Chapter III

View of Salt Lake Valley and City--Tabernacle--History of the
Mormons--Joe Smith--Came to Kirtland, Ohio--Brigham Young
Converted--Located at Independence, Missouri--Located at Nauvoo,
Illinois--Joe and Hiram Smith Killed--Emigrated to Council
Bluffs--Came to Salt Lake--Trouble with the Government--Mormon
Theology.

Winding down a deep gulch, through which runs a mountain-stream, we came out upon the plateau that overlooks the great Salt Lake Valley from the south. It is a scene of rare natural beauty. Beyond and across, the plain spreads out from five to ten miles, with pretty farm-houses and herds of cattle. To the north it was lost in the dim distance,--the whole flat almost as a floor and sparkling with irrigating canals, and walled upon either side by hills that mount to the snow-line, and out from which flow the cool, sparkling waters that make this once-desert valley blossom under the hand of industry.

The city, but a short way to the north, is regularly and handsomely laid out, with many fine buildings, and is filled with thick gardens of trees and flowers that give it a fairy-land aspect. No internal city of the continent lies in such a field of beauty.

Water is conveyed from a mountain-stream down to the city by a canal; and bright, sparkling pools course freely and constantly down its paved gutters upon either side of every street, keeping the shade-trees alive and growing, supplying drink for animals and water for household purposes, and delightfully cooling the summer-air.

The trees, at the proper season, are almost always loaded with the finest fruit; and the soil is favorable to the small grains. Forty and fifty bushels of wheat to the acre is an ordinary crop; and it is said that over _ninety_ bushels have been raised.

No one seems poor. No beggar is seen in the streets. No prostitute lives here; and there are but few saloons in town. When a drunken man is seen, he is almost invariably a miner or a soldier. The people are far more civil and quiet than is usual in these western parts.

Great Salt Lake is a very great curiosity. It is about one hundred and forty miles long and from seventy to eighty wide, and is a vast collection of brine. The water seems to be saturated with salt to its utmost capacity of holding it in solution, indicating the neighborhood of great deposits of mineral salt. Where the wind dashes the water upon the beach the salt collects in such quantities as to be conveniently shoveled into carts for domestic use. It is also procured by evaporation--five bucketfuls of water leaving one of salt.

The lake encompasses several islands, with high, mountainous peaks, among the largest of which is Church Island, situated so near the eastern shore as to be accessible for grazing purposes, for which it is extensively used. The air is wonderfully pure and bright. Rain seldom falls in the valley, though storms occur in the mountains almost daily. A cloud comes up in the western hills, rolls along the crest and threatens the city with a deluge, but then breaks into wind and showers, and seems to run along the hill-tops and sail away eastward into the snowy range.

While delighted to find the people all apparently so well circumstanced, we were also amused at their many curious peculiarities. There is one block in the city called “Temple Block.” This is surrounded by a high and powerful stone wall. Inside of this wall stands the mighty granite temple (yet unfinished), and also the tabernacle. The tabernacle is built of _adobes_ made from the blue clay from the mountain-foot. It is round, about eighty feet in diameter, with walls about thirty feet high. It is splendidly seated, and has a large gallery. There are large double doors all around, leaving columns of wall about ten feet between the doors. In warm weather these doors are all thrown open, and the building is a cool, delightful place. At one end stands the next to the largest pipe-organ in the world; next is a beautiful platform, which the band and choir of about seventy-five persons occupy; then comes the large, decorated, and comfortable chair in which the president sits; then the long sofa for the twelve apostles; then the pulpit for the ministers; and then comes the congregation, who usually throng the house. The choir is composed of cultured and beautiful singers; and sweeter music than I heard in that old tabernacle never met my ears. After the preaching is done and the songs are sung, the president arises and prophesies, and the apostles cry out, “Amen.” The fictitious Mormon Bible that they claim was found by Joe Smith in Mormon Hill has been changed and modified from time to time, and to-day they preach from nearly the same Bible as ours. They have services every Sabbath; and all finding it possible, from the tottering infant to the aged and gray, gather in to hear the word and listen to the prophecies. They take sacrament every Sabbath; but water is used instead of wine. I was in one of their thronged congregations when the cup went around, and when it reached me my delight at the thought of getting a good big swallow of old Mormon wine was blighted by a cup of something that I had been drinking ever since I was a drinker. Nevertheless, it went pretty well in warm weather. We happened to be there when the body of Rev. Joseph Stanley--a Mormon missionary who was killed in Georgia--arrived for interment, and we had the pleasure of hearing the services. The sixth chapter of the Revelation of St. John was read, and the text was taken from the thirty-fourth verse of the twenty-third chapter of St. Matthew. The remarks were all tinged with vindication; and the prophet indulged freely in threatening wrath upon their opposers. There were about fourteen thousand people present, and the strong language of the dignitaries excited them to such a degree that I tried to look just as much like a Mormon as possible.

There is a large church-building in which to store away the property belonging to the church; and from the poorest maiden at the wash-tub to the wealthiest merchant of the city, one tenth of everything that is made must be surrendered to the church. It is amusing to see how cheerfully the farmers trot off to the store-house with every tenth bushel of apples, or load of hay, or grain. This store is managed and run by the dignitaries, who dispose of the grains and fruits, and handle the silver and gold. And not being compelled to ever produce a balance-sheet, nor any account whatever, they have the funds entirely in their own fingers; and hence their fine mansions and flowery beds of ease. The poor ignorant dupes submit to all this, and appear to think that they are paving their way into heaven by lavishing luxuries upon their priesthood.

At the other end of the valley stands the city of Ogden, which is about half as large as Salt Lake City, and not nearly so beautiful. About one fifth of the persons here are not Mormons, while at the other end there are very few who do not nestle in the folds of the church. The Central Pacific Railroad passes through Ogden, and sends off a branch called the Utah Central down to Salt Lake City.

The lake lies several miles from the city, and there are several fine bathing-houses on its shores. These are reached by narrow-gauge railroads; and during the bathing-season great loads of gleeful boys and girls can be seen most every evening riding down to the beach to bathe.

The rise of Mormondom has been so miraculous, and their superstitions are so curious and numerous, that a brief sketch of their career from the finding of the Bible by Joe Smith, together with a part of their theology, may be in place here, and will doubtless be interesting to many of my readers. The following is what, with care and pains, I have been able to collect from interviews, records, and other sources:

Joe Smith, jr., the putative father of Mormonism and the Church of Latter-day Saints, was born in Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, December 13, 1805. When he was seventeen years old he found a curious stone in the dirt thrown from a well. It was the shape of a child’s foot, of a whitish, glassy appearance, though opaque, and resembling quartz. He thought a great deal of the stone, and asserted the gift and power with it at his eyes of revealing things past and things to come. The discoveries soon became too dazzling for his eyes in daylight, and he had to shade his vision by looking at the stone in his hat. There are fools in all ages; and Joe had his believers, who often came to him to find out where lost or stolen property was. He always charged; and though there was no reality in his pretentions, he succeeded in keeping the eyes of certain dupes covered. He would tell them where there was a large chest of money buried, and get them to digging, and _he_ would stand by with his stone; but every time, just as they were almost to the treasure, the enchantment would be broken by some one speaking, or otherwise, and though he never found any money, they still believed. He made his dupes believe that while he was engaged in secret prayer in the wilderness an angel appeared and told him that all his sins had been forgiven, and proclaiming further that all the religious denominations were believing false doctrines; that none of them were acceptable of God as of his church and kingdom; and also promising him that the true doctrine and fullness of the gospel should at some future time be revealed to him. He was told that the American Indians were a remnant of the Israelites; that their prophetic records regarding the last days were buried at a certain spot; that this spot was made known him, and him only, and that if he kept faithful he should be the chosen prophet to translate them to the world. A short time afterward he had another astonishing vision; and he was commanded, upon a secretly-fixed day and hour, to go alone to a certain spot revealed to him by an _angel_, and there take out of the earth a metallic book of great antiquity, which was of immortal importance to the world, and which he said was a record of mystic letters of the long-lost tribes of Israel; that no human being besides himself could see it and live, and that the power to translate it to the nations of the earth was given to him only as the chosen servant of God.

Smith’s dupes and relations gave the report a wide circulation; and accordingly, when the appointed hour came, assuming his practical air of mystery, he took in his hand his money-digging spade and a large napkin, and went off alone into the solitude of the forest. In three hours he returned with his sacred charge concealed within the folds of the napkin. He again warned his friends of the fatal consequences of looking at it, and a strong chest was procured and the charge kept under lock and key. He said that as he was digging for the treasure, he was confronted by ten thousand devils, gathered there with their menacing, sulphurous flame and smoke, to deter him from his purpose. The sacred treasure was never seen by mortal eyes save those of the anointed.

About the year 1826 it became expedient to have a new revelation. The veritable existence of the book was certified to by eleven witnesses of Smith’s own choosing; and wonderful stories and predictions followed in regard to the future light and destiny of the world. The spot from whence the book is said to have been taken is on the summit of a hill at Manchester, New York, which has ever since been called Mormon Hill. The book, after the new revelation, was represented by Smith and his echoes as consisting of metallic leaves or plates resembling gold, bound together by three rings running through one edge of them and opening like a book. Smith translated the book and a certain school-master did the writing; and the new Bible went to print in the summer of 1830.

Here was the organization of the first Mormon Church. Though great efforts and impositions had been practiced upon the people, the scheme was generally ridiculed and the converts were few and of the most ignorant of the race; and Smith coming to realize that a prophet was without honor in his own country, he, with his most fanatic followers, began to talk of going on a mission into the western country to convert the Lamanites (meaning the Indians). In the year 1830 or 1831 they started on their western expedition, stopping at Mentor, Ohio, where lived a few Mormon converts.

Near this place is _Kirtland_, where they began a series of meetings; and one hundred persons were added to the fold in a short time. Kirtland, from about this period, became the head-quarters of the Mormons, where their church and colony were thoroughly organized and temporarily established.

The next interest was to disseminate to the people the newly-revealed latter-day religion. The system of missionary labor was put in active requisition. The cause was pressed with zeal and effect. The trumpet of “the true gospel” was sounded to the gentiles. The superstitious and ignorant were captivated, and respectable men and women quaked amid the scenes. Conversions were multiplied and multitudes rushed into the new Zion as if believing the last days were at hand in sober verity. Thus was the Mormon Church matured and the colony of the saints speedily enlarged.

At length, finding himself surrounded and sustained by large and increasing numbers,--including some persons of ample pecuniary means,--Smith tried a bold venture upon their credulity in his own behalf. This was a revelation which he communicated to his disciples, to the effect that they should “immediately build a house for the prophet, in which he might live and translate.” It was in 1832 or 1833; and the command was cheerfully accepted and obeyed.

Another revelation, alike successful, shortly followed, commanding that “my chosen Joseph shall not labor for a living.” Though the impostor was scorned by intelligent people, his followers regarded him as almost deserving of adoration; and he was enabled to revel in whatever luxury was most agreeable to his vulgar taste and ambition. His power was now next to omnipotent in Mormondom.

Brigham Young was converted and joined the Mormons at Kirtland in the year 1833. Like Smith, he was a native of Vermont, being his senior by four years. Brigham was shrewd, bold, and resolute, possessing an almost intuitive knowledge of men. He soon attracted the attention of his brethren, whom he swayed by his strong, electric will, and was recognized as a man born to rule. He was soon ordained one of the quorum of twelve apostles that had been organized. He preached with success; and from that day till his death his influence and power among the Mormons was resistless.

Smith was constantly receiving new revelations; and at length he discovered that those who had property were to pay all their surplus money into the hands of the bishop for the building of Zion, for the benefit of the priesthood, and to pay the debts of the presidency of the church. “And ever _after_ those who shall thus tithe shall pay one tenth of all their interests annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever for my holy priesthood, saith the Lord.” This revelation was also received and cheerfully obeyed. A temple was erected at Kirtland at a cost of fifty thousand dollars, by contributions in money and labor obtained from the saints through the resistless power of Smith’s revelation process.

Mormonism, however, became distasteful to the unconverted people of Ohio, and particularly disgusting to the inhabitants near Kirtland. People were familiar with the source and history of the golden-bible scheme, and scorned the impostor Smith beyond public tolerance. Smith now saw the necessity of another shift, and Jackson County, Missouri, was chosen for the new abode. A large tract of land was purchased here, and a town-site was laid out and called Independence. A division of the Mormons moved here, and the work of up-building was vigorously prosecuted in the year 1834. In 1836 the Mormon population consisted of about fifteen hundred, and the town was well advanced and business and printing-houses were established.

Trouble arose here again with the citizens outside of the church, and the saints were accused of stealing cattle and other property and of being connected with counterfeiting gangs and various other criminal offenses. A meeting of the surrounding citizens was called to consider the subject of ridding themselves of the source of their annoyance, and it was resolved to expel the Mormons from the state. Riotous scenes followed, and several persons were killed. The state militia was called out. Smith armed his followers and determined to resist any reprimand whatever. But they were too weak; and the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hiram, with some forty others of the party, were imprisoned in the county jail. This ended the struggle; and the Mormons finally agreed with the state authorities that they would permanently leave the state.

General Clark, commanding the militia in this affair, dispatched to Governor Boggs, in 1838, as follows: “There is no crime, from treason down to petit larceny, but these people, or a majority of them, have been guilty of; all, too, under the counsel of Joe Smith, jr., the prophet. They have societies formed under the most binding covenants and horrid oaths to plunder, burn, and murder, and divide the spoils for the use of the church.”

The governor answered that the ringleaders of the rebellion should be made an example of; and, if necessary to the public peace, the Mormons should be exterminated or expelled from the state.

The Mormons could no longer withstand the tide of opposition, and they concluded to quit Missouri with all haste. Their condition was now equal to the scattered tribes of their Babylonish ancestors, and before the close of the year 1839 they had all left Missouri,--some returning to Ohio; but the body, crossing the river into Illinois, established themselves in Hancock County, at a place which they called Nauvoo. In 1840 Nauvoo became the chief seat of Mormonism; and they were generally welcomed by the people of the surrounding country as persecuted exiles. Smith, seeing the sympathy in their behalf, took advantage of the situation and urged his doctrine; and vast numbers were converted.

Meantime Young and others had been sent as foreign missionaries to spread the gospel, and had received vivid encouragement in the East. In the year 1841 Young shipped several hundred of the faithful from Liverpool to New York, for the promised land; and organizations were left in England, Scotland, and Wales.

Nauvoo sprung up; Mormonism was more than itself again; and things went on smoothly. Smith had another vision, and was told that the saints should build for him a fine house. This command, like all other communications from the same source, was accepted as of heavenly authenticity. By his tithing process he had amassed a fortune estimated at a million of dollars; and he now reveled in luxury, played the gentleman, weighed two hundred and twenty pounds, had forty wives, and his children could not be enumerated with any accuracy.

The revelation in favor of polygamy, however, was for years withheld as a secret from all but the _dignitaries_ of the church. This interpolation of polygamy into what had been received by the disciples of Mormonism as their established religious system caused great embarrassment in the church--for it was repugnant to the teachings of Smith’s own Bible; and being also by the law of Illinois declared bigamy, and punishable by heavy fine and imprisonment in the penitentiary, the trouble was still augmented. The Illinois people were intolerant and restive in view of the vices and criminalities in various forms ascribed to the latter-day hypocrites. They were necessarily the sources of ill feeling and bitter hate between the communities, and from this time forward there was found no peace for the wicked. Charges of licentiousness, adultery, seduction, theft, dishonesty, and crimes in greater variety than ever were brought against the doomed leaders and their bigoted followers. Slander suits were commenced on one side and criminal proceedings were instituted on the other; and litigation followed litigation _pro_ and _con_.

Attempts to arrest Smith and other dignitaries of the church were resisted by military power. The charge of treason was brought against the offending saints. Mormon defense against the Illinois authority was persisted in, and General Joe Smith, and his brother Hiram, at the head of the Nauvoo legion, opposed the state militia which had been called out to enforce obedience to the law. The aspect was threatening; and the governor, anxious to avoid the terrible slaughter impending, proposed to the Smiths a surrender as prisoners to the sheriff and the disbandment of the legion, as their only course of safety for their own lives and for their city. This proposal was at length acceded to--the governor promising them protection against violence from the excited populace on their way to the jail and during their imprisonment. Accordingly, the legal arrests were made; and the Smiths, with Elder John Taylor and Dr. Richards, were conveyed to the Carthage jail. Pursuant to the governor’s stipulation, the jail was placed under a military guard to protect the prisoners against the known existence of an avengeful feeling, particularly existing on the part of those whose domestic sanctums were alleged to have been invaded by the cruel doctrine of polygamy. The prisoners were in the jail but a few days when the guard was reduced by desertion, and in the afternoon of the 24th of June, 1844, the remnant of the guard were overpowered by a mob two hundred disguised and armed men, bent upon summary vengeance for their wrongs. The doors were burst open, the inmates were fired upon, and the Smiths were killed, Elder Taylor severely wounded, and Dr. Richards escaped to tell the tale.

Great excitement prevailed, and Nauvoo was in commotion. The governor hastened to the scene, and measures were taken to prevent a general attack. He was incensed because the pledge he gave to the prisoners had been violated, and told the Mormons to defend themselves in the best way until he could send them protection. But further violence was happily averted. The immediate effect upon the Mormons of this appalling assassination, was to throw a halo of glory around his character as a martyr who had sealed with his blood the truth of his divine pretensions. The soil of Mormonism had been fertilized by the blood of the Smiths, and a church founded in falsehood and hypocrisy has been strengthened, if not perpetuated, by its supporting influence. Indeed, it is rational to believe that but for the opportunity thus afforded to fasten in enslaved, superstitious minds the impression of “martyrdom” of their patron saint, Mormonism would ere this have had its everlasting fall.

Brigham Young was ambitious and very shrewd; and standing very high in the estimation of his people, he was now unanimously elected to the presidency of the church, and maintained a despotic sway. In the course of a year or two, the people of Illinois determined to drive the whole tribe from the state; and seeing the necessity, Young and his counsel decided to send a company to seek a new home in the West. The emigration commenced in February, 1846, and in August they arrived at a selected place upon the unoccupied prairies near Council Bluffs. Here they remained in tents during the next winter. Here the news of the Mexican War reached them; and Young apprehending ultimate conflict with the Mexican authorities, deemed it essential to be on good terms with the United States. Quick to perceive his opportunity, he sent an agent to Washington to tender a battalion to the Government. It was accepted, and Young received twenty thousand dollars from the Government for his services.

Young, with a company of followers, then went upon another exploring expedition; and selecting Salt Lake valley for the location of their future Zion, the saints were all informed, and in the year 1847 four thousand Mormons arrived in the valley.

Young had not yet been accepted by the church as prophet, seer, and revelator, in the full celestial sense, as was the martyr Smith; and as soon as re-organization was secured, he called a meeting to consider the matter. He arose and solemnly professed communication with the spirit of Prophet Joseph; and going through with a series of impressive mimicries of his predecessor in his peculiar style of adroitness, he completely convinced his audience, and ever since this successful experiment it is believed that the mantle of Joseph fell upon Brigham; and by a vote he was declared the “Prophet of the Lord.”

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. About two thousand people were present, and the ceremonies were in the highest style of Mormon grandeur. Governor Young made the leading address on the occasion, saying that the saints were about to make their third attempt to build a temple to the Lord, and asking his followers to pay their tithes in cheerful promptitude, promising God’s blessing on them who do his will. He declared that the very ground where he stood had been revealed to him for seven years past as the place where the temple should stand. The building is an immense structure, and is calculated to seat eighteen thousand people. It is being built of granite taken from the mountain at the side of the valley, and is yet unfinished. It is a magnificent structure, of which the saints are very proud.

Soon anti-Mormons began to settle in the valleys east of the Sierra Nevada for the purposes of mining and stock-raising; and the Mormons becoming alarmed, determined to expel them _vi et armis_. Both parties armed and fortified themselves; but the Mormons soon saw their folly and gave up the scheme. Trouble is, however, continually brewing between the Mormons and anti-Mormons wherever they meet; and that they will never and can never live together in peace under one government is inevitable. The conflict that took place between them in Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa, and is now going on in Utah, ought to be enough to convince any intelligent man of this fact. The Mormons _themselves_ acknowledge it; and so long as they adhere to their present belief,--that an absolute theocracy is the only government under which they _can_ and _should_ live,--they never will be loyal to our government and countrymen; and hence their hostility to our institutions and people, and their inflexible devotion to their own. Their settlements lie in the great pathway which leads to the Pacific country, and they have been standing a lion in the path,--_encouraging_ the savages, if not _aiding_ them, in immigrant massacres. The Mormons had become so insolent that it was thought best in 1857 to send troops to Utah with the civil officers appointed to that territory.

In 1863, Stephen H. Harding was appointed governor of Utah. Congress passed an act to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy in the territories; and they, considering the act unconstitutional, refused to obey it as law. Governor Harding declaring in favor of the act, the pent-up fires of saintly wrath now broke forth. A meeting was again called, and in his enthusiastic way Young denounced Governor Harding as a black-hearted abolitionist, and asking his people if they would recognize him as their _governor_. And being answered no, that _he_ was their governor, he said, “Yes, I am your governor; and if he attempt to interfere in my business, woe, woe be unto him.” A committee was appointed to wait upon the governor and request him to resign his office and leave the territory. In reply, Harding said that as this was a land of prophecy, he too would prophesy. “If, while in the discharge of my duties, one drop of my blood be shed by your ministers of vengeance, it will be _avenged_; and not one stone nor _adobe_ in this city will be left upon another, I have now done, and you understand me.”

No acts of violence followed, and terms of mutual conciliation were effected. This is Utah, and these are the Mormons. From year to year there is trouble; and at the _present_--Brigham Young having died several years ago--there is contention between the Government and the Nauvoo legion.

The theology of the saints is subject to change, by revelation, at the caprice of the prophet. The following is part of what they believe: There are many gods of both sexes; but to us there is but one God--the Father of mankind and Creator of the earth. God is in the form of man. He has a body of spiritual matter. He resides in the center of the earth, near the planet Kolob. This planet revolves on its axis once in a thousand of our years, and one revolution of the Kolob is a day to the Almighty. The Holy Spirit is a subtile fluid like electricity, and pervades all space. By its agency all miracles--which are simply the effects of the operation of natural laws--are performed. The Holy Spirit is communicated by the laying on of hands of one of the authorized priesthood, and the recipient is then enabled to perform wonders according to his gift,--some having the gift of prophecy, some of healing, some of speaking in unknown tongues, etc. There are three heavens--the telestial, the terrestrial, and the celestial. The telestial and terrestrial heavens are to be occupied by the various classes of persons who have neither obeyed nor rejected the gospel. The celestial or highest heaven is reserved for those who received the testimony of Jesus and were baptized. The earth, as purified and refined after the second coming of Christ, is to be the final habitation of those entitled to the glories of the celestial kingdom. Jerusalem is to be rebuilt; and Zion, or the New Jerusalem, is to be built in Jackson County, Missouri, from whence the saints were expelled in 1833. There is a fourth class of persons, who shall go into everlasting punishment with the devil and his angels. They are those who sin against the Holy Ghost. The gospel that all people must obey to gain a place in the celestial heaven is: First, they must believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and in his authorized priesthood; second, they must repent of their sins; third, they must be baptized by immersion for the remission of their sins; and fourth, they must receive the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. “God, having become nearly lost to man, revived his work by revealing himself to Joe Smith and conferring upon him the keys of everlasting priesthood, thus making him the mediator of the new dispensation, which is immediately to precede the second coming of Christ.” All those who recognize the divine authority of Smith and are baptized are the chosen people of God, who are to introduce the millennium and to reign with Christ a thousand years.

There are many secrets in the organization which the saints are sworn to keep under heavy penalty, it is said; but this is a sketch of them, and is as good and full an account as I am able to give to be consistent with my purpose.