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Show 59 We s h o u ld l i k e t o s e e b u i l d i n g s t h a t a r e o rn a m e n ta l and p l e a s i n g t o t h e e y e , a s w e l l as commodious" (Young, Vol. 8, 7 9 ). T h is n e g a t i v e a t t i t u d e to w a rd lo g a s a b u i l d i n g m a t e r i a l and th e r a p i d re p la c e m e n t o f lo g s i n most o f t h e Mormon West w ere f o s t e r e d by a t l e a s t two f a c t o r s : th e p o s t - f r o n t i e r New E n g lan d h e r i t a g e of t h e e a r l i e s t Mormons, and th e s h o r t su p p l y o f tim b e r i n much o f t h e M ountain West. The fo u n d e rs o f t h e new Church and i t s e a r l i e s t c o n v e r t s were m a in ly New E n g la n d e rs r e a r e d i n n e a t and a t t r a c t i v e v i l l a g e s o r i n w e l l - b u i l t frame homes i n t h e New York c o u n t r y s i d e . They were n o t o r i g i n a l l y to ug hened f r o n t i e r s m e n accustom ed t o l i v i n g i n lo g c a b i n s . Thus, when t h e y d i d f i n a l l y make f u l l u se o f l o g s upon moving t o t h e f r o n t i e r , t h e y r e g a r d e d lo g work a s m a k e s h if t and e x p e d i e n t , u n t i l t h e y c o u ld a g a i n r e p ro d u c e q u a l i t y frame and b r i c k homes t o which t h e y h ad e a r l i e r b een a cc u sto m ed . I t was c h a r a c t e r i s t i c o f t h e Mormons t o e m u la te g ro u p s u c c e s s by c r e a t i n g handsome and a t t r a c t i v e v i l l a g e s — s h o w p lac e s t o t h e w o rld . For n o t o n ly w ere such v i l l a g e s t y p i c a l o f t h e i r New England b ack g ro u n d , b u t b e a u ty and s t u r d i n e s s i n t h e v i l l a g e enhanced t h e image t h a t Mormonism was a c o r r e c t , wholesome, and s u c c e s s f u l way o f l i f e . Upon e n t e r i n g t h e d ry M ountain West, Brigham Young r e c o g n i z e d an a d d i t i o n a l r e a s o n t o d is c o u r a g e an u n l i m i t e d u se o f lo g s : t h e l i m i t e d s u p p ly o f tim b e r and t h e need t o co nserve i t . A c c o r d in g ly , he w arned th e p e o p le in Cache V a l l e y , Utah (Young, V ol. 8 , 7 9 ): Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. |