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Show Page 194 very little to relieve Orson's penury. To compound the problem, he had little time to work for his own support. The demands of building a civilization from the ground up were very heavy, and Orson tended to the affairs of the kingdom on the hope that his family would skimp by as they had always done. While the astronomy lectures continued, Orson worked through the day on Census papers that had to be forwarded to Washington, mapped out proposed county boundaries on latitude lines, and served as ad hoc adviser to the authorities on technical problems - anything from theorizing on the composition of salt air to speculating on the possibility of "inhabitants living inside the 16 earth." The Twelve had quietly resumed performing the endowment ceremony in the newspaper offices and elsewhere, leaving Orson often in charge as chief officiator. In April, Orson was appointed "topographical engineer" to the Nauvoo Legion, which had been reorganized, and Brigham was proposing a second exploratory trip south. He and Orson combed the country near the settlement of Parowan, at the Little Salt Lake, visiting with the Indians and evaluating the land for the cultivation of cotton and grapes. They also inspected bits of iron ore from the western hill deposits which would give the new county its name. When the apostles returned to Salt Lake City, they found disturbing reports from the East awaiting them. The previous autumn, a group of federal officials appointed by Fillmore to Utah had absconded only a few days after their arrival ~ in Washington, the three men were now spreading stories about lawlessness and open immorality being practiced in Utah under the guise of "celestial marriage." Though Brigham Young had anticipated this, he apparently felt it was no longer feasible to practice plurality of wives in secret while publicly denying it. Orson Pratt and Orson Spencer were assigned to draft a memorandum to President |
