillespie. For further particulars concerning Utah banks, see Tullidge's Mag., i. 522-3; House Ex. Doc., 46th Cong. 3d Sess., cxciii. 713; Deseret News, Nov. 6, 1872, Aug. 27, 1873; S. L. C. Tribune, Jan. 11, 1873; S. F. Post, Aug. 9, Oct. 21, 1873; S. F. Chronicle, July 17, 1877; Silver Reef Miner, Jan. 21, 1883.

³⁶Alex. Daul of Ogden opened the first fire-insurance agency in Utah. Mr Daul, a native of Germany, came to the U.S. in 1862, and on arriving at S. L. City was for the most part employed as a missionary until 1873.

not unfavorably with the states of the Pacific slope. She is practically free from debt, and nowhere is taxation lighter or more equitably adjusted. In 1865, as we have seen, the territorial and county taxes were not allowed in any case to exceed one per cent of the assessed value of property, while for school purposes they seldom exceeded one fourth of one per cent.³⁷ In 1883 the rate was but six mills on the dollar for both territorial and school purposes,³⁸ counties being allowed discretion as to their rate of levy, provided that it should never exceed six mills on the dollar.³⁹ Cities were limited to five mills on the dollar for municipal expenses, and five mills for the making and repair of streets. The assessed value of all property in the territory was, in 1883, $30,834,425,⁴⁰ and this was considerably less than 50 per cent of the real value, the total revenue from territorial and school tax being $185,000,⁴¹ or little more than $1 per capita of the population. That this sum was expended economically for the public benefit is shown by the number of public buildings, roads, bridges, and other improvements in the cities and counties of Utah.⁴²

³⁸A property tax, not exceeding two per cent, might be levied, however, for school buildings and improvements.

³⁹For amount of property and taxes, and financial reports of the several counties at various dates, see Utah Jour. Legisl., 1859-60, 12-15; 1860-1, 19; 1861-2, 29; 1862-3, 35; 1865-6, 24; 1866-7, 22-3; 1868, 20, 66-73, 135 -6, 141-2; 1869, passim; 1876, 35-6, 45-6, 271-7; 1878, 51-2, 403-64; 1880, 151-205; Utah Fin. Repts of Cos.; Mess. of Gov., 1870, 10.

⁴⁰As shown in the office of Auditor Clayton. Utah Gazetteer, 1884, 116. In S. L. C. Contributor, Feb. 1883, 183, it is given at $34,000,000.

⁴¹Mines and mining products were exempt, though machinery and improvements were liable to taxation. The county assessors were allowed to make their own standard, the result being that the tax was but 20 to 50 per cent of the cash valuation. Thus a steer was valued in one county at $15, in another at $6 or $8, whereas the cash value of cattle was in 1883 $25 to $30 per head. Roads bonded at $20,000 per mile were assessed at about $2,000, and others in the same proportion, the rate never exceeding one sixth of the indebtedness.

⁴²For governors', auditors', and treasurers' reports and statements as to territorial revenue, expenditure, and appropriations, see Utah Jour. Legisl. 1851-2 (joint sess.), 110-13; 1853-4 (joint sess.), 118-20; 1854-5, 94, 100-1, 109-12; 1859-60, 9-16; 1860-1, 16-25; 1861-2, 27-33; 1862-3, 33-9, app xiii. -xv.; 1863-4, 21-6; 1864-5, 14-19; 1865-6, 23-33; 1866-7, 22-31; 1868, 20-7; 1869, 20-7; 1876, 35-48, 266-79; 1878, 51-64, 316, 321-2; 1880, 23-46; Utah Acts Legisl., 1866, 84-6; Utah Laws, 1878, 11-23; 1880, 41-4; (cont.)

This amount does not of course include the income from tithes, which in 1880 was estimated at $458,000,⁴³ a sum not larger in proportion to population than is expended for religious and charitable purposes in other states and territories of the union.

    The receipts of the United States internal revenue from Utah were for 1883 about $48,000, and for the twenty preceding years averaged about $40,000. Neither tobacco nor spirituous liquors were manufactured in the country, though 230,000 cigars and some 18,000 barrels of malt liquors made during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1883, yielded revenue to the amount of $18,097. Apart from these items, most of the internal revenue receipts were derived from license taxes.⁴⁴

    The United States land-office at Salt Lake City was opened in the year 1869. Up to the 31st of March, 1884, the total payments made through this office were $831,209.08, this amount representing almost the entire sum paid for lands disposed of by government. During this period 6,388 homestead entries were made, covering an area of 844,159 acres, and 2,773 final proofs. The number of mineral-land entries was 1,023, and their area 8,656 acres; of coal-land entries 72, with an area of 10,423 acres.⁴⁵

⁴³Utah Hand-Book of Mormonism, 6, 40, where it is stated that the total income of the priesthood exceeded $1,000,000.

⁴⁴Utah Gazetteer, 1884, 117. For other matters relating to internal revenue, see Rev. Rept Com., 1863, 1804, passim; Deseret News, March 8, 1871. In 1862 a memorial was presented for a remission of direct federal taxation, for which see Utah Acts Legisl., 1861-2, 59-60. In 1878 a memorial was presented to congress asking that a mint be established in S. L. City. H. Misc. Doc., 45th Cong. 2d Sess., 54, 97. In 1868 the Mormons again issued a currency of their own. S. F. Call, Nov. 29, 1868; Gold Hill News, Nov. 14, 1868; S. F. Bulletin, April 12, 1872.

⁴⁵Utah Gazetteer, 1884, 117. For list of Utah land-offices in 1882, see H. Ex. Doc., 47th Cong. 2d Sess., x. 42. For patents issued to gentile as against Mormon applicants, see Sen. Dec., 46th Cong. 2d Sess., v., no. 181. The total number of acres disposed of in each year will be found in H. Ex. (cont.)

    The receipts of the post-office at Salt Lake City for the year ending March 31, 1884, amounted to $39,294, and the expenses to $12,871, leaving a surplus in this department of $26,423. The first post-office was established in March 1849, letters being usually delivered before that date at the conclusion of divine service on the sabbath at the several places of worship. Of mail contracts and services up to the close of 1856 mention has already been made.⁴⁶ At that date, it will be remembered, there was a monthly service, when not interrupted by severity of weather or unforeseen casualties, connecting eastward with Independence and westward with Sacramento. After the reopening of postal communication, interrupted by the Utah war, there was little regard to regularity or promptness in the delivery of the mails, letters and papers being often lost, mail-bags wetted, thrown carelessly to the ground, and sometimes purposely destroyed.

⁴⁶See pp. 500-502, this vol.

As for magazines and newspapers, the saints considered themselves fortunate if they received them four months after date. The establishment of the pony express in 1860, and the persistence with which the Mormons advertised their grievances, improved matters considerably; and with the building of railroads, lines of postal route were of course established throughout the territory. In 1879 there were 109 routes, the subsidies for which amounted to nearly $200,000⁴⁷ and about 200 postmasters, whose compensation varied from 18 cents to $2,800 a year.⁴⁸

    On October 18, 1861, a message from Brigham Young was received by the president of the Pacific Telegraph Company at Cleveland, Ohio, of which the following is a portion: "Utah has not seceded, but is firm for the constitution and laws of our once happy country."⁴⁹ The message was courteously answered. the same day Secretary and Acting Governor Frank Fuller thus saluted President Lincoln: "Utah, whose citizens strenuously resist all imputations of disloyalty, congratulates the president upon the completion of an enterprise which spans a continent…May the whole system speedily thrill with the quickened pulsations

⁴⁸Names of post-offices, postmasters, and the compensation paid to each will be found in Id., 351-2. For further items concerning mail services, see Richards' Incidents of Utah Hist., MS., passim; for statistics, House Ex. Doc., 35th Cong. 2d Sess., ii., pt iv., pp. 757, 783, 819, 833; 37th Cong. 3d Sess., iv. 152-5, 170, 214; 38th Cong. 1st Sess., v., pt ii., 73; 38th Cong. 2d Sess., v. 802, 822, 829-30, 861; 41st Cong. 2d Sess., i. 43, 66, 88-9, 104, 114; 41st Cong. 3d Sess., i., pt iii., vol. iii., 46, 73, 147-9, 156, 169-71; 42d Cong. 3d Sess., i., pt iv., vol. iv., 54, 136, 140, 228, 237-43; 45th Cong. 2d Sess., vii., pt ii., 6-7, 20, 56, 65, 218; Sen. Ex. Doc., 36th Cong. 1st Sess., i., vol. iii., pt i., 1432-1440; 37th Cong. 2d Sess., i., vol. iii., 585-6, 601-3, 621, 644; Mess. and Doc., 36th Cong. 1st Sess., pt iii., 1432-72; 39th Cong. 1st Sess. (abridged), 48-53; 39th Cong. 2d Sess., P. M. Genl Rept, 18-19, 24, 50, 87; 40th Cong. 2d Sess. (abridged), 772-9. For routes, expenses, subsidies, etc., see Postmaster-Gen. Rept, 1858, pp. 45, 69, 71, 12l; 1859, 46, 54, 86; 1860, 74, 76, 140; 1865, 25, 40, 58-9, 83-4; 1868, 42, 64, 261-2, 278; 1871, 17, 40, 47, 85-6, 116, 126-8; 1873, 33, 69, 184-5, 198, 208-20; 1875, 77, 83, 210, 230, 241-51; 1876, 20, 41-5, 81, 89, 182-3, 198, 204-9; H. Ex. Doc., 47th Cong. 2d Sess., xxii., no. 93, pp. 255-7; Id., 48th Cong. 1st Sess., pt 4, no. 2, pp. 252, 292, 612.

⁴⁹Deseret News, Oct. 23, 1861.

of the heart, as the parricide hand is palsied, treason is punished, and the entire sisterhood of states join hands in glad reunion around the national fireside." The president answered: "The government reciprocates your congratulations."⁵⁰ In the autumn of this year the line was completed westward to California.⁵¹ The charge for messages to New York was in 1861 at the rate of $7.50 for 10 words, as against $1.50 in 1880.⁵²

    At the former date Brigham had already resolved to connect the leading settlements of Utah by means of a home telegraph system. It was not, however, until the autumn of 1865 that the matter was brought prominently before the people. They responded cheerfully and promptly, as they ever did to his behests, contributing funds and labor, and about a year later the Deseret Telegraph Co. was in operation, the line opening for business in December 1866, connecting first with Ogden, and soon afterward with Brigham City and Logan, its northern terminus. In January 1867, 500 miles of wire had been laid, extending northward to Cache Valley and southward to St George, with a branch line running through Sanpete Valley.⁵³ During this month the company was organized under charter from the legislature, with a capital of $500,000.⁵⁴ The line was afterward continued

⁵¹Deseret Tel. of. Co. Mem., in Utah Jottings, MS. In 1859 an act was passed to incorporate the Placerville, Humboldt, and S. L. C. Tel. Co. See Utah Acts, 1858-9, 26.

⁵²For day rate. The night rate was 75 cents. Deseret Tel. Co. Mem., in Utah Jottings, MS.

⁵³Id. On this the first circuit 320 pounds of wire were used per mile, the cost being 35 cents per lb and $150 per mile. Tullidge's Life of Brigham Young, suppl. 67. In the Deseret News of Jan. 23, 1867, the line is termed the Deseret State Telegraph.

⁵⁴The officers were Brigham Young president, Dan. H. Wells viee-president, Geo. Q. Cannon treasurer, and Wm Clayton secretary, the two first being ex officio members of the board; the remaining directors were Edward Hunter, Geo. A. Smith, A. O. Smoot, A. H. Raleigh, John Sharp, Jos. A. Young, Erastus Snow, Ezra T. Benson, and A. M. Musser, the last named being appointed superintendent. Deseret Tel. Co. Mem., in Utah Jottings, MS.

    Amos Milton Musser, a Pennsylvanian by birth, joined the Mormons in (cont.)

through Sevier county to Monroe, and from Toquerville to the Kanab country in south-eastern Utah, to Tintic, Cottonwood, and Bingham, and to Pioche and other towns in south-eastern Nevada. In 1880 it had been further extended to Paris, Idaho, to the mining towns of Frisco, Silver City, and Alta, and toward the south-east as far as Ordenville, touching Arizona in its route. At this date there were 955 miles of pole line, 1,130 of wire, and 68 offices in operation. The capital stock was held entirely by Mormons, and though much of the route lay through a sparsely settled country, where the expenses were out of all proportion to the receipts, the enterprise was self-supporting.⁵⁵

    In 1882 there were 2,647 miles of telegraph and 600 of telephone wire, with 560 instruments in Utah,⁵⁶ and communication with the adjacent states and territories was being rapidly pushed forward.

    The people of the United States seem now determined that polygamy shall be suppressed. During the years 1885-7, fines and imprisonments were of constant occurrence, and hundreds of heads of families went into hiding. Some voluntarily came forward, gave themselves up, and stood their trial. Whether or not the system is destined thus to be wholly rooted out, it is impossible to say. But in answer to the

⁵⁵In 1880 John Taylor was president, Dan. H. Wells vice-president, Jas Jack treasurer, and W. B. Dougall secretary, all of them being directors. The other members of the board were John Sharp, F. Little, Ed. Hunter, H. P. Kimball, and Geo. Reynolds. Musser having resigned the superintendency in 1876, Dougall was appointed in his stead. Id. In 1878 the wires were laid to the houses of many bishops of wards throughout the territory. Conyer's letters to Boston Educ. Jour.

⁵⁶Contributor, iv. 182. For list of telegraph offices, see Utah Gazetteer, 1884, 269.

oft-repeated accusations of those who regard the Mormons merely as an ulcer in the body politic, there are many points which to the impartial observer would seem worthy of being noted in their favor. Laying aside the questions of religion and polygamy, we find recorded in their annals one of the greatest achievements of modern times, and one that sheds a lustre on the dark cloud which, to gentile gaze, hangs like a funeral-pall over the genius of this singular and long-suffering community. Driven from Far West, from Kirtland, from Nauvoo, they found at length, amid the farthest west, an abiding-place—one then as remote from civilization as the wilds of Senegambia. There, within forty years, has been established a thriving community; there has been built one of the most sightly capitals west of the Mississippi, an oasis amid the great American desert, and with hundreds of settlements depending upon it. There farms and orchards, flocks and herds, factories and warehouses, cover the formerly unpeopled solitude, abandoned but a few decades ago to the savage, the coyote, and the wolf. The men and women who compose this community, drawn for the most part from the lower strata of European society, have not been slow to learn the practical lessons which their church has taught them; to learn how to exercise forethought, frugality, and other qualities which lead to success in life.⁵⁷

    Edward Hunter, a native of Newtown, Pa, was descended on the father's side from John Hunter, who served as lieutenant of cavalry under William III. at the battle of the Boyne, his mother's lineage being traced back to one Robert Owen, a Welsh quaker, who, refusing to take the oath of allegiance after the restoration in 1685, was imprisoned, and afterward emigrating to America, purchased an estate near Philadelphia. On his father's death, Edward, who was then only 22 years of age, was offered his position as justice of the peace, but refused it on account of his youth. A few years afterward he purchased a farm in Chester co., Pa, where he was visited by three Mormon elders, who were invited to make his house their home, though he had not yet joined the faith. In 1839 he entertained as his guest the prophet Joseph, who was then returning from his errand to Washington. In the following year he was baptized by Orson Hyde, then on his way to Jerusalem. In the summer of 1841 he proceeded to Nauvoo and purchased a farm from the prophet, contributing the first year no less than $15,000 to the church. In 1847 he entered the valley of Great Salt Lake with the first companies that followed the pioneers, and on the death of Newel K. Whitney was appointed presiding bishop of the church.

    Of the early career of Franklin D. Richards mention has already been made in these pages. In March 1869 he was appointed probate judge of Weber co., and removed with his family to Ogden, his sons Franklin S. and Charles being in 1885 prosecuting attorney, and county clerk and recorder. With the advent of the railroad Ogden was clearly destined to become a city second in importance only to the capital, and one that must soon contain a large gentile element, whereby the commercial and political control of northern Utah would be imperilled. At this juncture, also, it became advisable that the Weber stake should be raised to the dignity of an apostolic see, and for the purpose no better selection could have been made than that of Franklin D. Richards. Brought into contact with the business world during the many years when he directed the immense European migration to Utah, a man without political ambition, kindly, placable, and tolerant, his administration was no less acceptable to the gentile than to the Mormon community. At the close of 1855, though at that date in his 65th year, he still discharged his manifold duties with all the vigor of a man yet in the prime of life, and throughout his long career he has made not a single enemy. As I have already stated, I am under deep obligations to Mr Richards for his kindness in furnishing much valuable material for this volume that would else have been inaccessible.

    Lorenzo Snow, a native of Mantua, Ohio, but of New England parentage, first made the acquaintance of the Latter-day Saints while visiting his sisters at Kirtland, Lorenzo having just completed his course at Oberlin college. Convinced of the truth of their doctrines, he was baptized, ordained an elder, and scut forth to preach. As a missionary, none remained longer in the field, or travelled more, his journeys between 1836 and 1872 extending over 150,000 miles. In Feb. 1846 he crossed the Mississippi in company with the twelve, being himself ordained an apostle some three years later. When Box Elder co. was organized, he was made president of the stake at Brigham City, and afterward member of the council for Box Elder and Weber, both of which positions he held for many years. He was an active promoter of the coöperative movement, establishing in 1863-4 a coöperative store, and afterward a tannery, a woollen factory, and several coöperative farms, the employés having the privilege of counting the value of their labor as so much capital (cont.)

(⁵⁷cont.) invested in the concern. In the Biography and Family Records of Lorenzo Snow, Written and Compiled by his Sister, Eliza R. Snow Smith (S. L. City, 1884), we have an account of his travels and missionary labors, together with a description of various incidents in the early career of the saints. The book was written, however, as the authoress states, for the purpose of being handed down in lineal descent from generation to generation, to be preserved as a family memorial.

    Erastus Snow, who, with Orson Pratt, was, as the reader will remember, the first of the pioneer band that entered the valley of Great Salt Lake, joined the Mormon church in 1833, and two years afterward was ordained an elder, though at this time only 17 years of age. Bidding adieu to his parents at St Johnsbury, Vt—his birthplace—he journeyed to Kirtland, and thenceforward became prominently identified with the church, sharing in all its tribulations. In the winter of 1848-9 he was chosen an apostle, filling, with Lorenzo Snow, F. D. Richards, and C. C. Rich, the vacancies caused by the reorganization of the first presidency, and the apostasy of Lyman Wight. Soon afterward he was sent on a mission to Scandinavia, and through the branches of the church which he established in that country it has been claimed that nearly 20,000 converts were gathered into the fold. After the close of his missionary career his labors were directed to the founding and development of various settlements in southern Utah, over which he presided as their spiritual head, being also a member of council in the territorial legislature.

    Like Heber C. Kimball, Charles Coulson Rich came of puritan stock, though a native of Kentucky, where he was born in 1809 He was baptized into the church in 1832, receiving his endowments at Kirtland, where he was ordained a high-priest by Hyrum Smith. Moving to Far West in 1836, he rendered good service during the persecutions in Missouri, being afterward forced, to rice for his life through the wilderness, and making his way to Nauvoo, where he was appointed a member of the high council. In the winter of 1816-7 he was president of the stake at Mount Pisgah, and set forth from Winter Quarters in June of the latter year in charge of a company of saints. In 1849 he was chosen an apostle, and set out on a mission to California, returning in Nov. 1850, and the following year taking charge of the San Bernardino colony. His first mission to Europe was in 1860, when he labored for two years in England, again reaching Zion in 1863, when he settled in Bear Lake Valley, where he resided for the most part until his decease in 1883, serving for several terms as a member of the legislature. Contributor. Dec. 1883, 114-15.

    Albert Carrington, a native of Royalton, Vt, and a graduate of Dartmouth college, joined the Mormon church in Wiota, Wis., in 1841, and removed to Nauvoo in 1844, a few weeks before the prophet's assassination. A member of the pioneer band, he returned with Brigham Young to gather up the main body of the saints, and journeyed with them to the valley in 1848. After the admission of Utah as a territory, he was several times elected a member of the council until 1868, when he was sent to England to preside over the European missions. For twenty years, when not on some mission, he acted as private secretary to Brigham, and his ability gained for him among anti-Mormons the sobriquet of 'The Mormon Wolsey.' In 1870 he was ordained an apostle, and for several years afterward presided over the British mission.

    Elias Smith, nephew to Joseph Smith, the prophet's father, was born at Royalton, Vt, near the birthplace of the former. Joining the Mormon faith in 1834, being then 30 years of age, he removed in 1836 to Kirtland, and thence to Nauvoo, where he was business manager of the Times and Seasons and Nauvoo Neighbor, filling the same position on the staff of the Deseret News after his arrival in Salt Lake City. In 185l he was appointed probate judge of Salt Lake county, which office he retained for many years; and throughout his public career it may be said that he was almost without an enemy; in such respect were his decisions held, both in law and in equity, while his private life was also beyond reproach.

    In connection with the judiciary of Utah may be mentioned Alexander (cont.)

(⁵⁷cont.) Pyper, a native of Ayrshire, Scotland, who in 1874 was appointed police court judge of Salt Lake City. His administration of justice was somewhat in contrast with that which prevailed in the third judicial district, James B. McKean being in office during the same year. At that date the questions asked by the prosecuting attorney of jurors and applicants for citizenship were of such a nature that they frequently excluded persons who were not polygamists but simply believed in the Mormon faith, among them being, 'Are you a Mormon?' 'Have you been through the Mormon Endowment House?' 'Do you believe that polygamy is a divine revelation?' 'My education and religion,' remarked Judge Pyper, 'have taught me to deal fairly and justly toward all men, under the law, irrespective of their conditions or opinions.'

    David O. Calder, a native of Thurso, Caithness, Scotland, joined the Mormon church in 1840, and in 1851 started for Utah, accompanied by his mother and her family. A man of excellent business ability, his talents were quickly recognized. In 1857 he was appointed chief clerk to the trustee in trust of the church, and in that position organized a system of accounts and records in all the departments of the church. Between 1859 and 1870 he held office as territorial treasurer, and after a visit to his native country, where he also labored as a missionary, was chosen business manager and managing editor of the Deseret News, and a director of Zion's Coöperative Mercantile Institute, which latter position he held until his decease in July 1884.

    Among the presidents of the Utah stake of Zion may be mentioned Harvey Harris Cluff, a native of Kirtland, whose ancestors settled at Durham, N. H., a few years after the arrival of the Mayflower, and whose father, David Cluff, served in the American army during the war of 1812. Removing from Durham to Ohio in 1830, David and his family joined the Mormon faith, and proceeding thence to Nauvoo, shared in all the hardships of the exodus, arriving in the autumn of 1850 in the valley of Great Salt Lake, where they cast in their lot at Provo. On the 6th of October, 1856, when Brigham Young announced before a general conference of the church the threatened disaster to the hand-cart emigrants, Harvey Cluff, then only in his twentieth year, was one of the first who volunteered to go to their aid. On this occasion he states that the provisions and clothing furnished before nightfall were more than sufficent to lead 22 teams. In 1859 Mr Cluff was elected city councillor, and in 1875, after his missionary labors, principally in Europe and the Sandwich Islands, was ordained bishop, and assigned two years later to the charge of the fourth ward of Provo City. Biog. Sketch of H. H. Cluff, MS.

    Biographies of other prominent men are given in Richards' Bibliog. of Utah, MS.; Utah Biog. Sketches, MS.; Contributor; Tullidge's Mag.; Deseret News; S. L. C. Tribune; S. L C. Herald, passim.

    For further references to authorities consulted in the last chapters of this volume, see 34th Cong. 1st Sess., H. Ex. Doc., l, pt 2, 504-7; pt 3, 375, 431; Doc., 10, 235; H. Rept, 185; S. Doc., 96, vol. xviii., 559; Id., 3d Sess., S. Doc., 5, 837, 877; 35th Cong. 1st Sess., H Ex. Doc., 2, pt 2, 1053, 1096; Id., 2d Sess., 1, pt 2, 12, 149-51, 202-6; pt 3, 1300-3; pt 4, 757, 783, 819, 833; S. Ex. Doc., 39, 1-73; 40, passim; 36th Cong. 1st Sess., Mess. and Doc., pt 2, 13-15, 121, 131-2, 194-5, 200-4, 207-20, 221-44, 589; pt 3, 1432, 72; Id., S. Ex. Doc., 1, vol. iii., pt 1, 490-2, 556; 52, 417-98; Id., 2d Sess., H. Misc. Doc., 34; H. Ex. Doc., 63, vol. ix.; 37th Cong. 2d Sess., S. Doc., 1, vol. iii., 585-6, 601-3, 621, 644; Acts and Res., 209; Id., 3d Sess., H. Ex. Doc., 1, vol. iv., 152-5, 170, 214; 38th Cong. 1st Sess., H. Ex. Doc., 1, vol. v., pt 2, 73; Id., 45, vol. ix.; Id., 2d Sess., 802, 822, 829-30, 861; 39th Cong. 1st Sess., Mess. and Doc., 48-53; H. Com. Rept, 96; ld., 2d Sess., Mess. and Doc., 18-19, 24, 50, 87; H. Jour., 523, 733-5, 765; S. Jour., 624; Acts and Res., 303; 40th Cong. 1st Sess., S. Jour., 307; H. Jour., 365; H. Misc. Doc., 26; Id., 2d Sess., Mess. and Doc. Abridg., 772-6; H. Misc. Doc., 35; Doc., 153, 25-8; H. Com. Rept, 8, 79; H. Jour., 1407; S. Jour., 1240-1; Cong. Direc., 41; Id., 3d Sess., H. Jour., 671; Mess. and Doc. Abridg., (cont.)