Frank H. Head

“ Trade and its necessities dictate where shall be built the commercial centres of the world. It need not be demonstrated that all the great cities of our day owe their importance to some base worldly advantage, visible to the eyes of uninspired men, and are liable to lose their position and power in the world by any trivial circumstance. Not so, however, with the city whose career we chronicle. Founded by inspiration, Salt Lake City must be eternal. It despises the factitious aids by which other cities attain to greatness. ”

“ Christ made no direct assault upon a marriage system which, in his day, was universal. But he taught, as never had been taught before, the sacredness of individual rights; the greatness and equality of our humanity; the priceless value of each human soul. ”

“ We have learned, after ages of misconception and suffering, that the relations between the sexes are so intimate and vital, that woman must be elevated and ennobled, to ennoble man; that if her affections are dwarfed and crushed, and her legitimate field of labor and of influence curtailed —if, in aught, the full development of her powers be hampered—man, as well as woman, incurs the penalty of such abuse. ”

“ The most noticeable peculiarity relative to Salt Lake City, and the one which, more than all others combined, has given to it a world-wide notoriety, is its revival, in an Anglo- Saxon commonwealth, of a marriage system utterly at variance with our modern civilization.
It may with safety be assumed that the polygamic theory of marriage is contrary to human nature. Were men and
women entirely free from jealousy and selfishness, such a parceling out of the affections might be endured; but so long as Nature is unchanged, it must result in suffering and sorrow to the wife. ”

“ The Jordan River flows from the south through the valley, the city being situated upon its eastern bank, and reaches the lake about ten miles northerly from the city. The Wahsatch Range, at several points near the city, is pierced by vast and rugged caftons, from which, fed by the snows upon the summits, flow the streams of water used in irrigating the land. The scenery in these cafons is of unsurpassed grandeur. A visit to any one of the half-dozen accessible from the city by a ride of a single day, will furnish an experience never to be forgotten by the student of Nature. ”

“ In a country where, for half the year, rain is nearly unknown, a most delightful feature is the abundant supply of water in every part of the city. On each side of every street flows a stream of pure, crystal water, fresh from the melting snows of the mountains. ”

“ The public, while none the less vigorous in its condemnation of their social system, begins to give to them the honor which is their due for their persistent energy, industry, economy, temperance, and order. The people of the Pacific Coast, especially of our newer mining districts, have always been ready in their admissions of the vast national value of the Utah agricultural settlements at their very doors. This cheap source of supply to the miners of the necessaries of life has enabled them early to develop large districts, and add vastly to the common wealth. ”

“ California is to-day richer by thousands of its most valued and cherished lives, from the existence of this half-way house upon the desert.
The moderate abundance of this world's goods acquired by the Saints, has been gained by the hardest and most persistent labor. It is the triumph of Muscle over the hostile powers of Nature. Few are aware of the vast labor necessary to reclaim the stubborn wastes of the Great Basin. ”

“ As we have already illustrated, our own marriage system is the fruit of our modern civilization and a truer appreciation of the Christian doctrine. Religious persecutions and wars have ever moved backward upon the dial-plate the hands which mark the onward progress of the race. Mormon polygamy, its evils and its cure, are questions in morals outside the field of political action. ”

“ Even since the advent of the Railroad, and the consequent opening of the country, there is not, so far as we are aware, a single Gentile farmer in the Territory. The fertile lands of our North-western States, and of California and Oregon, are as yet too cheap and abundant to warrant our settlers in seeking a home in the parched and barren wastes of Utah. The average size of a Utah farm will not exceed ten acres, and upon this it is necessary to expend as much labor as would be required to thoroughly cultivate fifty acres in California or Illinois. ”

“ A sketch of the business of any other of our representative cities, which was composed principally of details of farming, would be an anomaly; but Salt Lake is rather an aggregation of small farmers than a city, in the ordinary acceptation of the word—nearly all its inhabitants being farmers. Its merchants and mechanics have small farms, and endeavor, at least, to raise their own breadstuffs. ”

“ It should be remembered that the monogamous system of marriage is the growth of modern civilization, and is not the direct result of any system of religious teaching. Fourfifths of the human race to-day believe in polygamy; and in the days of the Jewish prophets, through whom we derive our religious faith, polygamy was the universal belief, practiced, as they believed, by the absolute sanction and command of God. ”

“ Many people lived for weeks upon wild roots and the hides of animals. A supply of seed-grain was thus saved, and a considerable area of land sown in the spring of 1848. Their crops were soon attacked by myriads of large crickets, which swarmed from the mountains. The entire population rallied and fought, in every manner, these hungry invaders, but with only moderate success, until they were reinforced by a vast army of sea-gulls, which, tempted by the prospect of a feast of such delicacy and abundance, came from the islands of the Great Salt Lake. ”

“ Salt Lake City is by far the most quiet, orderly, and peaceable city west of New England. Drunkenness among its people is almost unknown. Deeds of violence occur at rare intervals. Burglaries and robberies are almost unheard of, and, when taking place, are usually traceable to some demoralized sportingman from the mining Territories. Gambling-houses are strictly forbidden; the observance of the Sabbath almost universal. The taxes in Utah are much lighter than elsewhere on the Pacific Coast; and Salt Lake City, as well as all the counties, and the Territory itself, are entirely free from debt. ”

“ So soon as the world shall be converted to the true faith, and religious theory and practice made to accord, the necessity of civil laws and judicial tribunals will cease —the world will be one great brotherhood, and the laws of God as expounded by the priesthood will be the only needed rules of life and morals. ”

“ While, however, Salt Lake may with propriety be deemed a city founded on a religious creed, it is based more upon the Old Testament ideas and formulas than upon the New. The Master, whose kingdom was not of this world, but in the inmost hearts of men, here gives place, and Moses comes forth as the interpreter of the will of God. As in the days of the Hebraic theoc racy, religion permeates and governs in all the concerns of life. Nothing is above its dictation—nothing too trivial for its watchful care. ”

“ In the business portions of the town, these large lots have been, of course, subdivided; but nearly all the citizens own a full lot for a residence, which enables them to produce an am ple supply of fruit and vegetables for family use, from their own gardehs. Rented property is extremely rare; in no city of the world do so large a proportion of the people own the houses in which they live. The size of the lots causes the city to cover an area probably ten times as great as an ordinary city of the same population. ”

“ The pioneers of the Great Basin will never again receive full credit for their toils and sacrifices. The transcontinental railroad is a great enchanter—a steam Merlin. The tourist reads up for his journey from ocean to ocean of the cares and toils of the California immigrants and the Mormon pioneers ”

“ The Mormons reached Salt Lake Valley in an utterly impoverished condition. The cash capital of the entire community would not probably have exceeded $1,000. The California migration furnished them a market for their surplus products; but, as they had but small use for money, they preferred taking of the miners instead something which they could either eat, drink, or wear, and not procurable at home. As they increased in numbers and means, merchants established themselves among them, thus enabling them to use their small stores of money in the purchase of needed supplies. ”

“ It is believed to be a relic of the age of Force —of the semi-barbaric days when Might was the sole arbiter of Right, and when man, by reason of his superior, selfish strength and a supposed proprietorship, crushed and repressed all the nobler aspirations of woman, and made her, as feeling or passion dictated, a petted or a neglected slave. ”

“ Its strength heretofore has been in the isolation of their community. They have been for twenty years almost as separate from our social system as if they had been residents of another planet. In that period half their population has been born in Salt Lake Valley; and these have never had, before the coming of the Railroad, an opportunity to contrast their social life with any other. But all is now changed. Thousands of the outside world yearly visit Salt Lake with their families. The Mormon women feel for the first time their doubtful social position: their self-respect is wounded. ”

“ The Mormon converts have not, as a class, been made up from the ranks of irreligious men, but rather from the dissatisfied membership of the various orthodox churches: men whose ideas upon predestination, baptism, future punishment, prophecy, or some of the numerous doctrines pertaining to their original faiths, were too broad, or too peculiar, to permit them to remain in the fold. ”

“ There is no person in any degree familiar with the Mormon people but will give them the credit of being, from their stand-point, the most religious people of the continent. Without reference to the question whether their faith be founded in truth or be @ pure delusion, it is undeniable that for it, such as it is, they have endured toils and privations and welcomed sacrifices and sufferings such as have fallen, for the same cause, to the lot of no other religious community of our generation. ”

“ He is one of the exceptional instances, to be occasionally met in history, where a profound knowledge of men, rare executive ability, an inflexible will, a quick and ready insight into all commercial and business transactions, and a remarkable aptitude therefor, are combined with a capacity for the most extreme fanaticism in religious matters. In every thing pertaining to the Mormon religion he is thoroughly sincere. ”

“ The Mormons are opposed to all asceticism in religious life: the most religious man, having best fulfilled the object of his existence, is, therefore, entitled to the greatest percentage of fun in the world ”

“ All amusements are conducted with a singular mingling of frolic and devotion. Dancing," say the Saints, "is a diversion for which all men and women have a native fondness." So dancing - parties, during the winter months especially, are numerous, and are usually under the care and supervision of some of the church dignitaries. Round dances are ostracized, as involving too large an amount of miscellaneous hugging. ”

“ This lake was, in former times, of much greater extent than at present, covering a large proportion of the Great Basin, as is shown by the pebbly lines marking its former beach, more than seven hundred feet above its present level, and which stretch for hundreds of miles unbroken along the bases of the mountains. Mr. Clarence King, in his explorations during the year 1869, discovered and traced the former outlet of this vast inland sea, which was through the Snake, or Shoshone River, to the Pacific Ocean. Few places can vie with Salt Lake City in natural beauty of location. ”

“ The solution of the Mormon problem is simple; in fact, if let alone, it will speedily solve itself. Unjust persecution has no other result than to strength en religious fanaticism. The murder of Smith, the Mormon Prophet, gave a new lease of life to his tottering church. ”

“ The difficulties of the settlement and upbuilding of Salt Lake City would not, however, entitle it to a place among the representative cities of our continent. Other citizens have endured equal or greater hardships in developing nearly every portion of our common country. ”

“ If the best people absent themselves, the worst will dictate the character of the exercises." So, in the elegant theatre at Salt Lake City, may be seen at all performances many of the leading officers of the church; many of the actresses are their wives and daughters, against whose purity no one has breathed a whisper ”

“ A community of zealous religionists, possessing nearly as many hobbies as individuals, would necessarily be difficult to harmonize: yet such has been the task imposed upon Brigham Young for the past twenty-five years, and in its prosecution he has attained to a remarkable degree of success. ”

“ Their great distance from market, and the small proportion of their crops which would bear transportation, have, however, at all times made money extremely scarce, and have led to the perpetration of a complicated and often amusing system of barter. Hundreds of farmers, living in reasonably comfortable circumstances, and having large families to clothe and educate, will not see a dollar in money for years. ”