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Show 4 With these factors in mind, pioneer leaders stressed agriculture as the first industry. As the process of Mormon expansion progressed, agricultural possibilities dictated the characteristics and location of Mormon colonies. 2 In most places agricultural development was difficult The Mormon settlers were faced with an arid environment where it soon became apparent sufficient water would not be provided naturally to raise crops to maturity. Farming in such an environment required that new agricultural techniques be developed. The first pioneers, who arrived in late summer, found it was impossible to break the soil in its natural state. Only after the waters of City Creek were diverted onto their proposed fields was it possible to plow. 3 Later, Salt Lake City " irrigators" followei the same practice in preparing the land of the " big field," a 12,000- acre piece of land much of which was brought under irrigation in the next few years. 4 Other water sources were tappet within a year or so as irrigating villages developed at Mill Creek, Cottonwood, Fort Union, and South Willow Creek ( later Draper) within Salt Lake Valley and at Ogden, Utah Lake, Sanpete Valley, and elsewhere. Thus, in the very beginning of settlement, the availability of water resources dictated where the Mormons stopped and what they did, forcing them to change their methods of farming and alter many social practices. Cooperation, central church coordination, small diversified farms, and collective irrigation became integral components of the pioneer mode of agricultural ( water) development. 5 The environment was an obstacle that the settlers had to overcome. It also imposed upon them developmental limits they had to acknowledge in orler to survive. Although water that could be used for irrigation purposes seemed relatively abunsdant at the time, the pioneers realized that successful settlement would occur only where water resources were available. 6 2Andrew Love Neff, History of Utah: 1847 to 1869 ( Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News Press, 1940), Chapters JX and XH, pp 89- 112 and 207- 237. Also see Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Utah, Chapters X, XL and XH, pp 252- 274, 275- 287, and 288- 304. George Thomas, The Development of Institutions Under Irrigation: With Special Reference to Early Utah Conditions ( New York: The Macmillan Company, 1920), p 18. Andrew Love Neff, History of Utah, p 264; also Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Utah, pp 285- 286; also Leonard J. Arlington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter- day Saints 1830- 1900 ( Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966), p 52. 5Ibid., p 129. Concerning cooperation and central planning Arlington states: It should be noted that die enterprises planned by the Mormons in the 1850' s were financed by contributions from the legislature, the church, and private individuals, and thus were ' mixed' enterprises. . . . Representing an attempt to utilize the skill of European converts, the goal of every enterprise was that of building the Kingdom and achieving economic independence. The boldness of the church's design in attempting to provide the economic foundations for a commonwealth is clearly evident. That in each case die church eventually assumed responsibility and control was due partly to die lack of private capital, and partly to die belief diat all institutions in Mormondom ought to be under die influence of die Priesdiood. 6Ibid., p 44. As Fremont pointed out, however, the region did contain a number of valleys at die western base of die Wasatch where colonies could be planted. While diese appeared to be hopelessly dry, for tiie most part, diey could be irrigated widi a magnificent array of mountain streams which flowed from die Wasatch and distended plateaus further south. The well- drained alluvial soil in die valleys was fertile, and die valley plains were sufficiently broad to support a considerable population. |
