Territory of Utah

“ In 1849 the Mormons organized a "free and independent" government and erected the "State of Deseret," with Brigham Young as its head. But the very next year Congress deliberately snubbed it and created the "Territory of Utah" out of the same accumulation of mountains, sage-brush, alkali and general desolation,—but made Brigham Governor of it. ”

“ Some seventeen years ago a small band of Mormons—headed by Brigham Young—commenced in the present thrifty metropolis of Utah. The population of the territory of Utah is over 100,000—chiefly Mormons—and they are increasing at the rate of from five to ten thousand annually. The converts to Mormonism now are almost exclusively confined to English and Germans—Wales and Cornwall have contributed largely to the population of Utah during the last few years. The population of Great Salt Lake City is 20,000.—The streets are eight rods wide—and are neither flagged nor paved. ”

“ The principal value of Utah Territory is its position as a great half-way station—a Tadmor in the wilderness—between the Valley of the Mississippi and the Western States, California and Oregon; it has thus proved a benefit to humanity. ”

“ They are increasing faster since this last catastrophe than ever; and are daily receiving large accessions of new members from Europe, especially from Great Britain. They form the nucleus of the new State of Utah, this year erected into a Territory of the United States, and likely, in the next session of Congress, to be elevated to the dignity of an independent State. ”

“ September 9, 1850, President Millard Fillmore signed a bill creating the Territory of Utah, to be bounded on the west by California, on the north by Oregon, on the east by the summit of the Rocky Mountains and on the south by the 37th parallel of north latitude. South of this parallel there had been recognition of New Mexico, which included the present Arizona. Thus was denial of the dream of an empire state that should embrace the entire inter-mountain region. ”

“ If thorough measures are adopted, it is believed that within a few years the evils which now afflict Utah will be eradicated, and that this Territory will in good time become one of the most prosperous and attractive of the new States of the Union. ”

“ The history of this subject in Utah is very instructive. The greater number of people in the territory who engage in agriculture are organized into ecclesiastical bodies, trying the experiment of communal institutions. In this way the communal towns are mobile. This mobility is increased by the fact that the towns are usually laid out on Government lands, and for a long time titles to the land in severalty are not obtained by the people. ”

“ All who are acquainted with the administration of affairs in Utah, know that the affairs of government, both territorial and county, and also municipal, are the most economically administered of any other Territory or State in the Union ”

“ Unless he should retrace his steps the Territory of Utah will be in a state of open rebellion. He has committed these acts of hostility notwithstanding Major Van Vliet, an officer of the Army, sent to Utah by the Commanding General to purchase provisions for the troops, had given him the strongest assurances of the peaceful intentions of the Government, and that the troops would only be employed as a posse comitatus when called on by the civil authority to aid in the execution of the laws. ”

“ Not the slightest allusion was made to the declarations of independence that had been reiterated throughout the summer and autumn, but the relations of Utah to the United States were discussed as those of a Territory to the Union. The President was himself charged with treason in his action towards the Mormons, the Governor and Judges whom he had appointed were reviled as depraved and abandoned men, and the army was again proclaimed a mob,—while Utah was lauded as the "most loyal Territory known since the days of the Revolution." ”

“ Why, at the last general conference in Liverpool, the president had instructions from Salt Lake to propose Brigham Young as ‘prophet, seer, revelator, and King!’”
“King?” I said. “How can President Young ever be ‘king’? Utah is part of the territory of the States, and under their jurisdiction; it is not even a State itself yet, and Congress has refused to sanction the name of Deseret. This country will never suffer a kingdom to be set up in Utah; you must be misinformed, Sister Mary.” ”

“ In this last Congress no less than eight bills were introduced, having for their object the subjugation of the people of Utah to the ring of men who have sought their destruction, and yet the population of this entire Territory does not number as much as a second class city in the United States. ”

“ Utah is not an exception: she is governed, in all respects, by the civil power, and not by the ecclesiastical: the latter is confined wholly to the Churches of the different religious societies who have settled or may settle in the Territory, while the former regulates all by the civil laws. The Latter-day Saints in the capacity of a Church have no more voice in the government of Utah, than the Methodists, or any other religious denomination. They, as well as all other societies, are obliged to submit to the civil powers. ”

“ Utah Territory is pronounced by immigrants from the Old Country to be a "mean land," hard, dry, and fit only for the steady, sober, and hard-working Mormon. Scarcely one fiftieth part is fit for tillage; farming must be confined to rare spots, in which, however, an exceptional fertility appears. ”

“ The only measure which has yet been enacted looking to the cure of the political evil in Utah was the disfranchisement of the polygamists by the Edmunds law of 1882; but although they have been disfranchised and rendered inelegible to office, they are only about 12,000—a very small fraction of the Mormons; and practically the old men, the Mormon leaders, who have controlled the affairs of Utah for thirty years, have simply abdicated in favor of their sons. Consequently the Territory is still under Mormon rule, and the priesthood have it in their iron grasp. ”

“ The effect of this concentrated and regulated labor is told in the stupendous results already hinted—all danger of famine is warded off, and a sufficient store provided for the saints who should obey the bugle-call of their chieftain, bidding them from afar to this land of promise. A chain of settlements is marked out, and cities founded, as stepping-stones to the Pacific coast; a Provisional government is constituted, and Utah distinctly recognised as a territory in the halls of Congress. ”

“ Nevada, moreover, lies under the disadvantage of having on one side of it the finest portion of California, on the other the finest portion of Utah, and sandwiched between two such Beauties, such a Beast naturally looks its worst. For the northern angle of Utah is by far the most fertile part of the territory, possessing, in patches, some incomparable meadows, and corn-lands of wondrous fertility. As compared with the prodigious agricultural and pastoral wealth of such states as Missouri, Illinois, or Ohio, the Cache Valleys and Bear Valleys of Utah seem of course insignificant enough ”

“ Utah Territory was organized by act of Congress in the year 1850, and Young received the United States appointment of territorial governor for Utah. Large accessions of emigrants, sent forward by missionaries, rapidly increased the Mormon numbers in Salt Lake; and in the year 1853, the corner-stone of the temple at Salt Lake City was laid. ”

“ Is Brigham Young no longer Governor of Utah then?" asked Charlie.
"I have this day delivered the official information that the President of the United States has appointed a new Governor for our unhappy Territory. It is for this reason, ostensibly, that the flower of the American army has come out into the wilderness of the West. Thousands of trained soldiers have been sent to install one man in a Territory of a few hundred pioneers." John spoke bitterly, but it was not his to question. ”

“ I have endeavored to urge men of national standing, men who hold high positions in the Government, to visit Utah. And I may say that some of the warmest friends we have, while they do not sympathize particularly with our religious views, but are tolerant and desirous that we should have our rights in common with other people, are those who have visited this Territory and have seen us in our homes, and have had opportunities of witnessing the changes that [have] been effected in this desert land by our residence and labors. ”

“ The sanctity of marriage and the family relation are the corner stone of our American society and civilization. Religious liberty and the separation of church and state are among the elementary ideas of free institutions. To reestablish the interests and principles which polygamy and Mormonism have imperiled, and to fully reopen to intelligent and virtuous immigrants of all creeds that part of our domain which has been in a great degree closed to general immigration by intolerant and immoral institutions, it is recommended that the government of the Territory of Utah be reorganized. ”

“ Utah has a population of some fifty-two or fifty-three thousand—more or less—rascals. Governor Cumming has informed the President exactly how matters stand in respect to them. Neither life nor property is safe, he says, and bands of depredators roam unpunished through the territory. The United States judges have abandoned their offices, and the law is boldly defied every where. ”

“ The Uintah Utes, numbering 800, are now residing upon a reservation of 2,039,040 acres in Uintah Valley, in the north-eastern corner of the Territory, set apart for the occupancy of the Indians in Utah by Executive order of October 3d, 1861, and by Act of Congress of May 5th, 1864. This reservation comprises some of the best farming land in Utah, and is of sufficient extent to maintain all the Indians in the Territory. Some of the Indians located here show a disposition to engage in agriculture, though most of them still prefer the chase to labor. ”

“ When Utah was organized as a Territory (1850) , the Mormon leader, Brigham Young, was made governor. In 1857 President Buchanan appointed a non-Mormon to succeed Young. This act led the Mormons to rebel, but after a display of military force by the Government they acknowledged allegiance. In 1896, polygamy having been prohibited by Congress, Utah was admitted to the Union. Since the settlement of the Mormons upon the Great Salt Lake there has been a large immigration into Utah. ”

“ Utah (207) , a territory on the western plateau of the United States, W. of Colorado, traversed by the Wahsatch range, at the foot of which lies the Great Salt Lake, is in extent nearly three times as large as Scotland, and occupied by a population four-fifths of which are Mormons, a territory rich in mines of the precious and useful metals as well as coal; originally wholly a desert waste, but now transformed where the soil has admitted of it, into a fruit-bearing region. Salt Lake City (q. v.) is the capital. ”

“ What dreams of empire held their thoughts as they trekked across the plains can only be conjectured. [17]
Outposts, forts, and settlements were scattered throughout the vast area they hoped to dominate. Western Colorado, southwestern Wyoming, southern Idaho, Utah, Nevada, northern Arizona and southern California were all included in their colonization plans. Strategic points throughout this whole vast empire were to be occupied and controlled. The intervening territory would be filled in later with the great number of converts to the faith pouring in from Europe. ”

“ The foundations are laid with long ceremonies. The fort or block-house is first built, and when the people are lodged the work of agriculture begins. The cities of Utah Territory are somewhat like the “towns” of Cornwall. At present there are three long lines of these juvenile settlements established as caravanserais in the several oases. The first is along the Humboldt River to Carson Valley; the second is by the southern route, viâ Fillmore; and the third is betwixt the two, along “Egan’s Route,” the present mail line. ”

“ Faithful and zealous efforts have been made by the United States authorities in Utah to enforce the laws against it. Experience has shown that the legislation upon this subject, to be effective, requires extensive modification and amendment. The longer action is delayed the more difficult it will be to accomplish what is desired. Prompt and decided measures are necessary. The Mormon sectarian organization which upholds polygamy has the whole power of making and executing the local legislation of the Territory. ”

“ So it is in regard to Utah; she asks not the interference of any state of the Union to dictate to her what kind of policy she must adopt in her legislative enactments; if she choose to adopt slavery in her midst, the organic law of the Territory give her the privilege; if she choose to practise a pluarility of wives, she has the most unbounded right to do so, until prohibited by law; if she choose to pass laws authorizing her citizens to marry a hundred or seven hundred wives, it would be a violation of now law or Constitution of the General Government. ”

“ Utah Territory is situated in the parallel of the Mediterranean; the southern boundary corresponds with the provinces along the Amoor lately acquired by Russia, and with Tasmania in the southern hemisphere. But the elevation, that grand modifier of climate, renders it bleak and liable to great vicissitudes of temperature. The lowest valley rises 4000 feet above sea level; the mountains behind Great Salt Lake City are 6000 feet high ”