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Show 205 A t h i r d f a c t o r f o s t e r i n g l i k e n e s s i n h o u se t y p e s from p l a c e t o p l a c e was t h e h i g h d e g re e o f m o b i l i t y w i t h i n t h e Mormon c u l t u r e a r e a . S e t t l e r s f r e q u e n t l y moved from one v i l l a g e t o a n o t h e r , and new co m m u n itie s w ere s e t t l e d by e x p e r i e n c e d p i o n e e r s from o l d e r c o m m u n itie s . Some i n d i v i d u a l s became r a t h e r w e l l known a s c o l o n i z e r s , f o u n d in g one commu n i t y , a s s i s t i n g newly a r r i v e d s e t t l e r s , s t a y i n g lo n g enough t o s e e t h e s e t t l e m e n t on i t s f e e t , and t h e n moving on t o h e lp s e t t l e a n o t h e r community. These i n d i v i d u a l s n o t o n ly t a u g h t o t h e r s t h e i r t r a d e s b u t m ust have b u i l t t h e same c a b i n s and h o u s e t y p e s o v e r an d o v e r i n w id e ly s c a t t e r e d p l a c e s . But ev en l a t e r , a f t e r t h e f r o n t i e r p h a s e o f s e t t l e m e n t had p a s s e d , f r e q u e n t moving from v i l l a g e t o v i l l a g e and a t t e n d a n c e a t c h u rc h w id e c o n f e r e n c e s i n S a l t Lake C i t y f u r t h e r e n c o u ra g e d copy work and r e p e t i t i o n i n house t y p e s . M o b i l i t y was t h u s an e f f e c t i v e to o l o f id ea d is s e m in a tio n . S o c i a l an d g e o g r a p h i c a l i s o l a t i o n from non-Mormons m ust be c o u n te d a s an a d d i t i o n a l f a c t o r f o s t e r i n g u n i f o r m i t y i n t h e Mormon W e s t . d e lib e ra te . Most o f t h e Mormons’ i s o l a t i o n was I n f a c t , t h e main p u rp o s e f o r t h e Mormon m ig ra t i o n t o t h e G re a t B a s in was t o p o s s e s s a l a n d no o t h e r group w a n te d , so t h a t t h e i r g o a l o f a s e l f - s u s t a i n i n g economy and commonwealth c o u ld be r e a l i z e d . B ut even when G e n t i l e m in e rs a n d s o l d i e r s d r i f t e d i n t o Mormon c o u n t r y , Mormons were a d v i s e d by t h e i r l e a d e r s t o a v o id s u s t a i n e d s o c i a l c o n t a c t s w ith th e G e n tile s . I n d e e d , many non-Mormons t o t h i s day con s i d e r t h e Mormons " c l a n i s h . " Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. |