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Show 249 armed force. By stepping down as governor, Brigham Young bad by no means forfeited his leadership of tbe people. President Young still controlled the church, and in so doing he controlled tbe hearts and minds of the people. In essence, Cumming only governed Utah because Brigham Young let him. Many of the threats that had alarmed the Mormon leadership a few months ago never materialized. One of their biggest fears, that of becoming surrounded, was now dispelled. The California mail arriving in the city on May 3 brought the news of tbe defeat of Buchanan's proposal to raise four additional regiments for Utah. "News from from W/es-Q favorable to us," wrote Hosea Stout. "Congress has refused to grant a dollar or another man to president B. in addition to the regular forces & expenditure of tbe army to aid him in his tyrannical crusade against us." The Mormons were apparently unaware that on April 7 congress passed an act allowing for the addition of two new regiments of volunteers for the purpose of "quieting the disturbances in the territory of Utah." It was also learned that the proposed movement against the Saints from California had been scrubbed-the victim of a political scandal involving the the awarding of government contracts. And Lyman had finally returned from his reconnaissance of the Colorado River with a favorable report, allaying all worries from that quarter. Apostle Lyman had reached the Colorado on April 13 with his force of eighteen men selected largely from the ranks of tbe dismantled San Bernardino colony. Unlike Ives, who considered a wagon trail from the Colorado to the Mormon Road feasible, Lyman considered the Colorado River country a difficult obstacle for any traveler. His diary concludes: The whole country over which we passed between the Vegas & Colorado is very barren and desolate In the extreme, without a single spring, and scarcely any grass, but abounding in cactus & prickly pear bushes.... The whole country all around the Colorado, on both sides, presents the same barren, |
