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Show 78 O th e r im m ig ra n ts came from Sweden, Norway, Germany, and S w i t z e r l a n d , and th o u g h many o f t h e s e f a m i l i e s w ere f a m i l i a r w i t h l o g c o n s t r u c t i o n , th e y ad d ed n o th in g s i g n i f i c a n t l y new t o t h e Mormon p r a c t i c e s a l r e a d y f u l l y d e v e lo p e d b e f o r e t h e Utah p e r i o d . They d i d no d o ub t add q u a n t i t y t o t h e f o l k lo g b u i l d i n g i n v e n t o r y by b r i n g i n g b o th t o o l s and e x p e r i e n c e , a s i n d i c a t e d by a W ilf o r d , Id a h o , p i o n e e r who s t a t e d t h a t t h e p i o n e e r s o f W ilfo rd g o t t h e i r lo g s i n th e t i m b e r s c o u n t r y , some were sawed and some hewed w i t h a . b r o a d axe o r e l s e a d z . Some o f t h e b ro a d a x e s were b ro u g h t from t h e o ld c o u n t r y , i n t h i s c a s e S w i t z e r l a n d , w i t h s p e c i f i c p i o n e e r s who u sed them and b u i l t t h e i r own l o g homes. (L. E. J o h n so n , Vol. 1, 27) O th e r e x p e r i e n c e d lo g w o rk e rs came t o t h e Mormon West from E a s t e r n America and f u r t h e r r e i n f o r c e d t h e p r e v a i l i n g l o g p ra c tic e s. G ra n t C am pbell, f o r i n s t a n c e , . . . who came t o S a l t Lake C i t y i n 1852 . . . was a s k i l l e d woodsman. He worked f o r y e a r s , when a young man, i n t h e tim b e r a r e a s o f M in neso ta and was known a s an e x p e r t i n t h e use o f t h e b ro a d a x e . A f t e r he an d h i s l i t t l e fa m ily a r r i v e d i n S a l t Lake C i t y , P r e s i d e n t Young s e n t G ra n t t o h e lp c o n s t r u c t homes f o r t h e f a m i l i e s i n t h e new c o l o n i e s . He b u i l t o r h e lp e d t o b u i l d many homes o f ro u g h new l o g s i n N o rth Ogden, P r o v id e n c e , Utah; Downington and M o n t p e l i e r , Id a h o ; and Auburn and F a irv ie w , Wyoming. T h ere may have b e en o t h e r s b u t t h e r e c o r d s have b e e n l o s t . . . . ( C a r t e r , 1958, 185) T h is one man r e p r e s e n t s t h e ty p e o f p i o n e e r who p o s s e s s e d v a l u a b l e s k i l l s and was c a l l e d on f r e q u e n t l y by Church o f f i c i a l s t o move and a s s i s t newly a r r i v e d Mormons i n g e t t i n g e s t a b l i s h e d on v i r g i n l a n d s . E x p e r ie n c e d f r o n t i e r s m e n were p r i m a r i l y r e s p o n s i b l e f o r th e r a p i d d i s s e m i n a t i o n o f v a lu a b l e know ledge and s k i l l s t o t h o s e p i o n e e r s o r i g i n a l l y i g n o r a n t o f American-Mormon f r o n t i e r b u i l d i n g p r a c t i c e s . Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. |