Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 1970 Orson Hyde and the Carson Valley Mission, 1855-1857 Albert R. Page Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the History Commons, and the Mormon Studies Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Page, Albert R., "Orson Hyde and the Carson Valley Mission, 1855-1857" (1970). Theses and Dissertations. 5010. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5010 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. ORSON HYDE AND THE carsonvalleyCARSON VALLEY MISSION 185518571855 1857 A thesis presented to the department of history brigham young university in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree master of arts by albertal bertvert R page may 1970 ii this thesis by albert R page is accepted in its present form by the department of history of brigham young university as satisfysatisfyinging the thesisthesisrequirementrequirement for the degree of master of arts u 7 oc v L vyywiynyy 7 1 ca W R c- c0completicomplesiComp letliettti 0ooatitdatetbatet tleroycleroyleroy hafhafe comnntteeoamimmi tteeatee oelobicnrmancarmanrmanaman ge eae& C m committekyemb lamar jensenjensendepartmepep me acknowledgments I1 would like to express my sincere gratitude for all those who have assisted in the completion of this work special recignitionognitionrecognitionogni tion is extended to dr leroy R hafen who originally directed my attention to the carsonvalleycarson valley settlement for his patience and helpful criticism during the preparation of this thesis also an acknowledgment of appreciation is due to dr eugene E campbell for his useful and constructive suggestions during the final draft of this study A debt must likewise be expressed to dr ralph B smith and dr ted J warner for their helpful criticisms A special acknowledgment of indebtedness goes to the church historians office for providing a large part of the material for the work on orson hyde and the carson valley m-issionis sionston appreciation is also due the staff of the church historians office who ably assisted me in the use of these documents finally the assistance of mr john F bluth in suggesting corrections in form and style is gratefully acknowledged brigham young university albert R page may 1970 iliiii TABLE OF CONTENTS page acknowledgments n i LIST OF FIGURES v introduction 1 chapter 1 EARLY MORMON CONTACT WITH CARSON VALLEY 6 220 CARSON COUNTY 1855 0 0 9 w 0 0 6 9 10 28 MORMON 10 3 settlement IN THE BALANCE 0 9 0 0 0 52 4 establishment OF THE CARSONCARS ON vableVALLEVALLEYY MISSION IN 1856 65 5 ORSON HYDES SUCCESSOR CHESTER LOVELAND 0 0 16 9 0 94 6 termination OF THE MORMON COLONY 1857 112 7 SUMMARY AND conclusion 0 119 if bibliography 126 IV LIST OF FIGURES f figure page 1 map I1 1 lapofmapofof the carson valley 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 D 0O 0 8 I1 v introduction there are many areas of mormon history which have not been researched and for that very reason remain to this day obscure in mormon historiography the latterlatterdayday saint settlement and mission commonly referred to as carson valley is one of these areas of which little is known the truth of the matter is that mormons were eventually settled in several valleys such as washoe eagle carson jack and truckee in carson county the usual reference to the total settlement was carson valley because that specific valley was settled first the purpose of this thesis is two fold first to write a narrative history which to date does not exist second to seek answers to many questions concerning the mormon settlement of this area As one considers the written material on the subject it is evident much is lacking the two earliest published works thomas H thompson and albert A wests history cfof nevadapublishednevadanevedapublished in 88118811 and hubert howe bancrofts history of nevada colorado and wyoming published 1 in 1890 deal only slightly with the mormons in nevada duringthisduring this period even though the material contained in these books is not very lengthy it is the best work published on the carson valley colony bancrofts work is ably footnoted whereas thompson and wests is not myronyron angelange1 ed histohistoryry of nevada reprint of the 1881 thompson and west edition berkeley howell north 1958 hereafter this volume will be referred to as thompson and west nevada the other work referred to in the above text is hubert howe bancroftBan croff history of nevada colorado and wyomiwyomawyomingna san francisco the history company 1890 this volume will hereafter be referred to as bancroft nevada 1 2 these two works are used as the basis ffor0 almostralmost every article or chapter that has been written on the subjectsubJ ectactprior to 1936 in that year effie mona mack finished her history titled nevada which used the material on the mormons in carsongarson valley from thompson and west and bancroft liberally but also took advantageadvantage of a multitude of other sources such as newspapers personal letters and state records macks work should be ranked with the preceding two important books which in part cover the mormon colony in carson county her book iiss a 2 must for anyone interested in that statestatess history four years later in 1940 milton R hunter published his dissertation bribrighamghan younyoung the colonizercphnizer which dealt with the western utah colony in one short chapter hunter added some new information to the subject by using material held by the mormon church historians 3 office in salt lake city utah dale L morgan while using some very good new sources in the humboldt in 1943 did not include all extent documents morgan did use the very valuable reminiscences of abner blackburn the autobiography of peter MW conover and the diary of oliver B huntinton which 4A added substantially to the known facts of the mormon settlement in 1946 kate B carter in volume seven of the heart throbs of the nestwest published her Morcormonsmormonsmons in nevada which also used some exciting 20 effie mona mack nevada glendale arthur H darkoarkclark company 1936 q amilton3miltonmiltonmlltonR hunter brighambri ghan yoyoung the colonizer deseret news press 1940 4 dale L morgan the humboldt new york J J little and ives company 1943 3 new sources such as the autobiography of richard bentley and the short history of abraham hunsaker 5 in the years following 1940 many diaries of the original pioneers who went to carson valley were made available in typescript copies such as the works of william branch peter W conover chapman ducan joseph L heywood oliver B huntington christopherlaytonchristopher layton and christopher merkley copies ofthesediaries these diaries are in the brigham young university library some works that received financial backing were published such as the diary of abraham hunsaker christopher layton 6 and christopher merkley in recent times historians have attempted to publish additional material in the possession of the latterlatterdayday saint church historians office this is true in the case of juanita brooks in her Morcormonsmormonsmons in carson county utah territory published in volume eight of the nevada historical socieyqarterlysociboci e ty quarterlyquarterjyQuarterquerterjy she uses to good advantage the journal history of the church and the church business 7 letters books with the exception of one or two of the above writers all have tended to repeat the opinions that exist in the first two books mentioned none of the previous works do justice to the mormon settlement in 5 kateate B carter ed the mormons in nevada heart throbs of the west VII salt lake city daughters of the utah pioneerspioploneers 1946 ppapoppo 433468433 468 6 noel R barton and myron W mcintyremclntyreeds christopher Llayton salt lake city christopher layton famileamilfamily organization 1966 gwen Q hunsaker haws and maurice hunsaker eds 2 hishistorytory 0of abraham hunsakerhuns ake r and hi s family salt lake city hunsaker family organizationorgani zatizatt on 19571957t and christopher merkley biographybi ography of christochrichrtstopher merklmerkleyY salt lake city J H parry and company 1887 T 7 juanita brooks the mormons in carson county utah territory nevada historical societlluarterlysociety quarterly VIII spring 1965 3243 24 4 carson valley in order to justify additional work in this area the author had to locate new sources of information research was hampered because apparently no daily journals were kept by any members of this mormon colony even orson hyde did not keep a record of hihiss mission to carson county but it was discovered that he had written numerous letters to brigham young concerning hihiss assignment which are on file in the church historians office in all there are thirtyonethirtyone letters written by hyde from carson county brigham youngansweredyoung answered onlyaboutonly about half of hydesHydes letters his fifteen letters are also in the church historians office many other letters of those associated with the settlement are included in this thesis chester loveland madison D hambleton and dr washington F andersons letters are found in the church historians office the jane and sylvester phippen letters are held by the utah historical society in salt lake city the writer also found newspapers of the time very helpful the california star daidaldaildall