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UTAH’S BIG JUBILEE.RECENTLY CELEBRATED SEMI-CENTENNIALHERFifty*Tear* Ago Brigham Yonng, the Mormon Prophet, Led Hie People Into the “Promlied Land” and Laid the Foundation of a State*Founding a State.The people of the State of Utah recently completed their big celebration of the semi-centennial anniversary of the arrival of Brigham Young and his band of 1,160 pioneers in the valley of the Great Salt Lake. Almost a full week was required to fittingly observe the great empire-building work of Brigham Young.It was on July 24, 1847, that the pioneers emerged from the rugged defile now known as Emigration Canyon vud faced a broad and sunny valley, which sloped gently to the shores of an inland sea. On the east, the Wasatch Mountains, and on the south and west the Oquirrh range made grim walls about the desert. When the pilgrims had proceeded a little further they saw a large fresh lake a few miles to the south, emptying its surplus waters into the inland sea through a slender river. These odd conditions suggested a striking comparison to Brigham Young, whofelt that he was a Moses leading a new tribe of Israel to a new promised land. The fresh lake was the sea of Tiberias, the salt one the Dead Sea, the river was, of course, the Jordan. This, then, was the new Palestine; and here the leader and his followers would build a new Jerusalem. Advancing a few milesinto the valley, and halting near the banks of a roaring brook, Brigham Young sit ruck his staff upon the ground and exclaimed: “Here we will rear our temple in holiness to the Lord!”The small party of emigrants who ended their tiresome and dangerous pilgrimage in the Utah desert fifty years ago gave but the slightest promise of founding an enduring State. They had come to an arid land, and possessed neither canals nor the slighest knowledge of the art of irrigation. They had but a scanty store of provisions, and a .thousand miles of deserts and mountains lay between them and any baseof supplies. They had no shelter savethat offered by the canvas coverings of their crowded Avagons, and thereB1UGHAM* YOUNG.were no forests near at hand from which lumber could be made. But they went to work under the direction of a masterful leader, turning the waters of a canyon stream upon the hard alkaline soil and staking the last of their stock of potatoes on the venture. The result of this desperate beginning is seen in the Utah of to-day.Utah of Today,This latest of American States contains nearly 300,000 people on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary. Of these less than one-third live in large towns, Salt Lake City, the metropolis and capital, containing about 60,000,and Ogden, its cheerful rival, about 10,-000. More than two-thirds of the total population is dispersed in mining camps, on the stock range and over a gpyriad of farms. #While Utah owes much of its presentfarms range from three to twenty acres —the smallest of any State in the Union. They are universally devotedto diversified agriculture, and thus render their unmortgaged proprietors absolutely self-sustaining.In another important respect these farms differ from those elsewhere. Their owners do not live, as a rule, upon the farm acreage, but in villages or home centers. These are located at central points in bodies of 5,000 to 10,-000 acres. The farmers have their homes on acre lots in these villages, getting from this small area many ofyears of political solidarity appears tc le genuine, and the people carry on thefr discussions with the proviarbiaJzeal of new converts.h1£sI£THE MORMON 1the things they consume, and having the social advantages of town life to a considerable degree. The church is also the dance hall, and in the remotest hamlet there is a Sunday night dance led by the bishop. These social arrangements have contributed much to the contentment of the farming population. There has been less temptation for the boys and girls to leave the soil and go to the large towns than elsewhere. The people live under such conditions that neither panics, strikes nor Avars could seriously menace theirthree meals a day.The Mormons are admittedly the founders of irrigation among Anglo-Saxons. Until they made their first rude canal from City Creek on thatJuly day, in 1847, men of their race had never dealt seriously with this industry. As the pioneers enjoyed a practical equality in the matter of property, their irrigation works were necessarily built by means of co-operative labor. Every man performed his share of the work and received his proportion of stock in the company Avhich oAvned the canal. It was nearly forty years afterthe first settlement was made beforecostly works were built by outside capital, and the innovation was not regarded with favor by the Mormons. In Utah the stores, factories and banks are owned very generally by joint stock companies, consisting of multitudes of small skareoAvners.The Mormon Church.After a half century the Mormon church is still a dominant factor in the life of Utah. In numbers and in wealth it is, of course, a far greater church than it Avas fifty years ago. The practice of polygamy, suspended by formal edict in 18(J0, is now a thing of the past, speaking in broad terms. But the doctrine is still religiously held among the tenets of the church. It is doubtless sincerely believed in by the majority of the people, and is usually mere vigorously defended by the women than by the men. There are occasional arrests under the Edmunds-Tucker law, but there seems no reason to doubt the good faith of the church in discountenancing the practice.The older generation of Mormons rule the church, but the younger generation rule the State. The Governor, the two Senators and one Representative are natives and of Mormon parentage, though Senator Rawlins is said to be an apostate. Contrary to general expectations, this fact has not deprivedTI1E GREAT MORMON TEMPLE,sperity to its mines, and will be q more deeply indebted to this item ts resources in the future, the broad odation of its economic life Is in Its gated soil. There are some remark-? facts to be recorded about Its 19,-farms. In the first place, 17,684 of n are absolutely free of all iucum-Tlie average size of these is twenty-seven acres, but ase large ranches are included In this mate, the figure given for the aver-is rather too b*gh. The typical1tii1i£II££1AttAIAItt1I(tII1£(111«£A'i111£€CIt1cfttVetcA1:csA00schSoi]0 1:f1rAchim of strong support among the members of the church, not even when he vigorously attacked the leaders for “using the livery of heaven to serve thedevil in,” as he once did in the heat of the campaign. The first Representative chosen to Congress, C. E. Allen, had been for years a powerful and uncompromising opponent of the church. But he was elected with the aid of Mormonvotes. The tifblve apostles are dividedbetween the two great parties. The division which has come after forty | 1iarIisi
Newspaper Details
Mesa Free Press
Mesa, Arizona, US
Fri, Sep 17, 1897
Page 3
Full Page
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GB 21 Jun 2021
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