History of Utah,... Vol. 1, Chapter XXII, 1849-1851 (c) 1892, pages 420-441
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| CHAPTER XXII. |
| 1849-1851 |
SALT LAKE, WEBR, UTAH, SANPETE, JUAB AND TOOELE COUNTIES CREATED — PARLEY P. PRATT EXPLORES SOUTHER UTAH — THE FIRST INDIAN WAR — A SKIRMISH AT BATTLE CREEK — THE TWO DAYS' ' FIGHT AT PROVO — TABLE MOUNTAIN — A TREATY OF PEACE — THE PIONEER NEWSPAPER OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS — DEATH OF PRESIDING BISHOP WHITNEY — THE FIRST P. E. FUND IMMIGRATION — GEORGE A. SMITH PIONEERS IRON COUNTY — EDUCATIONAL BEGINNINGS — THE UNIVERSITY OF DESERET — THE CITIES OF SALT LAKE, OGDEN, PROVO, MANTI AND PAROWAN RECEIVE THEIR CHARTERS — THE FIRST MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT IN THE GREAT BASIN. |
THE General Assembly of Deseret convened again in December, 1849, and held
brief sessions at intervals through the winter. It created the
counties of Salt Lake, Weber, Utah, Sanpete, Juab and Tooele. Juab County
at that time was unsettled. The Assembly appointed a Supreme Court to hold
annual sessions at Salt Lake City, chartered the University of Deseret,
and enacted other laws to which reference will be made later. It also
commissioned Parley P. Pratt to raise a company of fifty men, with the
necessary
teams and equipment, and explore southern Utah.*
The personnel of this expedition was as follows :
| FIRST TEN | ||
| Isaac C. Haight, Captain, | Chauncey West, | George B. Mabson, |
| Parley P. Pratt, | Dan Jones, | Samuel Gould, |
| William Wadsworth, | Hial K. Gay, | Wm. P. Vance, |
| Rufus Allen, |
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* Parley had previously explored the canyon now called by his name ; also Parley's
Park, to which it leads. It was due to his personal exertions that Parley's Canyon was
opened as a route for emigration soon after his return from the south. It was then called
the "Golden Pass."
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| SECOND TEN | ||
| Joseph Matthews, Captain, | Homer Duncan, | John H. Bankhead, |
| John Brown, | Wm. Matthews, | John D. Holiday, |
| Nathan Tanner, | Schuyler Jennings, | Robert M. Smith, |
| Starling G. Driggs, |
| THIRD TEN | ||
| Joseph Horne, Captain, | Alexander Wright, | Seth B. Tanner, |
| Wm. Brown, | James Farrer, | Alexander Lemon, |
| George Nebeker, | Henry Heath, | David Fullmer, |
| Benjamin F. Stewart, |
| FOURTH TEN | ||
| Ephraim Green, Captain, | Andrews Blodgett, | Thomas Ricks, |
| Wm. H. Phelps, | Wm. Henry, | Robert Campbell, |
| Charles Hopkins, | Peter Dustin, | Isaac H. Brown, |
| Sidney Willis, |
| FIFTH TEN | ||
| Joseph Arnold, Captain, | Stephen Taylor, | John C. Armstrong, |
| Jonathan Packer, | Isaac B. Hatch, | Dimick B. Huntington, |
| Christopher Williams, | ||
Parley P. Pratt was president of the company and William W. Phelps and David Fullmer were his counselors. John Brown was captain of the fifty, W. W. Phelps, topographical engineer, and Ephraim Green, chief gunner. Besides small arms, one brass field piece went with the expedition, which was equipped with twelve wagons, one carriage, twenty-four yoke of oxen and thirty-eight horses and mules. A few beeves, with flour, meal, bread and
crackers supplied the commissariat. The company was organized at Captain Brown's residence on Cottonwood, about the only house then intervening between Salt Lake City and the Provo settlement.
Pratt's expedition penetrated as far south as the confluence of the Santa Clara River and the Rio Virgen, the latter a tributary of the Colorado. Among other places explored was the valley now known as Mountain Meadows, the scene of the horrible tragedy of several years later. They also indicated a place for a settlement in Little Salt Lake Valley, nearly three hundred miles south of Salt
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Lake City. There, on a stream called Centre Creek, afterwards sprang up the town of Parowan. the first settlement of Iron County.
Returning northward in January, 1850, half the party, under David Fullmer,
went into winter quarters on Chalk Creek, near the present site of
Fillmore, in Millard County; while Parley P.Pratt, with the remainder,
pushed on toward Provo — Fort Utah — over a hundred miles distant.
Parley's record of January 26th relates the following incident: "In the
morning we found ourselves so completely buried in snow that no one could
distinguish the place where we lay. Some one rising, began shoveling the
others out. This being found too tedious a business, I raised my voice
like a trumpet, and commanded them to arise; when all at once there was a
shaking among the snow piles, the graves were opened, and all came forth.
We called this Resurrection Camp."
Aptly named, poetic Parley! Sixty miles farther, through frost and snow,
brought them to the Provo settlement, and the beginning of January found
President Pratt at home in Salt Lake City. The rear portion of his party
returned in March.
Meantime had broken out those Indian troubles which afflicted at intervals
for several years the outlying settlements of Utah, particularly those
south of Salt Lake Valley. Utah County was the original seat of war, and
it was there that some of the hardest fights between the settlers and the
savages occurred.
It will be remembered with what reluctance the Timpanogas Indians who met
the Higbee colony in March, 1849, permitted the first white settlement on
Provo River, and that, too, in spite of the invitation previously extended
to the colonists by the chiefs, Sowiette and
Walker, to settle among their tribes and teach them how to become
civilized. It has also been stated that soon after Fort Utah was founded.
Walker, according to Colonel Bridger and Mr. Vasquez, began stirring up
the Indians against the Mormon settlers. In this
movement Walker was aided by another chief named Elk,— variously styled
Big Elk, Old Elk, etc.,— like himself a hater of the whites, and
apparently quite as fond of fighting. It was with Big Elk and his
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band that the Provo settlers, in their first regular battle with the
savages, had immediately to deal.
It was believed by Governor Young that Colonel Bridger and other
mountaineers were at the bottom of much of the ill-feeling manifested by
the red men, and that they were incited to attack the Mormon settlements.
The Governor, however, seemed to have confidence in Mr. Vasquez, who had
opened a small store in Salt Lake City, and whose interests to that extent
were identified with those of the settlers.
The Indians, at first so friendly with the Utah Valley colonists, began
their depredations in that vicinity in the summer or fall of 1849. Grain
was stolen from the fields, cattle and horses from the herds, and now and
then an arrow from an Indian bow would fall uncomfortably near some
settler as he was out gathering fuel in the river bottoms.
The first fight with the Indians took place on Battle Creek, near the site
of Pleasant Grove. It occurred in the autumn. There, Colonel John Scott,
with thirty or forty men, after a sharp skirmish defeated the savages
under Chief Kone— also called Roman Nose — and drove them up Battle Creek
Canyon. Five Indians were killed, but none of Colonel Scott's men were
hurt. He had been sent south to recover some stolen horses taken from
Orr's herd in Utah Valley, and several cattle stolen from Ezra T. Benson's
herd in Tooele. Battle Creek derived its name from this initial encounter
between the Indians and the Deseret militia.
For some reason the authorities at Salt Lake City did not altogether
approve of the conduct of this campaign. No doubt they regretted the
necessity for a military expedition against the savages, and deplored the
fatalities attending it, not only from humanitarian considerations, but
fearing probably that it would precipitate a general war, and unify all
the savage bands of the vicinity against the handful of settlers at Fort
Utah. "Shed no
blood" was a standing general order to the Mormon militia in those days,
and the troops were expected to adhere to it wherever possible.
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Yet blood had now been shed, and the Indians were doubtless exasperated.
This may or may not have been the reason that Colonel Scott was found
fault with. That would materially depend upon the nature of the orders he
had received from his superiors, and his ability under subsequent
circumstances to carry out those orders. It is a fact, however, that the
Colonel fell under some censure at the time, and because of it declined to
take part in succeeding Indian campaigns.
It is said that the Utah Indians never sought revenge for any of their
number killed while stealing or making an attack.* But the Battle Creek
skirmish, which was not strictly an affair of that kind, could not but
have the effect of straining the relations between the settlers and their
savage neighbors, and extinguishing in the hearts of the latter what
sparks of friendship yet remained. They continued their petty
depredations, and became bolder and more insolent daily. The settlers at
Fort Utah would occasionally fire their cannon to warn the redskins that
they were not unmindful of their misdeeds, and were prepared to maintain
their rights. But the Indians were not to be awed by sound and smoke.
Their nefarious practices went on. They were evidently provoking a
conflict. Stock continued to be taken from the herds, and all efforts to
recover stolen property were stoutly resisted. Finally the Indians began
firing on the settlers as they issued from their fort, and at last the
stockade was virtually in a state of siege.
No longer was it arrows alone that fell around them. Bullets whizzed past
their ears. The Indians were now well supplied with fire-arms and
ammunition, obtained in exchange for horses, mostly from California
emigrants who had passed through the country.
Captain Stansbury's party, during the fall, had been surveying around Utah
Lake, where they also were much annoyed by the savages. As winter came on,
they suspended their labors and returned to Salt Lake City, feeling
satisfied that in the existing state
_________
* Colonel George A. Smith is authority for this statement.
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of affairs in Utah Valley, it would be both difficult and dangerous for
them to continue operations in the spring, exposed as they would be to
attacks from the savages, either in open field or deadly ambush. The
subsequent sad fate of Lieutenant Gunnison and his party on the Sevier
showed that these apprehensions were well grounded.
As for the inhabitants of Fort Utah, they patiently bore their annoyances
and losses until nearly spring, when affairs became so serious that they
felt compelled to appeal for aid to Governor Young and the Legislature,
still in session at Salt Lake City. Captain Peter W. Conover, in charge of
military affairs at the fort, and Miles Weaver carried the message of
their anxious fellow settlers to head-quarters.
Governor Young, on receiving the message, found himself in a somewhat
peculiar position. That the beleaguered settlers must be relieved, and at
once, was evident; not only for their own sakes, but for that of other
settlements already forming or in prospect in the south. But how best to
relieve them was the question. The thought of more fighting and bloodshed
was most repugnant to him. Not for worlds would the Mormon leader have the
sons of Laman think that he and his people came among them for that
purpose. "Feed them and not fight them,"' was his life-long motto and
policy toward the red men. Besides, how would the authorities at
Washington, by whom the petition of Deseret for statehood was then being
considered, regard the opening of a warfare by the Mormons upon these
dusky "wards of the Government?" Deem not this a trifling consideration,
reader. A people like the Mormons, whose every act, owing to the prejudice
existing against them, was liable to be misinterpreted, had to be cautious
and circumspect in their public acts and policies, where other
communities, whose loyalty and good intents were unquestioned, might have
risked all with impunity.
Fortunately there was a government officer on the ground, a brave and
honorable man,— Captain Howard Stansbury. It being evident— all
conciliatory efforts having failed — that force must be
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employed to put an end to the aggressions of the savages, the Captain was
asked by Governor Young and other officials for an expression of opinion
as to what view the Government would probably take of it. "I did not
hesitate to say to them," says Stansbury, "that in my judgment the
contemplated expedition against these savage marauders, was a measure not
only of good policy, but one of absolute necessity and self-preservation."
He therefore warmly approved it, and not only that, but at Governor
Young's request permitted Lieutenant Howland to accompany the expedition
as its adjutant, and contributed arms, ammunition, tents and camp equipage
for the soldiers. Dr. Blake,
of the Stansbury party, acted as surgeon for the expedition.
A company of fifty minute men under Captain George D. Grant started first,
and were followed by fifty others, commanded by Major Andrew Lytle.
Colonel Scott had been ordered to go, but declined, for which he was
afterwards court-martialed. Major Lytle went
in his stead.
The expedition set out early in February, 1850. The weather was extremely
cold, and the snow, frozen and hard-crusted, was over a foot deep in the
valleys. Progress was therefore rendered very difficult. Captain Grant's
cavalry, after marching all night, on the morning of the 8th arrived at
Provo River. Such a march was deemed necessary in order to take the
Indians unaware and secure an advantageous position. The militia found the
settlers in their fort on the south side of the stream, and the Indians
strongly entrenched in the willows and timber of the river-bottom, a mile
or two above. They were protected not only by the river-bank, but by a
breast-work of cotton-wood trees which they had felled. Near by their
strong-hold stood a double log house facing the river. This house, which
at one time became the center of action in the fight that ensued, was
immediately opposite the Indian fortification. It had been deserted by one
of the settlers who had taken refuge with his family at the fort. The
house was now held by the savages who, during the battle, kept up a
continuous fire from its windows
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and crevices, as well as from their redoubt, upon the attacking party.
Captain Conover, connnander at the fort, united his men with Captain
Grant's, and the main forces then proceeded to occupy a position near a
deserted building about half a mile south-west of the log-house mentioned.
The Indians were led by Chiefs Elk and Ope-carry— surnamed
"Stick-on-the-Head"— the latter, like Sowiette, rather friendly with the
whites, while Elk, as has been stated, was more like the warlike Walker.
Ope-carry, it seems, desired peace, and had come out of the redoubt to
talk with Dimick B. Huntington, the interpreter, when Elk and his warriors
opened fire, and the battle was thus begun.
The engagement lasted two days, during which an almost incessant fusilade
was kept up between the white assailants and the dusky defenders of the
river redoubt. Artillery was also employed against the savages, but with
little effect, as they were right under the bank, and most of the balls
passed harmlessly over. A squaw was killed by a chain shot, however,
during the progress of the fight. The Indians would make frequent sorties,
and after delivering their fire, return to cover. Again, they would thrust
their gun barrels through the snow lying deep upon the banks above them,
and momentarily raising their heads high enough to take aim, discharge
their broad-sides at the besiegers. They fought so stubbornly that all
efforts to dislodge them for a time proved futile. They killed Joseph
Higbee, son of Isaac Higbee — then President of the settlement— and
wounded several others of the attacking force.
Finally, in the afternoon of the second day, Captain Grant, whose care had
been to expose his men as little as possible, determined to capture the
log-house at all hazards. He therefore ordered Lieutenant William H.
Kimball, with fifteen picked men, to charge upon the house and take it.
Among those who participated in this charge— the one daring exploit of the
campaign— were Robert T. Burton, Lot Smith, James Ferguson, John R.
Murdock, Ephraim
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K. Hanks, A. J. Pendleton, Orson K. Whitney, Barney Ward, Henry Johnson
and Isham Flyn. Kinball and his men proceeded up the river until directly
opposited the log-house, which now intervened between them and the stream.
They then turned to the left, facing
the rear of the house, and the leader gave the word to charge. Dashing
forward through a ravine that for some moments hid them from view, the
horsemen emerged upon the flat and were within a few rods of the house, in
the act of crossing a small slough, when a
roaring volley from the log citadel met them. Isham Flynn was wounded and
the charge was momentarily checked. Several swept on, however, and the
Indians, hastily vacating the house, fled to their entrenchments.* The
first two troopers to gain the house were Lot
Smith and Robert T. Burton, who, riding around to the front of the
building, entered the passage between the two compartments. Bullets
whizzed past them, splintering the wood-work all around, but both they and
their horses were soon under shelter. Their companions, a moment
later, gathered to the rear of the house, and none too soon, for the
Indians, recovering from their surprise, began pouring their volleys into
the ranks of the cavalry and upon the captured building. Half the horses
were instantly killed, and their riders escaped by miracle. Between the
volleys. Lieutenant Kimball, Ephraim Hanks and others, darting around the
corner of the house, gained the inside, while others waited uniil an
opening had been made in the rear.
To support the cavalry charge. Captain Grant ordered forward a small
detachment of infantry. These men, ten in number, were a portion of
Captain Conover's command, and were led by Jabez B. Nowlin. On reaching
the log-house, with saw and ax they effected
an entrance at the rear. Some, however, went around the corner into the
passage, and were fired upon by the savages; Nowlin being wounded in the
nose.
The services of a surgeon were now in demand. Seeing that
__________
* Lieutenant Howland complimented the charge made by Kimball's men in warm
temis. He said it was as fine as could have been done by regular cavalry.
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something was wrong. Captain Grant requested Hiram B. Clawson, General
Wells' aide, who had accompanied the expedition, to ride to the house and
ascertain what was needed. He did so, performing the hazardous feat
successfully, though the bullets sung past him as
he rode. His friends at the house, seeing him coming, redoubled their
volleys and drew most of the Indian fire in their direction. Returning,
Colonel Clawson reported that surgical aid was at once required for the
wounded. He and his cousin, Stephen Kinsey, a surgeon, then rode back to
the log building. Returning, the two were again fired upon, one bullet
just missing Clawson's head and piercing Kinsey's hat. Later, another ball
came nigh hitting
Clawson and went through Kinsey's trousers. Both, however, escaped unhurt.
Meantime, Lieutenant Howland,with something of the ingenuity of a Cortez,
had conceived the idea of a movable battery, to operate against the Indian
redoubt. His idea was at once acted upon. A barricade of planks, in the
shape of a V, was constructed and placed upon runners, blankets being hung
loosely on the inside to stop the force of balls that penetrated the
timber. The outside was covered with brush and boughs to conceal the true
character of the improvised battery. This pointed barricade, behind which
quite a number of men could take shelter and deliver their fire without
being much exposed, was pushed toward the Indian stronghold. Like Macbeth,
when Birnam wood, or what he took to be that forest, came toward
Dunsinane, the Indians were thoroughly alarmed at the approach of this
strange object, and divining its purpose made up their minds to retreat.
Accordingly, that evening, they opened a furious fire upon the position
held by the troops, and under cover of the darkness withdrew. The
log-house had previously been vacated by Kimball's men. a circumstance
which enabled the Indians to depart unobserved, after helping themselves
to a supply of horse-beef from the dead cavalry animals lying near.
General Wells, who had been sent for to take charge of further operations,
arrived next morning, but on preparing to attack the
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Indians, it was discovered that they had gone. One party, the smaller
band, had retreated in the direction of Rock Canyon, a rough and difficult
gorge a little north-east of Provo, while the main party had fled
southward in the direction of Spanish Fork. A dead squaw
—the one killed by a cannon shot— was found in the Indian encampment; also
two or three warriors, dead or dying. Elk, the chief, subsequently died of
wounds received during the siege. His being wounded had probably
disheartened the savages and caused the retreat quite as much as
Lieutenant Howland"s battery. The Lieutenant had returned to Salt Lake
City after the second day's skirmish. Some of the Indians, more friendly
than their fellows, had deserted their ranks before the fighting began,
taking refuge with the white families in the fort.
Detailing certain men to garrison the stockade, and others to pursue the
Rock Canyon refugees, General Wells, with the main body of the cavalry,
set out upon the trail of the Indians who had gone southward. At Spanish
Fork and Pe-teet-neet— now Payson— short skirmishes occurred, and
eventually the Indians were overtaken near Table Mountain, at the south
end of Utah Lake. Another battle ensued, and the Indians were practically
annihilated. Most of the fighting took place on the ice, which was very
slippery, making it
extremely difficult for the horses to keep on their feet. The Indians,
being shot at, would fall, as if dead, and then, as their pursuers drew
near, rise up and fire. They killed several horses in this manner, but
none of the cavalrymen were hurt.
Night came down, and a bitter night it was. The soldiers were forced to
take refuge in the wickiups vacated by the Indians on the bleak mountain
side. As these primitive shelters swarmed with vermin, the result may
readily be imagined.
On returning to Fort Utah, General Wells found that Major Lytle and
Captain Lamereux, joining their forces, had pursued the other band of
Indians up Rock Canyon. The fate of these savages was similar to that of
their fellows at Table Mountain. The total Indian
loss was about forty; more than half the number of warriors
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engaged. Efforts were made to civilize the squaws and papooses, who were
captured, but as a rule without avail. They lived with the settlers during
the winter, but in the spring again sought their native mountains.
A treaty of peace was entered into between the settlers and the Indians,
and the latter now agreed to be friendly and molest their white neighbors
no more.
In the summer of 1850, Walker, it is said, laid a plan to massacre the
people at Fort Utah. It was in revenge for a slight that lie imagined he
had received from Governor Young. The Ute chief had visited the Mormon
leader to obtain his permission to engage in a campaign against the
Shoshones, in which Walker wished some of the young men of Provo to join.
Governor Young would not listen to such a thing, and again advised the
warlike chief to
cease fighting and bloodshed. Walker returned to Utah Valley in a rage.
Gathering his band, he was about to fall upon the fort, when Sowiette, the
white man's friend, again interposed to thwart him. He not only warned the
inmates, who flew to arms, but told Walker that he with his band would
help defend the fort against him. Walker again gave way, and for several
years warred elsewhere, not molesting the Mormon settlements.
The following summer a successful expedition was undertaken by a company
of volunteer cavalry under Captain George D. Grant, against the Goshute
Indians, a band of renegades who for some time had been stealing stock and
committing murders in Tooele Valley and the surrounding region. Their
headquarters were in Skull Valley. Captain William McBride with a company
of infantry had preceded the cavalry to that point, but finding it
impossible to operate successfully against the Indians with his troops,
had requested that a
force of mounted men be sent to his assistance. The Indian camp was among
the Cedar Mountains, on the western edge of a desert, twenty miles wide
and very difficult to cross, owing to an utter lack of water. A first
effort to surprise and chastise the savages proved
futile, as they had learned of the coming of the troops and laughed
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and jeered at them from the rocky heights where they were entrenched. A
second march of the cavalry across the desert, during the night, when the
Indians supposed the pursuit had heen abandoned, was completely
successful. The savages were surprised in their wickiups just at
day-break, and the males almost annihilated. Tons of "jerked beef,"
manufactured from the stolen cattle of the settlers, were found stored in
the Indian stronghold. Among those who participated in this expedition,
which gave many years of peace to the western settlements, were George D.
Grant, William McBride, William H. Kimball, Robert T. Burton, Nathaniel V.
Jones, Rodney Badger, James M. Barlow, John Wakely, Charles Westover and
Jesse Turpin.
An important local event of the summer of 1850 was the establishment at
Salt Lake City of the pioneer newspaper of the Rocky Mountains. The first
number of the Deseret News — then a small quarto issued weekly —
was published on the 15th of June. Willard Richards was its editor. Among
the little force of compositors who set the type for this and subsequent
issues of the News were Brigham H. Young and Horace K. Whitney,
the latter one of the original Utah pioneers. The press — a small
wrought-iron Ramage hand-press — stood in the building now occupied by the
Woman s Exponent, immediately east of the present News
buildings.* This pioneer press is still in existence, stored away on those
premises among other relics of the past.
On the 23rd of September, at his residence in Salt Lake City, died Newel
K. Whitney, the Presiding Bishop of the Mormon Church; a man much esteemed
for honesty and integrity, and valued also for his superior business
ability. He was succeeded in office by Edward Hunter, a man equally worthy
and well regarded.
Bishop Hunter, it will be remembered, had been sent to the frontier in the
fall of 1849 to put in operation the provisions of the Perpetual
Emigrating Fund. The first company brought across the
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* The Deseret Mint occupied a portion of the same building.
433
plains by this fund arrived in Salt Lake Valley on the 13th of October,
1850.
During that fall the settlements of Springville, Payson, Lehi, American
Fork, Pleasant Grove and Alpine, in Utah Valley were formed. In Davis
County, besides Sessions' Settlement, Centerville, Farmington and
Kaysville now existed; while in Weber the
settlements of Lynne, Slaterville, North Ogden, Easton, Harrisville and
Mound Fort were either formed or forming. The city of Ogden had been
located that summer.
In December of this year George A. Smith raised a company of over a
hundred volunteers, accompanied by about thirty families, and started
southward to plant a colony in the valley of the Little Salt Lake. This
place had been visited by Parley P. Pratt about a year before and reported
by him as an eligible spot for the location of a settlement. Smith's
company was organized on Peteetneet Creek, in Utah County. It consisted of
twenty-five cavalry, thirty-two infantry, and thirteen men with a cannon.
There were others who acted as a camp-guard. Arriving on the stream known
as Centre Creek, they located the town of Parowan, now in Iron County. As
usual with the Mormon colonists, — those who followed the advice of their
leaders, — they at once built a fort for protection against hostile
Indians. Walker, the Ute chief, was now in that neighborhood, and he at
once paid a visit to the Parowan settlers, accompanied by a large band of
warriors. " Their visit," says Apostle Smith, "demonstrated that our
policy of settling in a fort was the only safe one. It was absolutely
necessary for our preservation."
The early settlers of Utah, in the midst of their colonizing labors, found
time to establish schools and provide for the education of their young. As
early as October, 1847, three months after the advent of the pioneers, a
school was taught in the "Old Fort," by Miss Mary Jane Dilworth, aged
seventeen. This young lady, who was undoubtedly the pioneer school-teacher
of Utah, afterwards became the wife of Hon. F. A. Hammond, now President
of the San Juan Stake of Zion. She opened her little school to teach the
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children of the pioneers about the last of October, in a small round tent
on the west side of the south extension of the old stockade. Pieces of
logs were used for seats, and a small camp-table for a desk. In January
following, Julian Moses, as soon as he had finished his
little log house covered with willows and earth, began teaching a school
therein, having benches made of puncheons. Similar schools sprang up in
other settlements as fast as they were formed. Our first Sabbath school, —
the forerunner of the colossal Deseret Sunday
School Union of today — was opened in the Fourteenth Ward, Salt Lake City,
in December, 1849. Its founder was Richard Ballantyne, now Superintendent
of Sabbath Schools in the Weber Stake of Zion. These were Utah"s
educational beginnings.
Two months later, on the 28th of February, 1850, the Legislature chartered
the University of the State of Deseret, designating Great Salt Lake City
as the location of the institution,
and vesting its control and conduct in a chancellor and a board of twelve
regents, to be elected annually by the joint vote of both branches of the
General Assembly. The first Chancellor of the University was Orson
Spencer. The original board of regents were:
Daniel Spencer, Orson Pratt, John M. Bernhisel, Samuel W. Richards,
William W. Phelps, Albert Carrington. William I. Appleby, Daniel H. Wells,
Robert L. Campbell, Hosea Stout, Elias Smith and another whose name we
have been unable to obtain. David Fullmer was Treasurer, and James Lewis,
Secretary. The chancellor, regents and secretary, besides taking the usual
oath of office, were each required to give bonds in the sum of $10,000.
The treasurer's bond was $100,000. At the initial meeting of the board of
regents, on
March 13th, 1850, three of its members were appointed a committee to act
with Governor Young in selecting a site for the University building, as
well as locations for primary school buildings. Section 11 of the original
charter of the institution provided that $5,000 be
annually appropriated by the Legislature for the support of the
University. Another section made it the duty of the Chancellor and board
of regents, as soon as the financial condition of the institution
435
would warrant, to establish a free school for the benefit of orphans
and other indigent worthy persons.
The University of Deseret. under the title of the "Parent School,"" was
opened for the first time on Monday, November 11th, 1850, in "Mrs. Pack"s
house, 17th Ward,"" under the direction and supervision of Chancellor
Spencer. Dr Cyrus Collins, A. M., a sojourner in the city, on his way to
California, was employed for the time being to take immediate charge of
the school. Later, Dr. Collins retiring. Professor Orson Spencer and
William W. Phelps, and later still Professor Orson Pratt became the
preceptors. Owing to a lack of room the school was at first organized for
"young men only," but a separate department for ladies was contemplated.
The tuition was eight dollars per quarter; half payable in advance. The
second term of the Parent School opened in February, 1851, in the upper
room of the Council House, corner of East Temple and South Temple streets.
Forty pupils, male and female, were then enrolled, the idea of a separate
department for ladies having been
abandoned. Subseciuently the school was held in the Thirteenth Ward, where
the University building was projected. A few years later the Parent School
collapsed, the common schools established throughout the city and
Territory being deemed sufficient for
educational purposes at that time. Until the revival of the University in
1867-69 the common schools, so far as possible, supplied its place.
During January, 1851. the General Assembly of Deseret granted charters to
the cities of Salt Lake, Ogden, Provo, Manti and Parowan. The first to be
incorporated was Salt Lake City. The event occurred on the 9tli of
January.
Pending the first election provided for by its charter, the
following-named officers for "Great Salt Lake City'" were appointed by the
Governor and Legislature: Mayor, Jedediah M. Grant; Aldermen, Nathaniel H.
Felt, William Snow, Jesse P. Harmon, and Nathaniel V. Jones; Councilors,
Vincent Shurtliff, Benjamin L. Clapp, Zera Pulsipher, William G. Perkins,
Lewis
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Robison, Harrison Burgess, Jeter Clinton, John L. Dunyon, and Samuel W.
Richards. Two days later the clerk of Salt Lake County — Thomas Bullock—
administered to each the official oath, and the first municipal council
that convened in the Great Basin was then duly
organized. Its initial act was the appointment of Robert Campbell as City
Recorder, Thomas Rhodes as Treasurer, and Elam Luddington as Marshal and
Assessor and Collector. The rate of taxation for city purposes was fixed
at one-half of one per cent. The city was
divided into four municipal wards, according to the number of the
Aldermen. At the first election under the charter, in April following, the
only changes in the personnel of the city government were the dropping out
:of two of the original council— Messrs. Clapp and
Dunyon— and the substitution of Robert Pierce and Enoch Reese. The general
tenor of the charters granted to the several cities was similar to the
following,— the original charter of Great Salt Lake City:
| AN ORDINANCE TO INCORPORATE GREAT SALT LAKE CITY. |
Sec. 1. Be it ordained by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret: That all that district of country embraced in the following boundaries, to wit:— beginning at the
south-east corner of the Church Pasture, about half a mile north of the Hot Spring ; thence west to the west bank of the Jordan River; thence south, up to the west bank thereof, to a point in said bank directly west from the south-west corner of the five acre lots, south of said city, thence east to the aforesaid south-west corner of said five acre lots, and along the south line thereof; thence east to the base of the mountains; thence directly north to point directly east of the south-east corner of the Church Pasture; thence west to the place of beginning;— including the present surveys of said city, shall be known and designated as Great Salt Lake City; and the inhabitants thereof are hereby constituted a body corporate and politic, by the name aforesaid, and shall have perpetual succession, and may have and use a common seal, which they may change and alter at pleasure.
Sec. 2. The inhabitants of said city, by the name and style aforesaid, shall have power to sue and be sued; to plead and to be impleaded; defend and be defended, in all courts of law and equity, and in all actions whatsoever; to purchase, receive, and hold property, real and personal, in said city; to purchase, receive, and hold real property beyond the city, for burying grounds, or other public purposes, for the use of the inhabitants of said city, to sell, lease, convey, or dispose of property, real and personal, for the benefit of said city; to improve and protect such property, and to do all other things in relation thereto, as natural persons.
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Sec. 3. There shall be a City Gouncil, to consist of a Mayor, four Aldermen, and
Tiine Councilors, who shall have the qualifications of electors of said city, and shall be
chosen by the qualified voters thereof, and shall hold their offices for two years, and until
their successors shall be elected and qualified. The City Council shall judge of the
qualifications, elections, and returns of their own members, and a majority of them shall
form a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and
compel the attendance of absent members, under such penalties as may be prescribed by
ordinance.
Sec. 4. The Mayor, Aldermen, and Councilors, before entering upon the duties of
their offices, shall take and subscribe an oath or affirmation, that they will support the
Constitution of the United States, and of this State, and that they will well and truly
perform the duties of their offices, to the best of their skill and abilities.
Sec. 5. On the first Monday of April next, and every two years thereafter, on said
day, an election shall be held for the election of one Mayor, four Aldermen, and nine
Councilors; and at the first election under this ordinance, three judges shall be chosen,
viva voce, by the electors present. The said judges shall choose two clerks, and the
judges and clerks, before entering upon their duties, shall take and subscribe an oath or
affirmation, such as is now required by law to be taken by judges and clerks of other
elections; and at all subsequent elections the necessary number of judges and clerks shall
be appointed by the City Council. At the first election so held, the polls shall be opened
at nine o'clock a.m., and closed at six o'clock p.m. At the close of the polls, the votes
shall be counted, and a statement thereof proclaimed at the front door of the house at
which said election shall be held; and the clerks shall leave with each person elected, or
at his usual place of residence, within five days after the elecion, a written notice of his election; and each person so notified, shall within ten days after the election, take
the oath or affirmation herein before mentioned, a certificate of which oath shall be
deposited with the Recorder, whose appointment is hereinafter provided for, and be by
him preserved. And all subsequent elections shall be held, conducted, and returns
thereof made, as may be provided for by ordinance of the City Council.
Sec. 6. All free white male inhabitants of the age of eighteen years, who are
entitled to vote for State officers, and who shall have been actual residents of said city
sixty days next preceding said election, shall be entitled to vote for city officers.
Sec. 7. The City Council shall. have authority to levy and collect taxes for city
purposes, upon all taxable property, real and personal, within the limits of the city, not
exceeding one half per cent, per annum, upon the assessed value thereof, and may enforce
the payment of the same in any manner to be provided by ordinance, not repugnant to the
Constitution of the United States, or of this State.
Sec. 8. The City Gouncil shall have power to appoint a Recorder, Treasurer,
Assessor and Collector, Marshal and Supervisor of Streets. They shall also have the power
to appoint all such other officers, by ordinance, as may be necessary, define the duties of
all city officers, and remove them from office at pleasure.
Sec. 9. The City Council shall have power to require of all officers appointed in
pursuance of this ordinance, bonds with penalty and security, for the faithful performance
of their respective duties, such as may be deemed expedient, and also to require all officers
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appointed as aforesaid, to take an oath for the faitliful performance of the duties of their
respective offices.
Sec. 10. The City Council shall have power and authority to make, ordain, establish, and execute all such ordinances, not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, or of this State, as they may deem necessary for the peace, benefit, good order, regulation, convenience, and cleanliness of said city; for the protection of property therein, from destruction of property by fire or otherwise, and for the health and happiness thereof.
They shall have power to fill all vacancies that may happen by death, resignation, or
removal, in any of the offices herein made elective; to fix and establish all the fees of the
officers of said corporation, not herein established; to impose such fines not exceeding one
hundred dollars for each offense, as they may deem just, for refusing to accept of any
office in or under the corporation, or for misconduct therein; to divide the city into wards,
and specify the boundaries thereof, and create additional wards; to add to the number of
Aldermen and Councilors, and apportion them among the several wards, as may be just,
and most conducive to the interest of the city.
Sec. 11. To establish, support, and regulate common schools; to borrow money on
the credit of the city, — provided that no sum or sums of money be borrowed on a greater
interest than six per cent, per annum, — nor shall the interest on the aggregate of all the
sums borrowed and outstanding ever exceed one half of the city revenue, arising from
taxes assessed on real estate within this corporation.
Sec. 12. To make regulations to prevent the introduction of contagious diseases into
the city, to make quarantine laws for that purpose, and enforce the same.
Sec. 13. To appropriate and provide for the payment of the expenses and debts of
the city.
Sec. 14. To establish hospitals, and make regulations for the government of the same; to make regulations to secure the general health of the inliabitants; to declare what
shall be nuisances, and to prevent and remove the same.
Sec. 15. To provide the city with water, to dig wells, lay pump logs, and pipes, and
erect pumps in the streets for the extinguishment of fires, and convenience of the
inhabitants.
Sec. 16. To open, altar, widen, extend, establish, grade, pave, or otherwise improve, and keep in repair, streets, avenues, lanes and alleys; and to establish, erect and keep in repair aqueducts and bridges.
Sec 17. To provide for lighting of the streets, and erecting lamp posts; and establish, support and regulate night watches; to erect market houses, establisli markets and market places, and provide for the government and regulations thereof.
Sec. 18. To provide for erecting all needful buildings for the use of the city; and for
enclosing, improving, and regulating all public grounds belonging to the city.
Sec. 19. To license, tax and regulate auctioneers, merchants, and retailers, grocers
and taverns, ordinaries, hawkers, peddlers, brokers, pawn-brokers, and money
changers.
Sec 20. To license, tax and regulate hacking, carriages, wagons, carts and drays,
and fix the rates to be charged for the carriage of persons, and for wagonage, cartage and
drayage of property; as also to license and regulate porters, and fix the rates of portage.
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Sec. 21. To license, tax and regulate theatrical and other exhibitions, shows and
amusements.
Sec. 22. To tax, restrain, prohibit, and suppress tippling houses, dram shops, gaming houses, bawdy, and other disorderly houses.
Sec. 23. To provide for the prevention and extinguishment of fires; to regulate the
fixing of chimneys, and the flues thereof, and stove pipes, and to organize and establish
fire companies.
Sec. 24. To regulate the storage of gunpowder, tar, pitch, rosin, and other combustible materials.
Sec. 25. To regulate and order parapet walls, and other partition fences.
Sec. 26. To establish standard weights and measures, and regulate the weights and
measures to be used in the city, in all other cases not provided for by law.
Sec. 27. To provide for the inspection and measuring of lumber, and other building
materials, and for the measurement of all kinds of mechanical work.
Sec. 28. To provide for the inspection and weighing of hay, lime, and stone coal;
and measuring of charcoal, firewood, and other fuel, to be sold or used within the city.
Sec. 29. To provide for and regulate the inspection of tobacco, and of beef, pork,
flour, meal; also beer, and whisky, brandy, and all other spirituous or fermented liquors.
Sec. 30. To regulate the weight, quality, and price of bread sold and used in the city.
Sec. 31. To provide for taking the enumeration of the inhabitants of the city.
Sec. 32. To fix the compensation of all city officers, and regulate the fees of jurors,
witnesses, and others, for services rendered under this or any city ordinances.
Sec. 33. The City Council shall have exclusive power within the city by ordinance, to license, regulate, suppress, or restrain billiard tables, and from one to twenty pin alleys,
and every other description of gaming or gambling.
Sec. 34. The City Council shall have exclusive power within the city, by ordinance,
to license, regulate, or restrain the keeping of ferries, and toll bridges; to regulate the
police of the city; to impose fines, forfeitures and penalties, for the breach of any
ordinance, and provide for the recovery of such fines and forfeitures, and the enforcement
of such penalties, and to pass such ordinances as may be necessary and proper for carrying into effect and execution, the powers specified in this ordinance, provided such ordinances are not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, or of this State.
Sec. 35. All ordinances passed by the City Council, shall, within one month after
they shall have been passed, be published in some newspaper, printed in said city, or
certified copies thereof, be posted up in three of the most public places in the city.
Sec. 36. All ordinances of the city may be proven by the seal of the corporation; and when printed or published in book or pamphlet form, purporting to be printed or published by the authority of the corporation, the same shall be received in evidence in all
courts, or places, without further proof.
Sec. 37. The Mayor and Aldermen shall be conservators of the peace within the
limits of the city, and shall have all the powers of justices of the peace therein, both in
civil and criminal cases, arising under the laws of the State. They shall, as justices of
the peace, within the limits of said city, perform the same duties, be governed by the
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same laws, give the same bonds and securities, as otlier justices of the peace, and be commissioned as justices of the peace, in and for said city by the Governor.
Sec. 38. The Mayor and Aldermen shall have exclusive jurisdiction in all cases,
arising under the ordinances of the corporation, and shall issue such process as may be
necessary to carry said ordinances, into execution and effect. Appeals may be had from any decision or judgment of said Mayor or Aldermen, arising under the ordinances of said
city, to the Municipal Court under such regulations, as may be prescribed by ordinance;
which court shall be composed of the Mayor as chief justice, and the Aldermen as
associate justices; and from the final judgment of the Municipal Court to the Probate
Court of Great Salt Lake County, in the same manner as appeals are taken from justices
of the peace; provided the parties litigant shall have a right to a trial by jury of twelve
men, in all cases before the Municipal Court. The Municipal Court shall have power to
grant writs of Habeas Corpus, and try the same, in all cases arising under the ordinances
of the City Council.
Sec. 39. The Municipal Court may sit on the first Monday of every month, and the
City Council, at such times and places as may be prescribed by city ordinance, special
meetings of which may at any time be called by the Mayor or any two Aldermen.
Sec. 40. All process issued by the Mayor, Aldermen, or Municipal Court, shall be
directed to the Marshal, and in the execution thereof, he shall be governed by the same laws, as are or may be prescribed for the direction and compensation of constables in similar cases. The Marshal shall also perform such other duties as may be required of him
under the ordinances of said city, and shall be the principal ministerial officer.
Sec. 41. It shall be the duty of the Recorder to make and keep accurate records of
all ordinances made by the City Council, and of all their proceedings in their corporate
capacity, which record shall at all times be open to the inspection of the electors of said
city, and shall perform all other duties as may be required of him by the ordinances of
the City Council, and shall serve as clerk of the Municipal Court.
Sec. 42. When it shall be necessary to take private property for opening, widening,
or altering any public street, lane, avenue, or alley, the corporation shall make a just
compensation therefor, to the person whose property is so taken; and if the amount of
such compensation cannot be agreed upon, the Mayor shall cause the same to be ascertained by a jury of six disinterested men, who shall be inhabitants of the city.
Sec. 43. All jurors empanelled to enquire into the amount of benefits or damages,
that shall happen to the owners of property so proposed to be taken, shall first be sworn
to that effect, and shall return to the Mayor their inquest in writing, signed by each juror.
Sec. 44. In case the Mayor shall, at any time, be guilty of a palpable omission of
duty, or shall wilfully and corruptly be guilty of oppression, mal conduct, or partiality, in
the discharge of the duties of his office, he shall be liable to indictment in the Probate
Court of Great Salt Lake County, and on conviction, he shall be liable to fine and imprisonment; and the court shall have power on the recommend of the jury, to add to the
judgment of the court, that he be removed from office.
Sec. 45. The City Council shall have power to provide for the punishment of
offenders and vagrants, by imprisonment in the county or city jail, or by compelling them
to labor upon the streets, or other public works, until the same shall be fully paid; in all
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cases where such offenders or vagrants shall fail or refuse to pay the fine and forfeitures
which may be recovered against them.
Sec. 46. The inhabitants of Great Salt Lake City shall, from and after the next ensuing two years, from the first Monday of April next, be exempt from working on any road or roads, beyond the limits of said city. But all taxes devoted to road purposes, shall, from and after said term of two years, be collected and expended by, and under the direction of, the supervisor of streets, within the limits of said city.
Sec. 47. The Mayor, Aldermen, and Councilors of said city shall, in the first
instance, be appointed by the Governor and Legislature of said State of Descret ; and shall
hold their office until superseded by the first election.
Approved Jan. 9th, 1851.
Meantime, though the people of Deseret were yet unaware of it, Congress had finally acted upon their petition for a civil government, forwarded to Washington more than a year before. It had denied their prayer for statehood, but had passed an act to organize out of
a portion of the provisional State of Deseret the Territory of Utah.
Pages 420-441