August 1995 Blazer

The Emperor of Brazil visited Utah in 1876

THE HISTORY BLAZER I ArEI'S OF UTAH'S PAST FROM THE Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake City. LTT 84101 ( 801) 533- 3500 FAX ( 801) 533- 3503 The Emperor of Brazil Visited Utah in 1876 ON APRIL 22, 1876, SALT~ ~ C~ Y-' RECEIVED-~- VERY~ BRIE. F- VISIT~~~~,~~~~ illustrious guest. The emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro 11, stopped in Salt Lake City for an evenhg and most of the day. Residents of the Utah capital were in a quandary for several days when rumors of the emperor's passage through the territory began to spread. Why was he coming to Utah? ( Some whispered that he was secretly conspiring with Brigham Young to somehow gain New Mexico Territory as a Mormon/ Bmzih kingdom.) Would he even stop? How should he be welcomed? What would he want to see and do? The emperor's visit was part of a two- year world tour that he had undertaken in order to learn more of the wider world for Brazil's presumed benefit. Dom Pedro expressed a wide- ranging interest in all things around him, from physical scenery to social and religious customs. The /-- American portion of his visit was timed to coincide with Brazil's participation in the Philadelphia Exhibition. Word of Dom Pedro's approach ( from the East, via the still- new transcontinental railroad) reached Utah in mid- April. Having never entertained an emperor before, city officials were somewhat nonplussed. For one thing, they did not receive definite word about his anival in Salt bke City until April 21. Brigham Young instructed Mayor Feramon Little and the City Council to telegraph Dom Pedro's personal secretary, offering the hospitality of the city. A copy of the Brilzilian national anthem was rustled up, and the city band began rehearsing. Salt Lake Theatre manager W. T. Harris, perhaps sensing a public relations coup, also wired the emperor's party in Omaha, offering the use of a private box. An ambiguous reply was printed in the Deseret News of April 21: ' Dom Pedro leaves here for the west at ten o'clock, this morning. He travels in a special car attached to the regular train. He does his own talking and carries his own valise." The papers debated the meaning of this cryptic statement, marveling at the idea of an emperor who ' does his own talking and d e s his own valise." Defintive word finally did arrive on the 2lst, including a request for two Salt Lake Theatre boxes and six rooms at the Walker House. As he had across the country, the emperor emphatically requested that no formal ceremony accompany his arrival. When a large crowd met his special Pullman car, the Metropolitan, at Salt Me's Utah Central station, they soon learned that Dom Pedro was serious about being treated informally. He was immediately taken to the theatre by carriage, where ' manager Harris, with hat off, bowing and scraping, proceeded to usher Dom to his box. But the Emperm would not stand much of that sort of thing, and said in a very good-natured, pleasant manner: ' That will do, young man, that will do; put your hat on now and show me to my box.'" Harris was further embarrassed by the show and the audience; the humorist ( more) Alfred Burnett barely filled half the seats, and that small audience spent much of the performance straining to get a glimpse of the tall, slender, gray- bearded Dom Pedro. ( Apparently, many in the crowd mistook one of the more impressive- looking members of the imperial retinue for the emperor, and thus spent an hour staring at the wrong man). Dom Pedro, however, seemed to enjoy himself. On Sunday morning the imperial party rose early for sightseeing. First stop was the Hot Springs north of the city, which Dom Pedro admired, although he found the taste of the water unpalatable. The emperor then proceeded to Temple Square, touring the Tabernacle, examining the foundations of the Temple, and purchasing several Mormon publications. The party next took in Mass at St. Mary's Church, where Father Lawrence Scanlan officiated, delivering a response to Apostle Orson Pratt's recent LDS Conference discourse on the " Restoration of the Gospel of Christ," which may well have left Dom Pedro somewhat mystified. The party then traveled to Camp Douglas, passing quickly through the post as the emperor desired to attend a Mormon service at the Fourteenth Ward, where Apostle John Taylor delivered an address. The Salt Loke Tribune wuld not resist a dig at its erstwhile Mormon foes, noting that " The Apostle poured red- hot Mormonism into the ears of his distinguished listener, who was all unconscious- and will probably ever be so-- of the melancholy fact that from that hour forward his chances for an exaltation in the celestial kingdom of Brigham will be distressingly thin, for the testimony of the everlasting fiaud was borne to him and he rejected it." From the ward house Dom Pedro was driven straight to his railroad w ( having never met with President Young). On his return trip to Ogden he requested that the train stop near the Great Salt Lake, which waters he expressed an interest in examining. Salt Lake City was left to ponder its whirlwind encounter with unpretentious royalty. Sources: Salt Lake Tribune, Salt hk Herald, Daeret Evening Nws, April 20- 26, 1876; David L. Wood, " Emperor Dom Pedro's Visit to Salt Lake City," Utah Historical Quarter& 37 ( 1969). THEH ISTORYB LAZERis produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone [phone] ( JN)