The newcomers found pioneering conditions very harsh indeed, for it is a
full man's task to clear away mesquite and brush and to dig a deep canal.
Joseph A. McRae made special reference to the heat, to which the Utah
settlers were unaccustomed. He wrote, "as summer advanced, I often
saturated my clothing with water before starting to hoe a row of corn
forty rods long, and before reaching the end my clothes were entirely
dry." But there was raised an abundance of corn, sugar cane, melons and
vegetables, and, in spite of the heat, the health of the people was
excellent.
Concerning the early Jonesville, a correspondent of the Prescott Miner
wrote:
"The work done by these people is simply astounding, and the alacrity and
vim with which they go at it is decidedly in favor of cooperation or
communism. Irrespective of capital invested, all share equally in the
returns. The main canal is two and a half miles long, eight feet deep,
and eight feet wide. Two miles of small ditch are completed and four more
are required. Their diagram of the settlement, as it is to be, represents
a mile square enclosed by an adobe wall about seven feet high. In the
center is a square, or plaza, around which are buildings fronting
outward. The middle of the plaza represents the back yards, in which
eleven families, or eighty-five persons are to commingle. They are
intelligent, and all Americans."
The settlers, with their missionary turn of mind, were pleased to find
the Indians of southern Arizona friendly and even inclined to be helpful.
One chief offered to loan the settlers seed corn and wheat. The Indians
gathered around to listen to whatever discourse the Saints should offer,
the latter, at the same time energetically wielding shovels on a canal
that "simply had" to be built in a given time.
An appreciated feature was that Salt River abounded in fish,
supplementing very acceptably the plain diet on which the pioneers had
been subsisting. Possibly it was as well that the Saints had rules
against the use of table luxuries. One pioneer of the Lehi settlement
told how his family had lived for weeks almost entirely upon wheat,
which had been ground in a coffee mill and then cooked into mush, to be
eaten with milk. "We thought ourselves mighty fortunate to have the
milk," he said.
Soon after the settlement of Camp Utah, Jones' methods of administration
excited keen opposition among the brethren. There was special objection
to his plan that the settlement should receive Indians on a footing of
equality, this being defended as a method that assuredly would tend
toward the conversion of the Lamanites speedily and effectively.
Jones was fair in his statement of the matter, and hence special interest
attaches to his own story of the earliest days of the settlement:
"We commenced on the ditch March 7, 1877. All hands worked with a will.
Part of the company moved down on to lands located for settlements. Most
of the able-bodied men formed a working camp near the head of the ditch,
where a deep cut had to be made.
"We hired considerable help when we could procure it, for such pay as we
could command, as scrub ponies, 'Hayden scrip,' etc. Among those employed
were a number of Indians, Pimas, Maricopas, Pagagos, Yumas, Yaquis and
one or two Apache-Mohaves. The most of them were good workers.
"Some of the Indians expressed a desire to come and settle with us. This
was the most interesting part of the mission to me, and I naturally
supposed that all the company felt the same spirit, but I soon found my
mistake, for, on making this desire of the Indians known to the company,
many objected, some saying that they did not want their families brought
into association with these dirty Indians. So little interest was
manifested by the company that I made the mistake of jumping at the
conclusion that I would have to go ahead whether I was backed up or not.
I learned afterward that if I had been more patient and faithful, I would
have had more help, but at the time I acted according to the best light I
had and determined to stick to the Indians.
"This spirit manifested to the company showing a preference to the
natives, naturally created a prejudice against me. Soon dissatisfaction
commenced to show. The result was that most of the company left and went
on to the San Pedro, in southern Arizona, led by P.C. Merrill. After this
move, there being but four families left, and one of these soon leaving,
our little colony was quite weak."