While trade between California and New Mexico was beating the path of
the Old Spanish Trail into a road across southwestern Utah, events
elsewhere were leading to the elimination of Spanish influence and the
rise of Anglo-Saxon power. The Mexican War ended Spanish domination, but
it was the Mormon migrations which were to fill the region with
settlements.
In 1847, the Mormons began to move west from the Missouri River to the
Great Salt Lake Valley. The precedent of Texas breaking away from Mexico
was before them as they traveled across the plains to enter Mexican
territory, where they would be free from those who had persecuted them,
and where they would be practically isolated from Mexican authority by
the barrier of the Grand Canyon. 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 transfer of this entire territory
to the United States by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo exercised a
restraining influence upon their ambitions and brought them once more
under the hand of the Federal government.
During the first few years of settlement, there was little change in
governmental organization and the people were for the most part guided
and controlled by their religious leaders. In March, 1849, they set up a
provisional government for their proposed State of Deseret.[18] In 1851,
however, Congress carved this western empire into territories, paying no
attention to the proposed State and designating its heart as the
Territory of Utah (named for the dominant Indian nation of the region,
the Utes or Utahs). The Mormon dreams were thus dimmed, but they did not
finally die until 1858, when Albert Sydney Johnston’s army marched to
Utah and completely ended all hopes of an independent political unit.
Thereafter, the Mormon attitude gradually changed from one of open
opposition to one of conditioned loyalty and the long struggle for
statehood began.[19]
It was during the period of expansion and occupation that southwestern
Utah was generally explored with a view toward settlement. Late in the
fall of 1847, a small party under the leadership of Captain Jefferson
Hunt pushed to the Pacific coast to secure provisions and livestock,
carrying instructions to the Mormon Battalion members mustered out in
California to remain there that winter and not to attempt to come to
Salt Lake until Spring.[20] The party followed approximately the route
of U. S. Highway 91 from Great Salt Lake to Little Salt Lake, Iron
County, where it picked up the Old Spanish Trail and followed it to the
coast. Hunt’s men were the first Mormons to travel the route later known
as the Mormon Trail. Where they obtained information to guide them is a
question, but it is known that the Mormons were acquainted with
Fremont’s report of his trip along that route in 1844. There was an
important deviation from Fremont’s path, however; they went through
Scipio Valley and the pass to the east of the Canyon range of mountains,
whereas Fremont had gone on the west side. Further details of this trip
are lacking.[21]
The party wintered in California, where negotiations were entered into
between Hunt and United States Army officers for raising another
battalion of Mormons to garrison posts in California. When Hunt returned
to Salt Lake in the spring of 1848, he carried the details with him, but
no report of his trip is extant.
On September 17, 1848, while Brigham Young was visiting at Fort Provo, a
group of leaders gathered at Hunt’s house in the evening to “converse
about the southern country and the prospects of settling it.... Many
questions were asked in regard to routes, traveling, locations,
incidents, etc., and the prospects before the Saints caused quite a good
feeling.”[22]
During the late summer and fall of 1849, hundreds of emigrants on their
way to seek gold in California poured into the Salt Lake Valley too late
to make the trip westward across the Sierra Nevada Mountains before snow
blocked the way. There was little food and the Mormons were not eager to
have these people winter with them. The difficulty was solved by the
offer of Captain Hunt to pilot them across the southern route.
Altogether there were about 125 wagons and 1,000 head of cattle. The
Argonauts were a nondescript lot, everyone intent upon his own personal
problems and not actuated by a common ideal as were the Mormons. They
caused Hunt a great deal of trouble and even threatened his life over
certain details of the trip. Dissensions arose which split the party
several times. At last, near the rim of the Great Basin not far from the
Mountain Meadows, most of them left him for a supposed cutoff via
Walker’s Pass in the Sierras. Hunt, in peace, safely piloted the
remaining six or seven wagons to the coast. The party taking the cutoff
ended in disaster in Death Valley.[23] Captain Hunt stayed in California
more than a year and returned to Utah early in 1851.
In December, 1849, the General Assembly of the provisional State of
Deseret commissioned a company already organized under the leadership of
Parley P. Pratt, to explore the south and ascertain its possibilities
for sustaining settlements.[24] The expedition of nearly fifty men had
left on November 25. They pushed south during the cold weather via the
new settlement of Manti. Following the Sevier River to Circleville
Canyon, they turned up a defile to the southwest and followed it about
twelve miles north of the Spanish Trail over the mountains into the
Little Salt Lake Valley, December 21. Two days later they camped on Red
Creek (now Paragonah) where they paused to recuperate among the
excellent meadows, willows and bunch grass abounding there at that time.
Here it was decided to divide the party, some to guard the recuperating
cattle, while twenty of the men with horses and mules were to push the
exploration southward. Those who remained moved their camp to Birch
Creek (now Parowan) and while waiting explored the surrounding region.
Some went up Parowan Canyon where they discovered accessible timber,
plaster of paris (gypsum), water lime (limestone) and iron ore.
Between Jan. 2 and 6, 1850, a company of ten men explored west of Little
Salt Lake, where they found many Indian pictographs on the rocks. A few
miles west of the present site of Cedar City they came upon a “range of
hills filled with iron ore of the richest quality—probably 75 per cent.”
Four Indians visited them and when told that the explorers were Mormons,
they said ... “Captain Walker had told them about us, that we were his
friends. They said they were our friends and would not kill our cattle
or horses. Walker told them the Mormons raised Shaunt Tickup [lots of
food] and they wanted us to come and raise it among them. They said they
loved the Mormons. They are very poor and have no horses or skins. They
live upon rabbits which are plenty in their valley (now Cedar Valley)
and clothe themselves with their skins.”[25] This party of ten rejoined
the camp on January 6.
An exploring party of twenty went south on December 26, reached the rim
of the Great Basin at the present site of Kanarra two days later, and
then descended Ash Creek, as had Escalante in 1776 and Jedediah Smith in
1826 and 1827. They crossed the black volcanic ridge, probably camping
in the vicinity of Pintura. On December 31, 1849, Pratt summarized his
impressions:
From the Basin Rim 13 miles of rapid descent brought us to milder
climate and first cultivation [Indian]. A mile or so farther brought
us to the banks of the Virgin.
The great Wasatch range along which we had traveled our whole journey
here terminates in several abrupt promontories [Kolob, La Verkin and
Zion]. The country southward for 80 miles showing so signs of water or
fertility; ... a wide expanse of chaotic matter presented itself, huge
hills, sandy deserts, cheerless, grassless plains, perpendicular
rocks, loose barren clay, dissolving beds of sandstone ... lying in
inconceivable confusion—....
January 1, 1850, they continued down the fertile valleys of the Virgin
River as far the Santa Clara Creek. Pratt says:
The bottoms now expanded about one mile in width and several miles in
length, loose sandy soil, very pleasant for farming, extremely fertile
and easily watered and sometimes subject to overflow. No timber in the
country except large cottonwoods along the stream, sufficient for
temporary building and fuel....
The country below [to the southwest, where the river cuts through a
range of mountains] being of the most unpromising character ... and
our animals almost unable to travel, ... it was thought imprudent to
venture farther. We therefore turned to the north up the Santa
Clara.... The Indians were ... well armed with bows and poison arrows
and nearly equalling us in numbers. We fed them, sung for them.... The
chief made us a speech, bidding us welcome to his country.... He
strongly urged our people to settle with them and raise “tickup”
[food]. They returned again next morning, piloted us all day. We saw
no appearance of women or children among them. They cultivate small
patches only, raise good crops by irrigation. We gave them peas for
seed, presents of dried meat....
Following up the Santa Clara, they reached the new wagon road made by
Captain Jefferson Hunt and followed it over the divide into the Great
Basin, via the Mountain Meadows. Continuing on the Old Spanish Trail
eastward, they also discovered the iron ore in the range of hills that
the smaller party of ten had found a day or two previously.
Back at the base camp after they arrived, preparations were made for a
big celebration on January 8, 1850. Pratt further reported that a
liberty pole was erected, and a flag marked with “one star and a great
basin was hoisted together with a free soil banner.” A dinner was
prepared and “all sat down to a most substantial public dinner, being
the first celebration of the Peopling of Little Salt Lake Valley, which
we hope will be celebrated annually around that Spot, ’till a hundred
thousand merry hearts can join in the festival.”
The trip home was a hard one. They followed the west base of the
mountains, crossing Beaver Creek (Smith’s Lost River), where they camped
on the night of January 12. It continued to snow so hard that by the
time they reached Rock Creek (now Fillmore), they decided (January 20)
to winter there. Several, however, pushed on home, arriving about the
end of the month.
The information thus brought to Mormon headquarters was encouraging and
the early settlement of southern Utah was decided upon. The report of
finding large quantities of iron ore west of the present site of Cedar
City aroused considerable interest. During the summer of 1850 plans were
laid for colonizing the newly created Iron County, the seat to be
located at Center Creek, later called Parowan. After harvest in 1850,
colonists were called by the Mormon leaders to settle that region. The
“call”[26] in this case was published in the _Deseret News_ of November
16, 1850, and was a request for those listed to meet at Fort Provo as
soon as possible to organize the expedition.
The group formed in mid-December under the leadership of George A. Smith
and traveled south for nearly a month during the cold of late December
and early January over a wretched road, in many places covered with
snow. The leaders arrived at Center Creek on January 13, 1851, and
immediately set out to explore the surrounding country. The next day one
party explored Parowan Canyon, another party went up Summit Creek
Canyon, a third re-explored the Little Salt Lake, a fourth went up Red
Creek, while George A. Smith and more than twenty others went on
southwestward to the region around Cedar Valley and Iron Springs.
On the way they met Captain Jefferson Hunt returning from California,
and invited him to remain with them while his party went on to Center
Creek. Around the camp fire on the night of January 15, they discussed
the organization of a local government, appointed a committee to
nominate the officers needed and decided to hold an election on January
17. Convinced that Center Creek was the proper place to establish their
settlement, they held the election there as scheduled, and a pioneer
celebration was staged.
John D. Lee describes this event as follows:
At 10 oclock [a.m.], Thomas S. Smith, one of the judges of election
cried three times in an audible voice, declaring that the polls were
open and ready to receive votes.... At 3 o’clock [p.m.], at the sound
of the trumpet, the people assembled around the public dinner, each
man and his lady (that is those who had any) in their respective
places as follows: The judge was placed at the head, then the
gentlemen were seated on his left according to their rank and the
ladies on his right facing their partners. Previous to sitting down,
President George A. Smith, delivered an oration suitable to the
circumstances of the citizens of Iron County in celebrating the day on
which law and order was first established in that part of Utah. All
the citizens of Iron County then sat down upon the ground around the
public dinner spread upon buffalo robes; these were placed next to the
ground with clean and white table cloths on top upon which were spread
a variety of the refreshments of life.... At 6 o’clock the polls were
closed.[27]
Jefferson Hunt was elected representative. On January 18, after four
days “residence” in Iron County, he went on with his party toward Great
Salt Lake with his credentials in his pocket.
The settlers immediately set to work building a combined town and fort,
making roads to the mountains for timber, clearing land for cultivation,
digging irrigation ditches, setting up workshops and mills. On April
10-12, 1851, Parley P. Pratt, on his way to the Pacific Coast, passed
through the settlement and found it in a flourishing condition.
By May, coal had been discovered in Cedar Canyon and its value in
blacksmithing demonstrated. In the fall, after crops were harvested, a
group of settlers moved from Parowan to the present site of Cedar City.
The discovery of good coal deposits within a few miles of the iron ore
aroused much interest among the Mormon leaders. The prospects for the
development of an iron industry invited steps looking toward this. The
word was dispatched to their representatives in Europe. Apostles Erastus
Snow and Franklin D. Richards, then on missions in England, who
organized the Deseret Iron Company in Liverpool in the spring of 1852,
for the development of the Utah deposits.[28] Steel and iron workers as
well as coal miners among the English converts were encouraged to
migrate to Utah to help in the iron industry. Snow and Richards returned
to Salt Lake City in August, and in November, Snow went south to arrange
matters on the spot. By the spring of 1852, two foundries were in
operation.
E. H. Beale and G. H. Heap, California bound, passed through the
settlements, August 2-4, 1853. Heap gives a vivid picture of that early
life.[29] His party came by the Sevier River over the Old Spanish Trail
to Paragonah, Parowan and Cedar City on its way to the coast. Paragonah
had thirty adobe houses arranged in the form of a quadrangle to form a
fort. Outside the fort was an area of fifty acres enclosed by a single
fence and cultivated in common by the inhabitants, a practice soon
discontinued when the lands were divided into individual farms. The
Indian War under Chief Walker, which had broken out in July 1853,
farther north, had spread southward. Walker and his band had been
harassing outlying settlements and stealing cattle and horses. Brigham
Young sent one hundred and fifty men into action against him, declared
martial law and ordered the people to concentrate in large communities.
This order came to Paragonah while Heap was there. He says the
inhabitants quickly began to move. Houses were demolished, windows,
doors and furniture loaded into wagons, and they were soon on the road
to Parowan.
Parowan was similarly organized but was much larger, having a hundred
houses and a four hundred-acre field outside the fort. In describing
Cedar City, Heap states that it was a place of even greater importance
than Parowan, having extensive fields outside the fort abundantly
irrigated. He writes:
The inhabitants are principally foreigners, and mostly Englishmen from
the coal districts of Great Britain. At the time of our visit, the
place was crowded with the people of the surrounding country seeking
refuge from the Indians, and its square was blocked up with wagons,
furniture, tents, farming implements, etc., in the midst of which were
men, women and children, together with every description of cattle,
creating a scene of confusion difficult to describe.... Mounted men,
well armed, patrolled the country, and expresses came in from
different quarters, bringing accounts of attacks by Indians on small
parties and unprotected farms and houses. In face of these reports,
Walker sent a message to Colonel G. A. Smith, military commander at
Parowan, telling him that the “Mormons were d—— fools for abandoning
houses and towns, for he did not intend to molest them there, as it
was his intention to confine his depredation to their cattle, and that
he advised them to return and mind their crops, for if they neglected
them, they would starve and be obliged to leave the country, which was
not what he desired, for then there would be no cattle for him to
take.”[30]
The Indian war subsided in the spring of 1854 and the people were again
free to attend to farming and mining, although, as a matter of fact,
they maintained the military organization for many years thereafter, as
long as the Indian menace persisted.
Despite their precaution in maintaining a military organization, the
Mormons actually preferred a policy of peaceful penetration and directed
positive efforts toward that end. They sent missionaries among the
Indians, established missions among them, cultivated friendship with
those around the settlements and bestowed gifts and goods upon them. It
was easier to penetrate by feeding and friendship than by fighting;
moreover, this policy was in line with the teaching of the Book of
Mormon that the Indians (there called Lamanites) would be converted and
absorbed and would become “a white and delightsome people.” This Mormon
policy of keeping peace with the Indians smoothed the course of
settlement and improved opportunities for expansion.
At first the iron industry showed considerable promise, but technical
difficulties and the enormous cost of transportation without railroad
facilities prevented its expansion. Jules Remy, a French observer who
passed through the settlements in 1855, states that the mines, both iron
and coal, were being worked and the foundries were turning out about a
ton of pig iron per day. This was obtained from ore yielding 25 to 75
per cent iron.[31] With the development of railroads across northern
Utah, bringing in iron from elsewhere, the industry in the south
languished. It had served, however, to accelerate the settlement of this
region, and with its passing the pioneers turned to other occupations,
especially to agriculture and stockraising, the foundation of the
frontier communities.