Part 52 (1/2)

* See Linforth's ”Route,” pp. 2-5.

The Oregon boundary treaty was less than a year old when this pet.i.tion was presented. It was characteristic of Mormon duplicity to find their representatives in Great Britain appealing to Queen Victoria on the ground of self-interest, while their chiefs in the United States were pointing to the organization of the Battalion as a proof of their fidelity to the home government. Practically no notice was taken of this pet.i.tion. Vancouver Island, was, however, held out to the converts in Great Britain as the one ”gathering point of the Saints from the islands and distant portions of the earth,” until the selection of Salt Lake Valley as the Saints' abiding place.

On December 23, 1847, Young, in behalf of the Twelve, issued from Winter Quarters a General Epistle to the church a which gave an account of his trip to the Salt Lake Valley, directed all to gather themselves speedily near Winter Quarters in readiness for the march to Salt Lake Valley, and said to the Saints in Europe:--

”Emigrate as speedily as possible to this vicinity. Those who have but little means, and little or no labor, will soon exhaust that means if they remain where they are. Therefore, it is wisdom that they remove without delay; for here is land on which, by their labor, they can speedily better their condition for their further journey.” The list of things which Young advised the emigrants to bring with them embraced a wide a.s.sortment: grains, trees, and vines; live stock and fowls; agricultural implements and mills; firearms and ammunition; gold and silver and zinc and tin and bra.s.s and ivory and precious stones; curiosities, ”sweet instruments of music, sweet odors, and beautiful colors.” The care of the head of the church, that the immigrants should not neglect to provide themselves with cologne and rouge for use in crossing the prairies, was most thoughtful.

* Millennial Star, Vol. X, p. 81.

The Millennial Star of February 1, 1848, made this announcement to the faithful in the British Isles:--

”The channel of Saints' emigration to the land of Zion is now opened.

The resting place of Israel for the last days has been discovered. In the elevated valley of the Salt and Utah Lakes, with the beautiful river Jordan running through it, is the newly established Stake of Zion. There vegetation flourishes with magic rapidity. And the food of man, or staff of life, leaps into maturity from the bowels of Mother Earth with astonis.h.i.+ng celerity. Within one month from planting, potatoes grew from six to eight inches, and corn from two to four feet. There the frequent clouds introduce their fertilizing contents at a modest distance from the fat valley, and send their humid influences from the mountain tops.

There the saline atmosphere of Salt Lake mingles in wedlock with the fresh humidity of the same vegetable element which comes over the mountain top, as if the nuptial bonds of rare elements were introduced to exhibit a novel specimen of a perfect vegetable progeny in the shortest possible time,” etc.

Contrast this with Brigham Young's letter to Colonel Alexander in October, 1857,--”We had hoped that in this barren, desolate country we could have remained unmolested.”

On the 20th of February, 1848, the s.h.i.+pment of Mormon emigrants began again with the sailing of the Cornatic, with 120 pa.s.sengers, for New Orleans.

In the following April, Orson Pratt was sent to England to take charge of the affairs of the church there. On his arrival, in August, he issued an ”Epistle” which was influential in augmenting the movement. He said that ”in the solitary valleys of the great interior” they hoped to hide ”while the indignation of the Almighty is poured upon the nations”; and urged the rich to dispose of their property in order to help the poor, commanding all who could do so to pay their t.i.thing. ”O ye saints of the Most High,” he said, ”linger not! Make good your retreat before the avenues are closed up!”

Many other letters were published in the Millennial Star in 1848-1849, giving glowing accounts of the fertility of Salt Lake Valley. One from the clerk of the camp observed: ”Many cases of twins. In a row of seven houses joining each other eight births in one week.”

In order to a.s.sist the poor converts in Europe, the General Conference held in Salt Lake City in October, 1849, voted to raise a fund, to be called ”The Perpetual Emigrating Fund,” and soon $5000 had been secured for this purpose. In September, 1850, the General a.s.sembly of the Provisional State of Deseret incorporated the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company, and Brigham Young was elected its first president. Collections for this fund in Great Britain amounted to 1410 pounds by January, 1852, and the emigrants sent out in that year were a.s.sisted from this fund.

These expenditures required an additional $5000, which was supplied from Salt Lake City. A letter issued by the First Presidency in October, 1849, urged the utmost economy in the expenditure of this money, and explained that, when the a.s.sisted emigrants arrived in Salt Lake City, they would give their obligations to the church to refund as soon as possible what had been expended on them.* In this way, any who were dissatisfied on their arrival in Utah found themselves in the church clutches, from which they could not escape.

* Millennial Star, Vol. XII, p. 124.

There were outbreaks of cholera among the emigrant parties crossing the plains in 1849, and many deaths.

In October, 1849, an important company left Salt Lake City to augment the list of missionaries in Europe. It included John Taylor and two others, a.s.signed to France; Lorenzo Snow and one other, to Italy; Erastus Snow and one other, to Denmark;* F. D. Richards and eight others, to England; and J. Fosgreene, to Sweden.

* Elder d.y.k.es reported in October, 1851, that, on his arrival in Aalborg, Denmark, he found that a mob had broken in the windows of the Saints' meeting-house and destroyed the furniture, and had also broken the windows of the Saints' houses, and, by the mayor's advice, he left the city by the first steamer. Millennial Star, Vol. XIII, p. 346.

The system of Mormon emigration from Great Britain at that time seems to have been in the main a good one. The rule of the agent in Liverpool was not to charter a vessel until enough pa.s.sengers had made their deposits to warrant him in doing so. The rate of fare depended on the price paid for the charter.* As soon as the pa.s.sengers arrived in Liverpool they could go on board s.h.i.+p, and, when enough came from one district, all sailed on one vessel. Once on board, they were organized with a president and two counsellors,--men who had crossed the ocean, if possible,--who allotted the staterooms, appointed watchmen to serve in turn, and looked after the sanitary arrangements. When the first through pa.s.sengers for Salt Lake City left Liverpool, in 1852, an experienced elder was sent in advance to have teams and supplies in readiness at the point where the land journey would begin, and other men of experience accompanied them to engage river portation when they reached New Orleans. The statistics of the emigration thus called out were as follows:--

* See Linforth's ”Route,” pp. to, 17-22; Mackay's ”History of the Mormons,” pp. 298-302; Pratt's letter to the Millennial Star, Vol. XI, p. 277.

YEAR VESSELS EMIGRANTS 1848 5 754 1849 9 2078 1850 6 1612 1851 4 1869

The Frontier Guardian at Kanesville estimated the Mormon movement across the plains in 1850 at about 700 wagons, taking 5000 horses and cattle and 4000 sheep.