The Story of the Mormons, from the Date of Their Origin to the Year 1901 Part 52

* See Linforth's "Route," pp. 2-5.

The Oregon boundary treaty was less than a year old when this pet.i.tion was presented. It was characteristic of Mormon duplicity to find their representatives in Great Britain appealing to Queen Victoria on the ground of self-interest, while their chiefs in the United States were pointing to the organization of the Battalion as a proof of their fidelity to the home government. Practically no notice was taken of this pet.i.tion. Vancouver Island, was, however, held out to the converts in Great Britain as the one "gathering point of the Saints from the islands and distant portions of the earth," until the selection of Salt Lake Valley as the Saints' abiding place.

On December 23, 1847, Young, in behalf of the Twelve, issued from Winter Quarters a General Epistle to the church a which gave an account of his trip to the Salt Lake Valley, directed all to gather themselves speedily near Winter Quarters in readiness for the march to Salt Lake Valley, and said to the Saints in Europe:--

"Emigrate as speedily as possible to this vicinity. Those who have but little means, and little or no labor, will soon exhaust that means if they remain where they are. Therefore, it is wisdom that they remove without delay; for here is land on which, by their labor, they can speedily better their condition for their further journey." The list of things which Young advised the emigrants to bring with them embraced a wide a.s.sortment: grains, trees, and vines; live stock and fowls; agricultural implements and mills; firearms and ammunition; gold and silver and zinc and tin and bra.s.s and ivory and precious stones; curiosities, "sweet instruments of music, sweet odors, and beautiful colors." The care of the head of the church, that the immigrants should not neglect to provide themselves with cologne and rouge for use in crossing the prairies, was most thoughtful.

* Millennial Star, Vol. X, p. 81.

The Millennial Star of February 1, 1848, made this announcement to the faithful in the British Isles:--

"The channel of Saints' emigration to the land of Zion is now opened.

The resting place of Israel for the last days has been discovered. In the elevated valley of the Salt and Utah Lakes, with the beautiful river Jordan running through it, is the newly established Stake of Zion. There vegetation flourishes with magic rapidity. And the food of man, or staff of life, leaps into maturity from the bowels of Mother Earth with astonis.h.i.+ng celerity. Within one month from planting, potatoes grew from six to eight inches, and corn from two to four feet. There the frequent clouds introduce their fertilizing contents at a modest distance from the fat valley, and send their humid influences from the mountain tops.

There the saline atmosphere of Salt Lake mingles in wedlock with the fresh humidity of the same vegetable element which comes over the mountain top, as if the nuptial bonds of rare elements were introduced to exhibit a novel specimen of a perfect vegetable progeny in the shortest possible time," etc.

Contrast this with Brigham Young's letter to Colonel Alexander in October, 1857,--"We had hoped that in this barren, desolate country we could have remained unmolested."

On the 20th of February, 1848, the s.h.i.+pment of Mormon emigrants began again with the sailing of the Cornatic, with 120 pa.s.sengers, for New Orleans.

In the following April, Orson Pratt was sent to England to take charge of the affairs of the church there. On his arrival, in August, he issued an "Epistle" which was influential in augmenting the movement. He said that "in the solitary valleys of the great interior" they hoped to hide "while the indignation of the Almighty is poured upon the nations"; and urged the rich to dispose of their property in order to help the poor, commanding all who could do so to pay their t.i.thing. "O ye saints of the Most High," he said, "linger not! Make good your retreat before the avenues are closed up!"

Many other letters were published in the Millennial Star in 1848-1849, giving glowing accounts of the fertility of Salt Lake Valley. One from the clerk of the camp observed: "Many cases of twins. In a row of seven houses joining each other eight births in one week."

In order to a.s.sist the poor converts in Europe, the General Conference held in Salt Lake City in October, 1849, voted to raise a fund, to be called "The Perpetual Emigrating Fund," and soon $5000 had been secured for this purpose. In September, 1850, the General a.s.sembly of the Provisional State of Deseret incorporated the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company, and Brigham Young was elected its first president. Collections for this fund in Great Britain amounted to 1410 pounds by January, 1852, and the emigrants sent out in that year were a.s.sisted from this fund.

These expenditures required an additional $5000, which was supplied from Salt Lake City. A letter issued by the First Presidency in October, 1849, urged the utmost economy in the expenditure of this money, and explained that, when the a.s.sisted emigrants arrived in Salt Lake City, they would give their obligations to the church to refund as soon as possible what had been expended on them.* In this way, any who were dissatisfied on their arrival in Utah found themselves in the church clutches, from which they could not escape.

* Millennial Star, Vol. XII, p. 124.

There were outbreaks of cholera among the emigrant parties crossing the plains in 1849, and many deaths.

In October, 1849, an important company left Salt Lake City to augment the list of missionaries in Europe. It included John Taylor and two others, a.s.signed to France; Lorenzo Snow and one other, to Italy; Erastus Snow and one other, to Denmark;* F. D. Richards and eight others, to England; and J. Fosgreene, to Sweden.

* Elder d.y.k.es reported in October, 1851, that, on his arrival in Aalborg, Denmark, he found that a mob had broken in the windows of the Saints' meeting-house and destroyed the furniture, and had also broken the windows of the Saints' houses, and, by the mayor's advice, he left the city by the first steamer. Millennial Star, Vol. XIII, p. 346.

The system of Mormon emigration from Great Britain at that time seems to have been in the main a good one. The rule of the agent in Liverpool was not to charter a vessel until enough pa.s.sengers had made their deposits to warrant him in doing so. The rate of fare depended on the price paid for the charter.* As soon as the pa.s.sengers arrived in Liverpool they could go on board s.h.i.+p, and, when enough came from one district, all sailed on one vessel. Once on board, they were organized with a president and two counsellors,--men who had crossed the ocean, if possible,--who allotted the staterooms, appointed watchmen to serve in turn, and looked after the sanitary arrangements. When the first through pa.s.sengers for Salt Lake City left Liverpool, in 1852, an experienced elder was sent in advance to have teams and supplies in readiness at the point where the land journey would begin, and other men of experience accompanied them to engage river portation when they reached New Orleans. The statistics of the emigration thus called out were as follows:--

* See Linforth's "Route," pp. to, 17-22; Mackay's "History of the Mormons," pp. 298-302; Pratt's letter to the Millennial Star, Vol. XI, p. 277.

YEAR VESSELS EMIGRANTS 1848 5 754 1849 9 2078 1850 6 1612 1851 4 1869

The Frontier Guardian at Kanesville estimated the Mormon movement across the plains in 1850 at about 700 wagons, taking 5000 horses and cattle and 4000 sheep.

Of the cla.s.s of emigrants then going out, the manager of the leading s.h.i.+pping agents at Liverpool who furnished the s.h.i.+ps said, "They are princ.i.p.ally farmers and mechanics, with some few clerks, surgeons, and so forth." He found on the company's books, for the period between October, 1849, and March, 1850, the names of 16 miners, 20 engineers, 19 farmers, 108 laborers, 10 joiners, 25 weavers, 15 shoemakers, 12 smiths, 19 tailors, 8 watchmakers, 25 stone masons, 5 butchers, 4 bakers, 4 potters, 10 painters, 7 s.h.i.+pwrights, and 5 dyers.

The statistics of the Mormon emigration given by the British agency for the years named were as follows:--

YEAR VESSELS EMIGRANTS

1852 3 732

1853 7 2312

1854 9 2456

1855 13 4425

In 1853 the experiment was made of engaging to send adults from Liverpool to Utah for 10 pounds each and children for half price; but this did not succeed, and those who embraced the offer had to borrow money or teams to complete the journey.

In 1853, owing to extortions practised on the emigrants by the merchants and traders at Kanesville, as well as the unhealthfulness of the Missouri bottoms, the princ.i.p.al point of departure from the river was changed to Keokuk, Iowa. The authorities and people there showed the new-comers every kindness, and set apart a plot of ground for their camp. In this camp each company on its arrival was organized and provided with the necessary teams, etc. In 1854 the point of departure was again changed to Kansas, in western Missouri, fourteen miles west of Independence, the route then running to the Big Blue River, and through what are now the states of Kansas and Nebraska.

CHAPTER IV. -- THE HAND-CART TRAGEDY

In 1855 the crops in Utah were almost a failure, and the church authorities found themselves very much embarra.s.sed by their debts. A report in the seventh General Epistle, of April 18, 1852, set forth that, from their entry into the valley to March 27, of that year, there had been received as t.i.thing, mostly in property, $244,747.03, and in loans and from other sources $145,513.78, of which total there had been expended in a.s.sisting immigrants and on church buildings, city lots, manufacturing industries, etc., $353,765.69. Young found it necessary therefore to cut down his expenses, and he looked around for a method of doing this without checking the stream of new-comers. The method which he evolved was to furnish the immigrants with hand-carts on their arrival in Iowa, and to let them walk all the way across the plains, taking with them only such effects as these carts would hold, each party of ten to drive with them one or two cows.

Although Young tried to throw the result of this experiment on others, the evidence is conclusive that he devised it and worked out its details. In a letter to Elder F. D. Richards, in Liverpool, dated September 30, 1855, Young said: "We cannot afford to purchase wagons and teams as in times past. I am consequently thrown back upon MY OLD PLAN--to make hand-carts, and let the emigration foot it." To show what a pleasant trip this would make, this head of the church, who had three times crossed the plains, added, "Fifteen miles a day will bring them through in 70 days, and, after they get accustomed to it, they will travel 20, 25, or even 30 with all ease, and no danger of giving out, but will continue to get stronger and stronger; the little ones and sick, if there are any, can be carried on the carts, but there will be none sick in a little time after they get started."*

* Millennial Star, Vol. VII, p. 813.

Directions in accordance with this plan were issued in the form of a circular in Liverpool in February, 1856, naming Iowa City, Iowa, as the point of outfit. The charge for booking through to Utah by the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company was fixed at 9 pounds for all over one year old, and 4 pounds 10 s.h.i.+llings for younger infants. The use of trunks or boxes was discouraged, and the emigrants were urged to provide themselves with oil-cloth or mackintosh bags.

About thirteen hundred persons left Liverpool to undertake this foot journey across the plains, placing implicit faith in the pictures of Salt Lake Valley drawn by the missionaries, and not doubting that the method of travel would be as enjoyable as it seemed economical. Five separate companies were started that summer from Iowa City. The first and second of these arrived at Florence, Nebraska, on July 17, the third, made up mostly of Welsh, on July 19, and the fourth on August 11.

The first company made the trip to Utah without anything more serious to report than the necessary discomforts of such a march, and were received with great acclaim by the church authorities, and welcomed with an elaborate procession. It was the last companies whose story became a tragedy.*

* The experiences of those companies were told in detail by a member of one, John Chislett, and printed in the "Rocky Mountain Saints." Mrs. Stenhouse gives additional experiences in her "Tell it All."

The immigrants met with their first disappointment on arriving at Iowa City. Instead of finding their carts ready for them, they were told that no advance agent had prepared the way. The last companies were subjected to the most delay from this cause. Even the carts were still to be manufactured, and, while they were making, many a family had to camp in the open fields, without even the shelter of a tent or a wagon top. The carts, when p.r.o.nounced finished, moved on two light wheels, the only iron used in their construction being a very thin tire. Two projecting shafts of hickory or oak were joined by a cross piece, by means of which the owner propelled the vehicle. When Mr. Chislett's company, after a three weeks' delay, made a start, they were five hundred strong, comprising English, Scotch, and Scandanavians. They were divided, as usual, into hundreds, to each hundred being allotted five tents, twenty hand-carts, and one wagon drawn by three yokes of oxen, the latter carrying the tents and provisions. Families containing more young men than were required to draw their own carts shared these human draught animals with other families who were not so well provided; but many carts were pulled along by young girls.

The Iowans bestowed on the travellers both kindness and commiseration.

Knowing better than did the new-comers from Europe the trials that awaited them, they pointed out the lateness of the season, and they did persuade a few members to give up the trip. But the elders who were in charge of the company were watchful, the religious spirit was kept up by daily meetings, and the one command that was constantly reiterated was, "Obey your leaders in all things."

A march of four weeks over a hot, dusty route was required to bring them to the Missouri River near Florence. Even there they were insufficiently supplied with food. With flour costing $3 per hundred pounds, and bacon seven or eight cents a pound, the daily allowance of food was ten ounces of flour to each adult, and four ounces to children under eight years old, with bacon, coffee, sugar, and rice served occasionally. Some of the men ate all their allowance for the day at their breakfast, and depended on the generosity of settlers on the way, while there were any, for what further food they had until the next morning.

After a week's stay at Florence (the old Winter Quarters), the march across the plains was resumed on August 18. The danger of making this trip so late in the season, with a company which included many women, children, and aged persons, gave even the elders pause, and a meeting was held to discuss the matter. But Levi Savage, who had made the trip to and from the valley, alone advised against continuing the march that season. The others urged the company to go on, declaring that they were G.o.d's people, and prophesying in His name that they would get through the mountains in safety. The emigrants, "simple, honest, eager to go to Zion at once, and obedient as little children to the 'servants of G.o.d,'