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Frontier Utah they have their own government, a gold Coinage,"" a printing press, 29 enforce the payment of taxes for public improvements will shortly establish an University30 & in every movement pray for the guidance of the spirit & the blessing of God. The rulers study to frame laws upon the principles laid down in the Scriptures & according to the dictates of justice & common sense, that they may be a protection to the good & honest, but a terror to evildoers. Although as in every community there are tares among the wheat, yet upon the whole they are as moral a people & perhaps more so, as are to be found elsewhere; this is by no means a healthy place for him who commits a wrong against his fellow & the thief would by the laws of the State of Deseret forfeit his head for his trans- gressions. 31 The last 3 days have been devoted to worshipping the 28 L.D.S. church officials in December 1848 had undertaken a project to convert gold dust brought from California by former Mormon Battalion members into gold coins, but the process was too primitive and was abandoned. The need for a medium of circulation, especially for trade with the overland emigrants, led to a second attempt to manufacture coins at a church mint which began operations on September 12, 1849, and finally pro- duced $75,000 in gold pieces before ending the process in early 1851. The $20.00 gold pieces had a trading value of $16.90 to $17.53 at the United States Mint at Philadelphia, the $10.00 pieces a value of $8.50 to $8.70, the $5.00 pieces a value of $4.30, and the $2.50 pieces a value of $2.25. This over-valuation caused the Mormon coins to be received with some suspicion outside of Utah where such opprobriums as "debased," "spurious," and "vile falsehoods" were attached to them, but local community pressure brought general acceptance in Salt Lake Valley. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, pp. 71-72; Newcomb, "Journal," p. 118. 29 This press was probably the one constructed by Truman Angell, the L.D.S. church architect, for the printing of paper money. The first edition of the Deseret News, the official newspaper of the church, did not appear until June 15, 1850. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, pp. 56,114. 3o The General Assembly of the State of Deseret approved an ordinance on February 28, 1850, incorporating the University of Deseret which was to be governed by a chan- cellor and a Board of Regents of twelve members with an annual appropriation from the assembly of $5,000 to help defray operating costs. Orson Spencer was selected as chancel- lor; Hudson's co-worker on the survey. Albert Carrington served as a regent; and his friend, W. W. Major, was asked to design the university seal. In September 1850, a plat of about six hundred acres of land located on the bench lands east of Salt Lake City was set aside for use of the new university. The institution, despite the high hopes of its founders, had only a "nominal existence" until 1869. The name was changed to the University of Utah in 1892. Morgan, State of Deseret, pp. 99, 182; Ralph V. Chamberlin, The University of Utah, A History of Its First Hundred Years, 2850 to 2950 (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1960), pp. 5-7; "Circular of the Chancellor of the University of the State of Deseret," Millennial Star 12 (1850):294-96; Manuscript History, September 1850, p. 91. 31 The High Council of Great Salt Lake City was the first body involved in passing ordinances regulating the conduct of the settlers in Salt Lake Valley. By the first of 1850, 86 |
