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Show CIVIL. GQVJ^ KMl& rc- M5TATR OF DBBBRBt. 12t from, tiie neighbouring mountain, and - two grist- mills an< J thiee saW- mills/ added tp those already in operation. The winter of this year wa* much more Severe than die preceding one, and snow fell on the plain to the* dejrth Of ten inches., - v In the following spring ( 1849) a settlement was commenced, and a small fort built near the itarath of the Timpanogas i » , r Provaux, an affluent of Lake* Utah, about fifty miles South of ' die city. During this summer; large, crops of grain, melons, potatoes, and. corn were raised, and two. more paw- mills erected. Thp colony had now become firmly established, and all fear.- of its ability to sustain itself were, from the overflowing abundance of the harvest, set at rest. Nothing could be more natural than that the people, should turn their attention to the' formation of a system of civil government* Hitherto they had been under the guidance of . their ecclesiastical, leaders only, < an< J justice had been administered upon principles of equity simply, enforced by . the government of the church alone. This would answer very Well while the community remained'small, and consisted only of those who acknowledged the binding force of spiritual rule in' matters purely temporal. also* But, as the colony incteased, itWfui not to, be expected that it- would continue to consist solely of menu ' bers of the church, willing to submit to snch a jurisdiction, without the sanctions of an organized civil gpyernment. . , A convention was therefore called " of all the . citizens of tnat portion of Upper California lying . east of the Sierra Nevada mountains* to take into consideration the propriety of organizing a Territorial or Sta( te government." * The ( Convention met at - Great Salt Lake i City on* the 5th of Msrc) i> 1849, and on the 10th' adopted a constitution, which was to - remain in, force until,, the Congress of the United States should otherwise provide for the government'of the territory. It " ordained and established a free and independent govern* ment, by the name of the STATE OF DESBRBT ;" fixed the boundaries of thp new, State; provided for the election of governor, senator^ representatives, end judges: all of whom, as well as . the other officers created by it, were required to take an oath to support tb6 constitution of the United States. On. the 2d of July, the legislature; created by the organic law, meV elected a delegate to Congress, and adopted a memorial to that body, in whioh, among . other . things, they state that " the inhabitants, of the State of Deseret, in view of their own security, and for the preservation of |
