Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All USU Press Publications USU Press 2008 Mormonism's Last Colonizer: The Life and Times of William H. Smart William B. Smart Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs Part of the History of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Smart, W. B. (2008). Mormonism's last colonizer: The life and times of William H. Smart. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the USU Press at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All USU Press Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Mormonism’s Last Colonizer Uintah Stake president William H. Smart Mormonism’s Last Colonizer The Life and Times of William H. Smart William B. Smart Utah State University Press Logan, Utah Copyright ©2008 Utah State University Press All rights reserved Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322-7200 www.usu.edu/usupress Publication of this book and the accompanying CD was sup- ported by a subvention from the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on recycled, acid-free paper ISBN: 978-0-87421-722-3 (cloth) ISBN: 978-0-87421-723-0 (e-book) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Smart, William B. (William Buckwalter), 1922- Mormonism’s last colonizer : the life and times of William H. Smart / William B. Smart. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-87421-722-3 (cloth : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-87421-723-0 (e-book) 1. Smart, William H. (William Henry), 1862-1937. 2. Mormons--Utah--Biography. 3. Utah--History. I. Title. BX8695.S46A3 2008 289.3092--dc22 [B] 2008029787 Contents Illustrations vi Preface vii Introduction 1 One Growing Up in Franklin 7 Two Years of Trial and Torment 31 Three An Aborted Mission 56 Four A Repentant Sinner Finds Himself 75 Five Putting a Shoulder to the Wheel 89 Six On-the-job Training in Heber Valley 117 Seven Making Indian Land Mormon Country 148 Eight The Vernal Years 179 Nine Civilizing the Reservation Lands 208 Ten The Fourth—and Final—Stake Presidency 250 Eleven Struggle and Failure in Leota 265 Twelve Hard Times 286 Thirteen The Final Years 305 Epilogue 316 Appendix A Thomas Smart’s Vision 320 Appendix B Selected Correspondence from William H. Smart Papers 322 Bibliography 334 Index 340 William H. Smart Journals, on CD inside back cover Illustrations Uintah Stake President Smart ii Selection of Smart’s journals viii Sample of Smart’s journal writing ix Anna Haines, prospective bride 37 Smart’s Heber home 146 Uinta Basin Utes, 1868 154 Ute Indian delegation, 1905 155 Uintah Stake Presidency 176 Vernal Tabernacle dedication 183 Anna Haines Smart 184 Vernal, Utah, ca. 1910 206 Roosevelt High School 215 Roosevelt Utah, 1917 217 I. W. Odekirk’s mercantile, Myton, 1915 220 Murdock Store, Duchesene, 1915 237 William and Anna Smart in midlife 239 Thomas Laurence Smart at father’s home 288 The Smart family, 1933 297 William and Anna Smart in last years 312 vi Preface Many people have made this book possible; they will be acknowledged shortly. But one man’s contribution was absolutely indispensable—that of William H. Smart himself. This was a man who for fi fty-one years faithfully recorded his actions, his thoughts, and the social, religious, economic, and political environment in which he lived. He unblinkingly recorded the torment, failures, and guilt of his addiction-ridden early adulthood years; the meteoric rise of his fortune and self-discipline during his few years as a Cache Valley sheepman; the challenges, successes, and failures of shepherding the temporal as well as spiritual development of Utah’s last frontier during two decades of virtually full-time service as president, in turn, of four Mormon stakes; his frequent interaction with the church’s First Presidency and political leaders during that intensely productive period; and his slide into poverty and the test of character and faith he met during his fi nal fi fteen years of living in strait- ened circumstances. He made almost daily entries, except during his few wealth-building years as a sheepman, when he frequently summarized at length the activi- ties of weeks-long gaps. His journals are the essential raw material of which this biography is primarily built. There are fi fty volumes, occupying 4.75 feet of archival shelf space and fi ve microfi lm reels in the University of Utah’s Marriott Library’s Special Collections (with photocopies in the archives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). A few are odd-sized, but most are 4½ × 7, 5 × 7½, or 5½ × 9 inches, bound in red or black leather. Most contain two hundred pages, and almost all are fi lled cover to cover with Smart’s legible but usually small and crowded handwriting, invariably in black ink. Only rarely does the ink’s vii viii Mormonism’s Last Colonizer A selection of William H. Smart’s numerous journals. fading make a word illegible. His spelling is shaky in the early years, but by midlife it is fairly consistent and accurate. In the university archives and in the photocopies, the journals are oddly numbered: 1A to 7A, and 1 to 43. This is because Smart’s son, Thomas Laurence, was anxious to protect his father’s reputation. In turning the journals over to me, his son, he withheld the fi rst seven volumes covering those painful early years of guilt and failure. Some years after the journals had been contributed to the university, realizing that his father’s triumph over his weaknesses actually added to his historical stature, he brought forth the missing volumes. Also housed in the University of Utah’s Special Collections is a fi le of Smart’s personal correspondence and other papers, much of it with the church’s First Presidency and other General Authorities. This correspon- dence, together with all fi fty of Smart’s journals, is included on the CD accompanying this book. Both the journals and the correspondence are searchable by date as well as by name and subject. Smart’s journals are far more than a day-to-day recital of events. He was verbose in describing his feelings, the problems he faced, the sermons he heard, the things he experienced. As one small example, he fi lled ten pages in describing the plot and action of a play he saw on Broadway. That verbosity Preface ix A sample of Smart’s writing, showing journal entries for November 1912. created a problem; the journals are an important historical resource, but publishing upwards of 10,000 pages of them is impractical. Brigham Young University historian Ronald Esplin suggested a solution. Why not, he asked, recruit Smart’s descendants to transcribe them, put them on a CD, and dis- tribute it with your biography? That’s what was done. The task of transcribing proved too tedious and time-consuming for some. But others persisted through weeks, sometimes months, of eye-strain and monotony to complete the job. They are grand- children or in-laws Charles Pearce Jr., Thomas B. Smart, Donna T. Smart; great-grandchildren or in-laws Eugene Fairbanks, Thomas Fife, Maureen Gale, Melinda S. Graves, Catharine Hintze, Lynne Jessup, Larry Maddocks, Kristen S. Rogers, Gary Smart, Marjean Smart, Martin Smart, Dorothy S. Toone, Stephen Woodbury, David Young; and great-great-grandchildren Kristi Gilbert, Jason Hoagland, Spencer Rogers, Rosanna Smart, David Toone. To them, especially to some who transcribed several journals, as well as to those who found it necessary to pay to have the work done, profound thanks. Thanks also to others who gave valued assistance. Greg Thompson and his staff at Marriott Library’s Special Collections defused a crisis by recopying lost photocopies of two journals. As for the biography, staff in the archives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were helpful in identify- ing and accessing relevant materials, as were staff at the archives of the Utah x Mormonism’s Last Colonizer State Department of History. Craig Fuller of that department graciously shared insights gained in his years of studying and writing about Uinta Basin history. Kristen Rogers of the same department has reviewed much of the manuscript; her incisive comments have improved the content. The support, guidance, and critical evaluation of John Alley, executive editor of the Utah State University Press, has been invaluable, as has been the meticulous and most helpful work of the press’s copyeditor Kathleen Capels. At the outset, Alley questioned whether a descendant could write a balanced, objective, honest biography of his ancestor. Even if he could and did, when his name is almost identical to the subject’s, would the public perceive it that way? After reading the fi rst three chapters, Alley was satisfi ed and gave the go-ahead. After reading the entire manuscript, the two peer reviewers agreed that the objective had been met. The fi nal judgment will be by the reader. A special heroine in this project is William H. Smart’s great-great-grand- daughter in-law, Holly Rogers. As a recently maternal stay-at-home mom, she transcribed many journals others had abandoned. She then accomplished the arduous task of editing all fi fty journal transcriptions into a standard format, ascribing to each entry its date, month, and year, so the CD can be searched by date as well as by name and subject. Lastly, she compiled the biography’s index.