~ ~

------By Leonard J. Arrington------

hen the Latter-day Saint pioneers arrived in t~e Salt Lake Valley in July 1847, they divided themselves into small w.groups or "brigades." One group went to the mountains to secure timber for building cabins. Another built bridges across the streams. Another plowed and planted crops. Still another brigade went to southern California and to Fort Hall in Idaho to secure seeds, fruit, fruit trees, and cattle. But the largest brigade commenced a systematic program of explor­ ation, beginning with the Salt Lake Valley and then proceeding to Tooele Valley to the west, Weber and Ogden valleys to the north , Utah Valley to the south, and other nearby areas. The goal was to find suitable areas where the 16,000 Latter-day Saints poised on the banks of the Missouri River could settle. Within a year or two a large exploring company was dispatched to southern Utah and across southern Nevada to southern California. They found iron in southern Utah, and oases and springs along their route, and laid the basis for many future Latter-day Saint settlements. 1

1848- Within Utah The settlement process took place in five stages. The first colony out of Great Salt Lake City, as they called it at the time, was ten miles south in what is now Cottonwood and Holladay . In 1848 a group of 250 migrants from Mississippi, including 40 black servants, located on farms there. Within two years, the irrigable land in the remainder of the Salt Lake Valley and contiguous valleys was occupied. About 20,000 - Latter-day Saints had settled in Tooele and Grantsville, Davis and Box Elder counties, Weber and Ogden valleys, Utah Valley, Sanpete Valley , and Parowan and Harmony in southern Utah.

1850s-Nevada, the "Mormon Corridor," and parts of Idaho The second stage of settlement, occurring in the early 1850s, was the colonization of western Nevada, southern California, and northern Idaho . Early in 1849, a group of fifteen Latter-day Saints joined a company of non-Mormons traveling westward to Humboldt Springs , the Sierra Nevada, and northern California. Upon reaching Carson Valley, near the California border, seven of the Saints decided to remain and establish a supply station. By the mid-1850s the Mormon station at Carson was an officially supported and strategic colony in the Latter-day Saint network around the Great Basin. ~. Meanwhile, the Saints were locating a whole string of settlements ~ .. Salt LAke City as photographed in 1868. (From the Carter Collection, Church Archives:) stretching south from Salt Lake City purpose of the settlement was to day Saint apostle, militia general to San Pedro and San Diego, Cali­ make friends with the Bannock, and frontiersman . This picturesque fornia, in a geo-political plan called Shoshone, and Snake Indians. The region had been the site of a fur the " Mormon Corridor." The first men erected a fort, built homes and trapper rendezvous in the 1820s. in the chain was in Utah Valley, a blacksmith shop, and planted and The success in colonizing Cache where Provo is located; three fenced several acres of land. The Valley had given confidence that thousand people lived there in settlement was a success, at least Bear Lake could be settled success­ 1852. Ephraim, Manti , and other temporarily, and other settlers from fully . The Bear Lake colony was towns were located farther south in Utah arrived. When President strengthened by additional families Sanpete Valley . Parowan was estab­ Brigham Young visited the in the years that followed- sixteen lished in the Little Salt Lake Valley settlement in 1857, everything villages were settled. in 1851. seemed to be going well. But the In all , some ninety-six colonies The line of new settlements next year a large party of Bannock or settlements , including the stretched on to Las Vegas , now and Shoshone, some of whom had twenty-seven along the Mormon Nevada, where a colony was estab­ previously been friendly , attacked Corridor to California, were found­ lished in 1855 to work with the In­ the settlers, drove off most of their ed by the Saints during the first ten dians in the region , to mine lead, stock, and killed some of the men. years after they came into the Great and to raise semitropical agricultural The colony was abandoned. Salt Lake Valley in 184 7. The products. Farther on, a colony was The second Mormon experience pattern was one of directed settlements- that is, the coloniza­ tion was a community effort direct­ ed by Church authorities rather than the result of spontaneous and inde­ The Latter-day Saint settlements pendent movement of individuals: were not the result of independent efforts by individuals; First, there was preliminary explor­ instead, the Church directed colonizing ation by companies appointed, efforts along the Mormon Corridor equipped, and supported by the cen­ and elsewhere. Some ninety-six colonies tral Church; second, colonizing were establishedfrom 1847- 57. companies were appointed to found the settlements; and third , the com­ established at San Bernardino, Cali­ into present-day Idaho began three panies were expected to pattern the fornia. The reasons for the years later as part of the settlement new community institutions after settlement are given in President of the irrigable places in Cache Val­ those of Salt Lake City, which were Brigham Young's official journal: ley. Many persons had thought that in tum patterned after those of to continue the chain of settlements Cache Valley was too cold to grow Nauvoo, lllinois, and Jackson from Salt Lake City to the Pacific; crops on a regular basis, but a long County, Missouri. to provide a mail stati

20 surveyed and divided into blocks of into southern and eastern Idaho , them. " 4 ten acres each by an appointed southwestern Wyoming, southern The movement into Star Valley, Church engineer. The blocks were and eastern Nevada, southwestern Wyoming, was similar, and was ac­ separated by wide streets. A large Colorado, and northern and central complished primarily by Cache Val­ block in the center was reserved for Arizona. While this colonization ley Saints. Eleven communities public building , and an important was not called or directed in the were founded in the late 1870s and early task was the construction of a same sense as in the 1850s, it was early 1880s. Another movement at combination meetinghouse­ encouraged and supported by the the same time resulted in the found­ schoolhouse on this lot. Each of the central Church. In most instances ing of a cluster of colonies in San remaining blocks was divided into the colonies were supervised and Luis Valley in outhwestern Colo­ equal lots of an acre or more each, assisted by local wards and stakes rado. Most of the early residents which were distributed among the located near the area being settled. there were migrants from Mis­ colonists in a community drawing. The Latter-day Saint movement sissippi who, after their conversion Each family was entitled to one lot. into Idaho was a direct result of a to the gospel, wished to locate On these lots the colonists built new railroad from Ogden, Utah , somewhere in the Mountain West. their homes, planted their orchards, north to Montana. The Utah North­ The movement into Nevada raised their vegetables and flowers , ern Railroad, financed by eastern began in 1864 when a group Was and erected their livestock and interests but with Cache Valley called from southern Utah to settle poultry sheds. Saints doing most of the labor, was Meadow Valley in east central Outside the village, the surveyor completed from Ogden to Franklin Nevada. But in the years that fol­ located an area (called " the Big in 1874. It was extended on through lowed, group after group went to Field") that could be conveniently the upper Snake River Valley in southern- Nevada to settle about a irrigated. It was divided into lots 1878 and succeeding years. As the dozen communities to grow cotton ranging from five to twenty acres railroad pushed north, settlements and semitropical products, and to each, depending on the amount of followed. More than a dozen differ­ supply provisions for travelers on irrigable land and the number of ent villages or communities were the Spanish Trail toward California. colonists. One of these fanning lots settled in the next few years, in­ But the largest and most was assigned to each fan1ily , again cluding Rexburg, Parker, Menan, important movement of the 1870s by a community drawing. Lewisville, and Teton. Ln general and early 1880s was directed to­ Besides the heavy community this settlement was relatively well ward Arizona. The Mormon Battal­ involvement, life in the farm organized, under the direction of ion had passed through that country villages was a family affair­ William B. Preston , the on its memorable march in 1846 everyone helped out. ecclesiastical leader in Cache Val­ from the Missouri River to the Pa­ Resourcefulness was an important ley. Preston 's instructions from cific Coast. After four settlements asset. The women often helped Church headquarters in Salt Lake had been founded in 1876 on the build the houses , plow and plant the City were to settle the Saints in Little Colorado River, other crops, cut and stack the hay, shear villages, just as was the pattern in settlements were soon founded on sheep, spin and weave cloth, care Utah. In this way their ecclesiastical the Gila and Salt rivers. Despite for the chickens, and milk the organizations could more effectively their hard lot initially, these settlers cows. One sister tells the story of a serve them, they would be closer to eventually began to prosper, and young man who was leaving in sev­ schools , and they could more effec­ they provided the foundation for the en days on a proselyting mission. tively cooperate in making ditches, community of Latter-day Saints in When the women heard that he had fencing fields , building bridges, and Arizona which now numbers about no suit to wear, they went to work: running their livestock. The village 200,000. The Udalls, Eyrings, ' 'One Sunday the wool was on the plan also made it easier to guard Ellsworths, and Kimballs are all sheep 's back," she writes, "but by against horse and cattle thieves, products of this heritage. the next Sunday it had been land jumpers, and hostile Indians. clipped, cleansed, corded, spun, The Church instructions includ­ Outside the U.S. woven , and made into a splendid ed the following admonition: With the upper Snake River sol­ suit and was on the back of the ''Care must be taken that the idly settled, a group of colonies missionary as he delivered his interests of the Indians on their res­ began in Alberta, Canada. And with farewell address in our little church ervations, water claims or otherwise many communities now located in house. ''3 are not interfered with; but they Arizona, it was also natural to es­ must be guarded and protected in tablish bases in Sonora and 1870s-Surrounding areas in the all their rights as is the white man. Chihuahua in Mexico. These, and West In all cases, a friendly and brotherly colonies in the Hawaiian Islands The third wave of Latter-day disposition should be nourished to­ and elsewhere in the South Pacific, Saint colonization took place in the wards the Lamanites who will be were lonely outposts until the sig­ 1870s when the Saints swarmed our friends if we do not repulse nificant Latter-day Saint expansion

THE ENSIGN/FEBRUARY 1980 21 throughout the Free World after tals and Mormons can do that kind settlements clean and productive. World War II. There are now more of work . They don't mind it . But " Build cities, " said President LOS stakes in Latin America than not Americans. It's too hard." And Young , " adorn your habitations, in all the world in 1928. he went on to tell Mrs. Nair that make gardens, orchards, and the Mormons ''learnt to do it only vineyards, and render the earth so Twentieth Century because they had to . It was a desert pleasant that when you look upon We should not overlook the sig­ they settled, and there was no place your labors you may do so with nificant colonization in this century . else they could have gone to. " pleasure, and that angels may In Wyoming and Idaho, for ex­ Mrs. Nair concludes her two chap­ delight to come and visit your beau­ ample, many members of the ters on the Mormons by com­ tiful locations " (in Journal of Dis­ Church moved into the Teton area, mending them for their blending of courses, 8:83). primarily from Star Valley, agriculture and religion in what she Third, they sought personal Wyoming; into Magic Valley, after calls spiritual economics.5 development and improvement. the completion of the Milner Darn Hard work is not the only con­ This accounts, no doubt, for their in 1905; and into the Boise and tribution of Latter-day Saint pio­ heavy investment in education. El­ Payette areas. Earlier colonies also neers to the development of the der Parley P. Pratt said: "Here we grew. Some of this expansion was West. Here are some others: can cultivate the mind , renew the the result of the erection of beet l. They made persistent efforts spirit, invigorate the body , cheer sugar factories by Latter-day Saint through the years to establish the heart and ennoble the soul of and other interests early in the friendly relations with Indians, and man. Here we can cultivate every twentieth century . In still more re­ they have played a significant role science and art calculated to enlarge cent times , the opening of new in the intellectual , social, economic, the mind, accommodate the body, Lands for settlement after the com­ and cultural achievements of west­ or polish and adorn our race. " 6 pletion of reclamation projects has em Indians in the past generation. President Brigham Young often seen considerable numbers of Lat­ 2 . They contributed signifi­ said that the way to achieve success ter-day Saints move into the Ameri­ cantly toward the passage of women as a person, as a family, as a com­ can Falls area, Rupert, and Emmett. suffrage in the states of the moun­ munity, as a nation was to work These provided the foundation for tain west in the years before World hard, plan well , and trust in God. the 200,000 or more Latter-day War I. That formula , inherent in the Saints in Idaho today. 3. They helped perpetuate a success of the Latter-day Saint colo­ heritage of economic cooperation, nization of the Old West, remains Some LDS Contributions to West­ which has helped provide the kind valid for all of us . 0 ern Colonization of economic organization necessary Leonard J. Arrington, director of the History Most of the Latter-day Saint to the development of the arid Divison, Church Historical Department, colonists in the mountain states and West. lives in Parleys First Ward, Salt Lake City . Oregon and Washington were farm­ 4. They established and main­ I . The following sources provide ers. Latter-day Saints have always tained cultural facilities and activi­ documentation for most of the information in been heavily involved in the grow­ ties: ward schools, stake academies , this article: Milton R. Hunter, Brigham ing of cattle and horses, wheat and colleges and universities, dance Young the Colonizer (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1940); Leonard J. Arrington , hay , potatoes and peas, and sugar­ halls , choirs, theatrical productions, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History beets. Some time ago, Kusum Nair, art festivals , classes in literature, of the Latter-day Saints, /830-1900 (Cam­ a charming writer and educator and instruction in health and bridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, from India, who had received a nursing. 1958); and B. H. Roberts , A Comprehensive History of the Church, 6 vols. (Salt Lake grant from the World Bank to make Finally, it would be well to City, 1930). a study of agriculture in the United remember three general goals of 2. Manuscript history of Brigham Young , 20 States , Japan, and India, suggested early Latter-day Saint colonists. Mar. 1851. a reason for the Latter-day Saint First, they cultivated a reverence for 3. Miscellaneous pioneer interviews and success with these crops. In her life and for nature. Even as they sketches: Mary Julia Johnson Wilson, p. 31 , Mormon Diaries, Journals, and Life prize-winning book The Lonely crossed the Great Plains, headed for Sketches, Box 10, Library of Congress, Furrow, there are two chapters on the Salt Lake Valley , they agreed Washington, D.C. Latter-day Saint farmers . She wrote upon a rule that they must be kind 4. John Taylor and Joseph F. Smith to Will­ of one prominent non-Mormon agri­ to their animals . ''The more kind iam B. Preston and Counselors 26 Dec. 1882, First Presidency Letter Press Cop­ culturist in Washington who told we are to our animals," said Presi­ ybooks, vol. 6 , Church Hist. Dept. her that most Americans could not dent Brigham Young, " the more Archives. do irrigated farming. " It is much will peace increase, and the savage 5. Kusum Nair, The Lonely Furrow: Farm­ harder work than other kinds of ag­ nature of the brute creation will ing in the United States, Japan , and India riculture," he said. " An American vanish away " (in Journal of Dis­ (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1969), pp. 37-38; italics in original. can look big- six feet tall. But he courses, 1:203) . 6. Manuscript history of Brigham Young, 23 cannot work hard. Now the Orien- Second, they tried to keep their Aug. 1848 .

22