OCR Text |
Show 126 SETTLEMENT OF SALT LAKE VALLEY. main body arrived. A piece of ground was selected, consecrated by prayer, broken up, and planted; and thus, in 1847, was formed the nucleus of what, in 1850, was admitted as a Territory of the Union, and which bids fair ere long to present itself at the door of the national legislature for admission as one of the States of the confederacy. In a short time after the arrival of the pioneer company, ground was surveyed and laid out into streets and squares for a large city; a fort or enclosure was erected, of houses made of logs and sun- dried brick, opening into a large square, the entrance to which was defended by gates, and formed a tolerably secure fortification against Indian attacks. In October following, an addition of- between three and four thousand was made to their number, by the emigration of such as had been left behind, and the fort was necessarily enlarged for their accommodation. Agricultural labours were now resumed with renewed spirit; ploughing and planting continued throughout the whole winter and until the July following, by which time a line of fence had been constructed, enclosing upward of six thousand acres of land, laid down in crops, besides a large tract of pasture land. During the winter and spring, the inhabitants were muoh straitened for food; and game being very scarce in the country, they were reduced to the necessity of digging roots from the ground, and living upon the hides of animals which they had previously made use of for roofing their cabins, but which were now torn off for food. But this distress only continued until the harvest, since which time provisions of all kinds have been abundant. This year, ( 1848,) a small grist- mill was erected, and two sawmills nearly completed. The following winter and spring, a settlement was commenced on the banks of the Weber River, a bold, clear stream which breaks through the Wahsatch Mountains, forty miles north of the city, and discharges its waters into the Salt Lake. Upon Ogden Creek, an affluent of the Weber, a city has since ( 1850) been laid out, and called Ogden City, and is already surrounded by a flourishing agricultural population. In the autumn, another large immigration arrived under the president, Brigham Young, which materially added to the strength of the colony. Building and agriculture were prosecuted with renewed vigour. Numerous settlements continued to be made wherever water could be found for irrigation. A handsome council- house was commenced, to be built, of red sandstone procured |