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Mormons and the Ecological Geography Of Changes in the West : Mormons and the ecological geography of nationalism by Willard John McArthur A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History Montana State University © Copyright by Willard John McArthur (1999) Abstract: Environmental historians have made fruitful endeavors in exploring the ways in which human communities modify the landscapes in which they live. However, nationalism is one area that has exhibited a tremendous influence on the course of modem history, yet has been little studied in its relationship to the environment. This thesis looks at the ways in which nationalism-a sense of connection to the larger nation— has influenced those modifications, and how those modifications have influenced and affected those making changes. This thesis looks to the early Mormon migrants to the West as a case study on how nationalism has influenced environmental change. Using an interdisciplinary approach, this argument relies on the work of intellectual historians of nationalism, environmental historians, geographers, and ecologists\biologists. Using these studies as a framework, this thesis posits a method for identifying nationalized landscapes: recognizing circumscribed landscapes, simplified environments, and lands that are connected spatial and temporally to the larger nation identifies a nationalized landscape. In particular, this thesis looks at fish, trees, and riparian zones as areas of change. Using the identifying markers of circumscription, simplification, and connection has uncovered that Mormons did indeed make changes in the landscape that were influenced by nationalism. These changes made to the land, influenced by nationalism, created a redesigned nature, that in turn influenced human relationships. A feeling of nation-ness is one of the major influences in the way westerners have tried to redesign their environments. CHANGES IN THE WEST: MORMONS AND THE ECOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY OF NATIONALISM by .. Willard John McArthur A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History , MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY-BOZEMAN Bozeman, Montana November 1999 © COPYRIGHT by Willard John McArthur 1999 All Rights Reserved ^r\i APPROVAL (VIV’ 3 5 of a thesis submitted by Willard John McArthur This thesis has been read by each member of the thesis committee and has been found to be satisfactory regarding content, English usage, format, citations, bibliographic style, and consistency, and is ready for submission to the College of Graduate Studies. Dr. Alexander Dawson /// (Signature) Date Approved for the Department of History and Philosophy Dr. Thomas R. Wessel (Signature) Approved for the College of Graduate Studies e- Dr. Bruce R. McLeod (Signatftre) Date STATEMENT OF PERMISSION TO USE In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master’s degree at Montana State University-Bozeman, I agree that the Library shall make it available to borrowers under rules of the Library IfI have indicated my intention to copyright this thesis by including a copyright notice page, copying is allowable only for scholarly purposes, consistent with “fair use” as prescribed in the U S. Copyright Law. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this thesis in whole or in parts may be granted only by the copyright holder. Signature iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. A METHOD FOR STUDYING NATIONALIZED LANDSCAPES........... I Mormons and the United States ......................................................................2 An Interdisciplinary Approach ........................................................................ 6 Defining a Nationalized Landscape............................................................... 13 A Nationalist Approach to Environmental History ..................................18 2. TRAIL ..................................................................................................................... 24 Conceptualizing the Trail ...............................................................................24 “Empty Trails:” The Great Illusion...............................................................27 “The Highway of Our Future Journey:” Redesigning the T rail................29 Nationalism: A Curious Reversal ................................................................. 40 3. TROUT ................................................................................................................... 46 “The Largest and Finest Trout” ................................................................... 46 “From Sea to Shining Sea” .............................................................................50 4. T R E E S ................................................................................................................. • 61 America and the Garden of Eden ................................................................. 61 Trees and Nationalizing the Landscape of the Great Basin .....................64 The “Trill of Patriotic Devotion” ................................................................. 76 5. THE “EXPENSIVE DREAM” ............................................................................ 78 People and P laces................................................................................... .. , 79 A Distorted Image ........................................................................................82 “Fixing” the Environm ent.............................................................................8 5 PRIMARY SOURCES 92 V Autobiographies, Biographies, Diaries, Journals, and Reminisces .........92 Letters, Reports, and Newspapers .............................................................95 Church History and Sermons ......................................................................96 REFERENCES CITED 97 ABBREVIATIONS BYU-S Brigham Young University-Special Collections. Harold B. Lee Library. Provo, Utah. CHC Roberts, B. H., ed. A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-dav Saints. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1930; reprint, Orem, Utah: Sonos Publishing Inc., 1991. HC Smith, Joseph. History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-dav Saints Edited by Brigham H. Roberts. 2nd ed., rev. 7 'Vols.. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1980. Journey Quoted in Carol Cornwall Madsen. Journey to Zion: Voices From the Mormon Trail. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1997 JD Toiirnal of Discourses. George D. Watt and others eds., 26 vols. Liverpool: F. D. Richards, and others, 1854-1886. v ii ABSTRACT Environmental historians have made fruitful endeavors in exploring the ways in which human communities modify the landscapes in which they live. However, nationalism is one area that has exhibited a tremendous influence on the course of modem history, yet has been little studied in its relationship to the environment. This thesis looks at the ways in which nationalism-a sense of connection to the larger nation— has influenced those modifications, and how those modifications have influenced and affected those making changes. This thesis looks to the early Mormon migrants to the West as a case study on how nationalism has influenced environmental change. Using an interdisciplinary approach, this argument relies on the work of intellectual historians of nationalism, environmental historians, geographers, and ecologistsVbiologists. Using these studies as a framework, this thesis posits a method for identifying nationalized landscapes: recognizing circumscribed landscapes, simplified environments, and lands that are connected spatial and temporally to the larger nation identifies a nationalized landscape. In particular, this thesis looks at fish, trees, and riparian zones as areas of change. Using the identifying markers of circumscription, simplification, and connection has uncovered that Mormons did indeed make changes in the landscape that were influenced by nationalism. These changes made to the land, influenced by nationalism, created a redesigned nature, that in turn influenced human relationships. A feeling of nation-ness is one of the major influences in the way westerners have tried to redesign their environments. CHAPTER I A METHOD FOR STUDYING NATIONALIZED LANDSCAPES Wallace Stegner, the great observer of western environments and Mormon culture, noted an unusual feature of the Great Basin landscape: “Wherever you go in the Mormon country . you see the characteristic marks of Mormon settlement.” Among the marks of Mormon settlement, he listed the “characteristic trees, long lines of them along ditches, along streets, as boundaries between fields and farms.” Perhaps, Stegner mused, Mormons planted these rows of Lombardy poplar to copy the “landscape of their first home.”1 Was Stegner correct in assuming that Mormons planted trees in the West in an effort to copy the landscapes they had left behind in the eastern United States? Did a sense of connection to the home they left influence the way Mormons redesigned the ecology of the West? This thesis seeks to answer these questions by studying the connection between the construction of nationalism and the changing of environments. This study explores the ways in which nationalism-a sense of connection to the larger nation— has influenced the ecological changes the Mormons made in the West, and how those modifications influenced and affected the people making the changes. Combining the insights from environmental history with insights from
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