At one stage of Church development there was disposition to favor the
establishment in each village of the Saints of communal conditions,
wherein work should be done according to the ability of the individual.
Crops and the results of all industry were to be gathered at a common
center for common benefit. Something of the same sort was known among the
Shakers and other religious sects in eastern states. Thus in Utah was
founded the United Order, which, however, at no time had any direct
connection with the central Church organization.
The best development of the idea was at Brigham City, Utah, sixty miles
north of Salt Lake City, where the movement was kept along business
lines by none other than Lorenzo Snow, later President of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the officer credited with having
first put that great organization upon a business footing. He established
a communal system that proved a potent beneficial force both for the
individual and the community. The start was in 1864, with the
establishment of a mercantile business, from which there were successive
expansions to include about forty industries, such as factories at which
were made felt and straw hats, clothing, pottery, brooms and brushes,
harnesses and saddles, furniture, vehicles and tinware, while there were
three sawmills, a large woolen mill and a cotton goods mill, the last
with large attached cotton acreage, in southern Utah. There were 5000
sheep, 1000 head of stock cattle and 500 cows, supplying a model dairy
and the community meat market. The settlement was self-clothed and
self-fed. Education had especial attention and all sorts of entertainment
of meritorious character were fostered. Members of the Order labored in
their own industries, were paid good wages in scrip and participated in
the growth of general values. In 1875 the value of the products reached
$260,000.
By 1879 there had been departure from the complete unity of the United
Order plan, though eleven departments still remained intact. There had
been adverse circumstances, through which in nine months had been lost
about $53,000. The woolen mill, a model, twice had been destroyed by
fire. There had been jealousies outside the movement, through which a
profitable railroad contract had been ruined, and federal authorities had
taxed the scrip issue about $10,000 per annum. The first assessment was
paid, but later was turned back. But, with all these reverses piled upon
the people, the unity remained intact, and today, upon the foundation
laid by the United Order and its revered local leader, Brigham City is
one of the most prosperous communities of the intermountain region.
Edward Bellamy, the writer, became so much interested in what he had
heard of the United Order in Brigham City, that he made a special trip to
Utah in 1886, to study its operation. He spent three days with President
Lorenzo Snow, listening to his experiences and explanation of the
movement. As a result of this lengthy interview, Mr. Bellamy, the
following year, wrote his book, "Looking Backward."
Another example of the operation of the United Order was in Kane County,
Utah, about eighteen miles north of the Arizona line. In March, 1871,
there was re-settlement of Long Valley, where two towns, Berryville and
Winsor, had been deserted because of Indian encroachments. The new
settlers mainly came from the breaking up of the Muddy Mission
settlements in Nevada, Long Valley having been suggested by President
Brigham Young as a possible location. About 200 of the former Muddy
residents entered the valley in March, 1871, founding Glendale and Mount
Carmel. The residents of the latter, in March, 1874, organized into the
United Order. The following year, a number who wished to practice the
Order in its fullness, founded a new settlement, midway between Glendale
and Mount Carmel, and named it Orderville. This settlement still is in
existence, though the communistic plan had to be broken up about 1883,
there having arisen a spirit of competition and of individual ambition.
The plan of operation was comprehensive of many features, yet simple. The
community ate in a common dining hall, with kitchen and bakery attached.
Dwelling houses were close together and built in the form of a square.
There were work shops, offices, schoolhouse, etc., and manufactories of
lumber and woolen products.