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I REMAINED from the 8th to the 21st February at Parowan. I was very ill during the
whole time; I was so much enervated by diarrhoea, that my physician advised me not to
accompany the expedition; the exertion of riding on horseback would have completely
prostrated me, my digestive organs were so much weakened, and impaired, by the irregular
living on horse meat, without salt or vegetables, that I was fearful that I should never
recover. Col. Fremont was very anxious for me to continue, but yielded to the necessity of
my remaining; he supplied me with means to reach home, and on the same day he bade me
farewell, to continue his journey over the Sierra Nevada, I left for great Salt Lake City,
in a wagon belonging to one of a large company of Mormons, who were on their way to
"Conference." I was so weak, that I had to be lifted in and out like a child. To
the kind attentions of Mr. Henry Lunt, President of Cedar City, Coal Creek, and his lady,
I was indebted for some necessaries, viz.—sugar, tea and coffee, which it was
impossible to purchase; they also offered me the use of their wagon, which was better
adapted to an invalid, than the one I occupied. Mr. Egloffstien also accompanied me; his
physical condition being similar to my own, he could not continue with Col. Fremont; he
successfully managed, notwithstanding his illness, to make topographical notes all the way
to Great Salt Lake City, a distance of three hundred miles, which we accomplished in ten
days, passing through all the different Mormon settlements on the road, particulars of
which I shall give in my journal, from Salt Lake City. We arrived at Great Salt Lake City
on the night of the 1st of March 1854, and took lodgings at Blair's hotel; in the morning
I learned that Lieut. Beckwith and Captain Morris, with the remnant of Captain Gunnison's
expedition, were hibernating in the city. I called on Lieut. Beckwith, who invited me and
my friend to mess at their table, at E. T. Benson's, one of the Mormon apostles, which I
gladly accepted, and that night I found myself once more associating with intelligent
gentlemen. The arrival of my friend, Egloffstien, proved very timely; the massacre of the
lamented Captain Gunnison and his officers, deprived Lieut. Beckwith of the services of
their topographical engineer, to which situation Mr. Egloffstien was immediately
appointed, and Lieut. Beckwith generously invited me to accompany the expedition, free of
any expense, which I respectfully declined, as I intended to reach California by the
Southern route, over the trail of Colonel Fremont, in 1843. To the kindness of Lieut.
Beckwith I was also indebted for a supply of painting materials which I could not have
procured elsewhere, and by the use of which, I was enabled to successfully prosecute my
profession, during my residence in that city.
Messrs. Kincaid and Livingston, cashed Col. Fremont's bills on California, without any
discount, and contributed many luxuries which were not on sale, and I feel deeply grateful
to them for their disinterested friendship. After I was comfortably settled, I called on
Governor Young, and was received by him with marked attention. He tendered me the use of
all his philosophical instruments and access to a large and valuable library.
The court-house of the city of the Great Salt Lake lies in 40º 45' 44" N. Lat.
111º 26' 34" W. Longitude, and the city covers an area of four square miles, it is
laid out at right angles. The principal business streets run due north and south, a
delicious stream of water flows through the centre of the city, this is subdivided into
murmuring rivulets on either side of all the streets. The water coming directly from the
mountains, is always pure and fresh, affording this most useful element in any quantity,
and within reach of every one, besides creating a healthful influence in the city.
Cotton-wood trees grow on the main stream, and saplings had just been planted while I was
there, on the sides of the streets. Most of the dwelling-houses are built a little
distance from the side-walk, and to each dwelling is appropriated an acre and a quarter of
ground, for gardening purposes.
Salt Lake Valley runs east and west, and the city is immediately at the base of a high
range of mountains. An adobe wall, twelve feet high, six feet at the base, tapering
upwards to 2½ feet, entirely surrounds the city, enclosing an immense area of ground for
pasturage, etc. thus protecting the people and cattle from the aggressions of Indians. The
Timpanagos mountains are near the city: "Emigration Canon" is the gate (a low
depression in the mountains) through which the great tide of emigration flows into the
Valley of Great Salt Lake.
The River Jordan runs through the valley and empties into Great Salt Lake. The city is
thirty miles from the Lake, and the valley is entirely surrounded with high mountains
topped with snow, winter and summer.
The governor's residence, a large wooden building of sufficient capacity to contain his
extensive family—nineteen wives and thirty-three children, was nearly finished. I
made a daguerreotype view of it, and also a drawing.
The court house is a large square building, on the east side, opposite the Temple
square.
The post office occupies the corner on the south side.
The Tabernacle, an unpretending one story building, occupies a portion of the Temple
square.
The Temple is in course of building—the foundation is laid—and I was allowed
to see the plan projected by a Mr. Angell, who by inspiration has succeeded in producing
an exact model of the one used by the Melchizedek Priesthood, in older times.
The theatre, a well built modern building, is opposite to the governor's house on the
north, and is the property of the church as are all the public buildings. I may say all
the real estate in the valley is the property of the church, for proprietors have only an
interest in property so long as they are members of the Mormon Church, and reside in the
valley. The moment they leave or apostatize, they are obliged to abandon their property,
and are precluded from selling it, or if they do give the bill of sale it is not
valid—it is not tenable by the purchaser. This arrangement was proposed by the
governor and council, at the conference which took place during my residence among them in
1854, and thousands of property holders subsequently deeded their houses and lands to the
church, in perpetuity.
Under the operation of this law, nobody but Mormons can hold property in Great Salt
Lake City. There are numbers of citizens who are not Mormons, who rent properties; but
there is no property for sale—a most politic course on the part of the
Mormons—for in case of a railroad being established between the two oceans, Great
Salt Lake City must be the half way stopping place, and the city will be kept purified
from taverns and grog shops at every corner of the street. Another city will have to be
built some distance from them, for they have determined to keep themselves distinct from
the vices of civilization. During a residence of ten weeks in Great Salt Lake City, and my
observations in all their various settlements, amongst a homogeneous population of over
seventy-five thousand inhabitants, it is worthy of record, that I never heard any obscene
or improper language; never saw a man drunk; never had my attention called to the
exhibition of vice of any sort. There are no gambling houses, grog shops, or buildings of
ill fame, in all their settlements. They preach morality in their churches and from their
stands, and what is as strange as it is true, the people practise it, and religiously
believe their salvation depends on fulfilling the behests of the religion they have
adopted.
The masses are sincere in their belief, if they are incredulous, and have been deceived
by their leaders, the sin, if any, rests on them. I firmly believe the people to be
honest, and imbued with true religious feelings,—and when we take into consideration
their general character previously, we cannot but believe in their sincerity. Nine-tenths
of this vast population are the peasantry of Scotland, England and Wales, originally
brought up with religious feelings at Protestant parish churches. I observed no Catholic
proselytes. They have been induced to emigrate, by the offers of the Mormon missionaries
to take them free of expense, to their land flowing with milk and honey, where, they are
told, the Protestant Christian religion is inculcated in all its purity, and where a farm
and house are bestowed gratuitously upon each family. Seduced by this independence from
the state of poverty which surrounds them at home, they take advantage of the opportunity
and are baptized into the faith of the "latter day saints," and it is only after
their arrival in the Valley that the spiritual wife system is even mentioned to them.
Thousands of families are now in Utah who are as much horrified at the name of polygamy,
as the most carefully educated in the enlightened circles of Europe and America. More than
two-thirds of this population (at least, this is the ratio of my experience) cannot read
or write, and they place implicit faith in their leaders, who, in a pecuniary point of
view, have fulfilled their promise; each and all of them are comfortably provided with
land and tenements. The first year they, of course, suffer privations, until they build
their houses and reap their crops, yet all their necessities in the meantime are provided
for by the church, and in a social point of view, they are much happier than they could
ever hope to have been at their native homes. From being tenants at will of an imperious
and exacting landlord, they suddenly become land holders, in their own right-free men,
living on free soil, under a free and enlightened government.
Their religious teachers of Mormonism, preach to them, as they call it,
"Christianity in its purity." With their perfect right to imbibe new religious
ideas, I have no wish to interfere, nor has any one. All religions are tolerated, or ought
to be, in the United States, and I offer these remarks as an apology for the masses of
honest men, many of whom have personally told me, that they were ignorant of the practice
of polygamy before their arrival in the Valley, and surrounded as they are, by hostile
tribes of Indians, and almost unsurmountable mountains of snow, they are precluded from
returning home, but live among themselves, practicing as well as they know how, the strict
principles of virtue and morality.
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