A History of Cache County

Settlement

SETTLEMENT There was a large snow bank in the middle of our yard till summer . . . and the cattle went to the top of our hay stack to feed. -MARY ANN WESTON MAUGHAN s. fettling a high mountain vadey is not an easy chore; however, Mormon pioneers prided themselves on doing the difficult. Although Cache Valley had plenty of water, good grass, and a beautiful setting, it also had very severe and often long winters. The location within mountain passes created isolation and also limited access, especially in the winter. However, once the rich topsoil in the valley floor felt the settler's plow and the mountain timber was sawn into logs, a flood of pioneers came into the region. The abundant water meant that the usual risk of farming in the arid West was reduced. Where no permanent settlers existed prior to 1850, by 1900 over 18,000 had settled in Cache Valley, and another 5,000 lived in Idaho's Franklin County to the north. Cache County became a promised land for thousands of European emigrants and a quiet, beautiful home for many American-born Mormon pioneers. 25 26 HISTORY OF CACHE COUNTY Prior to considering Cache Valley as a place for settlement, Mormon leader Brigham Young examined another possible use for the region. Although he obviously realized that Utah Territory did not extend north beyond the forty-second paradel, Young hoped to establish some degree of control over the entire Cache Valley. After examining the Fremont and Stansbury documents, and influenced by the glowing report that his own exploring expedition gave him in August 1847, Young decided to pursue church control of Cache Valley. The church organization as well as Young and other private individuals had accumulated thousands of head of cattle. A large summer grazing area for the cattle was needed as well as a possible winter feeding ground. With its numerous streams and abundant grass, Cache Vadey was depicted as a paradise for the herds. In 1855 the Utah territorial assembly passed the following piece of legislation which territorial governor Brigham Young quickly signed. Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the ter­ritory of Utah: That portion of country known as Cache Valley... is hereby granted to Brigham Young, Trustee in the Trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and those whom he may associate with him; together with ad the products and bene­fits arising therefrom, for a herd ground and other purposes.1 Within a few days Brigham Young took advantage of the kind gift of Governor Brigham Young and the assembly. He organized a group of young men and sent them north into Cache Valley to establish a cattle ranch. In July 1855 ten men arrived in Cache Valley to prepare the area for the herd and those who would manage it. Briant Stringham was chosen by Young to lead the group, which included Young's son, Brigham, Jr., Samuel Roskedy, and Wdliam Naylor, among many oth­ers. They scouted the valley for three days and selected a site south and west of present-day Logan as the ranch base. The ranch became known as the Elkhorn Ranch. One story is that the ranch received its name from a large elk head tied above the gate entrance to the ranch. However, the Garr brothers, all three experienced herdsmen who worked at the ranch, were raised on Elkhorn Creek in Indiana and they may have named the ranch. SETTLEMENT 27 Although the men wished to explore the valley, Stringham ini­tially kept them focused on the assigned task and they began to build cabins, corrals, and outbuildings. Two trained builders, Martin Ensign and John C. Dowdle, came from Box Elder County to super­vise the construction. Utilizing the cottonwood trees that lined the Blacksmith Fork River, they budt log houses, fences, and corrals. Even then, Cache Valley winters created some apprehension, and the knowledge that the herds of U.S. Army stock had perished made some of the hands quite skeptical of the enterprise. In preparation, the ranch hands cut and stacked over 200 tons of wild grass hay and stored it at the ranch. Of course, the hope existed that the cattle would forage among the tall grass and receive significant winter nourishment from it. It did not seem possible that snow would cover the entire valley for months. Whde some of the men worked on construction and hay storage projects, others began driving the large herd of cattle into the valley. Soon there were over 3,000 head of livestock; the LDS church owned two-thirds of them. Three brothers-John, Abel, and Ben Garr- joined Franklin and Mdes Weaver as herders. They had taken care of the church cattle along with their own herd at Promontory in Box Elder County during previous winters. It was not long before the experienced herdsmen realized that winters in Cache Valley could be significantly different than winters at Promontory. Snow remained on the ground much longer in Cache Valley and, once the ground froze, snow depths increased dramatically, consequently the cattle could not forage.2 Realizing that there was no way that 200 tons of hay could feed 3,000 animals for four to five months, the herders decided to round up the stock and drive them over Sardine Canyon back to the greater Salt Lake Valley. In terrible conditions day and night, the herders drove the remaining cattle through the canyon. The snow depth exceeded two feet and they slowly moved the surviving animals to rangeland near the mouth of the Weber River. Only 420 of the church's 2,000 cattle survived the winter. Those settlers who stayed in Cache Vadey were completely snowbound. Two young couples, recently arrived converts from England, the Stolworthys and Warners, stayed at the ranch and shared a cabin for the entire winter.3 28 HISTORY OF CACHE COUNTY Their isolation in a snowbound vadey caused great concern for both those who stayed and those who sent them. Two veteran fron­tiersmen, John C. Dowdle, who had helped build Elkhorn, and Wdliam Garr, were instructed to return to assist those famdies and herders left at Elkhorn. Suffering from extreme cold, exhaustion, and exposure, Garr and Dowdle returned by snowshoes to Edchorn. Food supplies were exhausted, but ad survived the harsh and difficult win­ter. It perhaps should be noted that both the Stolworthys and the Warners left Cache Vadey as early as possible the next summer. Prior to departing, the Stolworthys experienced the birth of a daughter, named Eliza Cache. Brigham Young was one who learned from experience. He quickly abandoned his plan to turn Cache Valley into a permanent herding ground for his or the church's cattle. However, he did not abandon ideas of the valley as a place for potential settlement. By 1856 Young had tried to establish settlements as far north as the Lemhi Vadey in central Idaho; west to the Carson Valley in western Nevada; and southwest to San Bernardino, California. South from Salt Lake City to Utah Vadey to Cedar City to St. George, there existed numerous church-sponsored settlements. They were necessary because the church's missionaries kept successfully converting new members. Church missions in the southern United States, Great Britain, and Scandinavia sent thousands of new Mormons into the Rocky Mountains. In contrast to their situations in Ohio, Missouri, and Idinois, previous areas of Mormon occupation, Brigham Young now enjoyed the luxury of access to thousands of unsettled acres in the high mountain valleys. So, despite the harsh winters, the ktiling frosts, the death of much of the church herd, and the earlier destruc­tion of the army's livestock, Young turned to Cache Vadey in 1856 as a new area for settlement. Most of Utah had suffered an extreme drought in the mid- 1850s and the church leader needed new areas to explore, settle, and especiady provide a haven for the new arrivals. One answer to Young's dilemma came in the person of Peter Maughan. At the same time the Warners and Stolworthys abandoned Elkhorn Ranch, Maughan, who had been in Tooele County, asked Young for permission to go to Cache Valley and select a place for a settlement. Maughan's famdy and friends had suffered the effects of SETTLEMENT 29 Peter Maughan along with wife Mary Ann Weston Maughan, earlier settlers in valley. Official of Logan Co-op, LDS church and civic leader of Cache Valley. (Special CoUections MerriU Library, USU) drought, grasshoppers, and Native American raids in the desert area south of the Great Salt Lake, and they felt a change of scenery might be very beneficial. By late August, Maughan led a smad group of eight men and their families into Cache Valley. Mary Ann Weston Maughan recorded her thoughts about arriving in the valley in mid- September, perhaps the most beautiful time of the year: "When we got to the mouth of the Canyon we stopped to look at the Beautiful Valley before us my first words were O What a beautiful Valley. We drove in to the creek . . . here we camped on the 15th day of Sep. 1856."4 Cache Valley and Cache County now had permanent white set- 30 HISTORY OF CACHE COUNTY tiers. Native Americans still utilized the valley and continued their migratory patterns of hunting and fishing. The founders of Wedsvtile, or Maughan's Fort, budt their homes in rows facing each other in a "fort" style. Cache Valley was now considered by whites open for settlement. With little regard for Indian patterns of travel, vdlages, or hunting grounds, the Mormon pioneers began spreading on to new land. Wherever a stream came into the valley, the Mormons contemplated a settlement. Exploring the entire valley, Peter Maughan and his associates felt that many additional pioneers could survive in the isolated splendor of the Cache Vadey. In the late autumn of 1856, Maughan left to attend the territorial legislature sessions in Fillmore. As snows mounted at Maughan's Fort, a realization came that this was going to be a very difficult win­ter. The church herdsman warned the settlers of the severity of win­ter, but experience is a better teacher than words. Mary Ann Maughan recorded one of the first pioneer tragedies of Cache County's settlement history: In the winter Bro. Gardners son John started from Box Elder on a Sunday morning on horseback for Maughan's Fort but his horse gave out in the canyon. He put his saddle and Blanket in a service-bery bush, and, leaving his horse, started out on foot. These were found by some Brethren going after the mail. On their return with this news, it was the first his father knew that John had left Box Elder. Immediately his father, brothers, and others started to look for him On the next Sunday morning after John Gardener left Box Elder William [Maughan] and [Zial] Riggs went to look south of the fort. They noticed a faint trail coming from the canyon. They followed it down to the bank of the creek . . . they looked across and there on the north bank of the creek lay John Gardiner. . . . In his pocket they found a letter from Mr. Maughan 5 Whde in Fdlmore, Maughan, the Tooele County territorial legis­lator, received authority to organize a new county government and was appointed probate judge of the newly created Cache County. Meanwhde, his family and friends survived the difficult winter. After a wet spring, they tdled some acres; the reward was a bountiful har­vest that fall-1857-and the settlers prepared for what they hoped would be a bright future. SETTLEMENT 31 Mary Ann Weston Maughan, wife of Peter Maughan, first leader of LDS Relief Society in Cache Valley. (Special Collections Merrill Library, USU) Unfortunately, intense difficulties awaited Mormon pioneers from a different source. The 1850s witnessed a nation in turmod over slavery and expansion, and for a brief time the government focused 32 HISTORY OF CACHE COUNTY on Utah Territory. After years of sparring with federal judges and marshals, President James Buchanan removed Brigham Young as the appointed governor of Utah Territory. Buchanan was fearful that the Mormons would not submit peacefully to the proposed change, so he sent an army of 3,000 troops under Albert Sidney Johnston with the new governor, Alfred Cumming. Hearing of the imminent inva­sion, Young recalled Mormon settlers from colonies in California, Nevada, and Idaho, as wed as the distant vadeys of Utah. His purpose seems to have been not only to show a united front to the federal gov­ernment but also to prevent isolated settlements from being cut off both from his control and from each other. Some have argued that Brigham Young also particularly feared the independence and pros­perity of the outposts in southern California. The Latter-day Saints had been driven from Missouri and Idinois, so they prepared for the worst. The call to abandon the set­tlement reached Cache Valley settlers in October 1857. Young advised Maughan: "We consider wisdom for you to come within our settle­ments." The Cache residents chose to obey, but they took their time in leaving. It was not until March 1858 that many left the valley, moved south, and scattered to various parts of central Utah. In the meantime, a few herdsmen, farmers, and cattle remained at Eddiorn Ranch and "Daddy" Stump, a former trapper, remained at his ranch near Paradise. Planning to return, the settlers planted a number of crops in the spring of that year. In the fad of 1857, prior to the settlers' departure, a detachment of Utah's militia, the Nauvoo Legion, came into the valley on their way to the Oregon Trail. In the event Albert Sidney Johnston's army moved to enter from the north instead of directly west into the Salt Lake Valley, this expeditionary force was to monitor the army's move­ments. Although they never encountered the U.S. Army, many of the 500 Legion volunteers viewed Cache Vadey for the first time and were impressed by the beauty of the autumn. A number of these mtiitia-men returned as settlers within the next few years. Joseph H. Campbed, who later settled in Providence, recorded that "the next day we came through Wellsvdle Canyon and camped on the Muddy River just below Maughan's fort." On 18 August 1857 Marcellus Moore wrote that they "traveled about 30 miles and camped near SETTLEMENT 33 Eleanor "Lena" Coburn Jenkins, one of many courageous women who helped settle Cache Vadey (Special Collections Merrid Library, USU) Sampitch [chief of the Shoshonis], smoked with some of his men and sent him some tobacco." The valley's late summer beauty definitely appealed to many of the troops from Weber County.6 34 HISTORY OF CACHE COUNTY Fears of armed conflict between Mormons and federal troops proved unfounded. A negotiated settlement allowed Cumming to assume the governor's post, and he agreed that the federal troops would pass through the Salt Lake Valley, establishing Camp Floyd about forty miles south. The Mormon people were not harmed and were guaranteed control of the property they had acquired as well as their basic constitutional rights as American citizens. Most of the original Cache Valley pioneers remained out of the area from the spring of 1858 until some returned to harvest crops late in the fall. At Frances Gunnell's request, Brigham Young authorized a return to the vadey; but his letter to Peter Maughan was filled with advice, counsel, and caution: You are perfectly aware Brother Maughan that you at that place are perfectly cut off from any assistance from any of our settlements during the winter. You will therefore have to rely entirely upon your own resources and should go strong enough and perfectly prepared to sustain yourselves and should moreover be very care­ful in traveling in cold weather. You must be very cautious about the hostile Indians from the north.7 Young's experience with his own cattle herd probably contributed to his assessment of the vadey; however, Salt Lake residents always seem to have believed that it is farther from Salt Lake City to Logan than it is from Logan to Salt Lake City. Once allowed to return to Cache Vadey, the Wedsvdle pioneers were flooded by a new wave of migra­tion. Time and space do not allow a listing of all the pioneers who established the communities throughout the valley. Fortunately, most communities have published histories that describe in detail the people and processes that made each of the settlements prosper and develop. Each individual story is significant and dlustrates the impor­tant role of each community and its founders. It is important to note that the women, men, and their children who settled the vadey dis­played tremendous courage and amazing tenacity. Life was not easy on the frontier and many tragedies accompanied the pioneers. Regardless of the perceived and witnessed difficulties, Mormon pio­neers viewed mountain valleys as having tremendous potential as SETTLEMENT 35 Window from Providence LDS stone church erected 1870 at a cost of $12,800. (Special CoUections MerriU Library, USU) well as being their peaceful haven. Whether from the United States, Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, or Scandinavia, the immigrants continued to come in droves. The fact that Mormon settlements in California, Nevada, and Idaho were abandoned during what became called the Utah War put pressure on existing communities, as many families were relocated. Cache County essentially grew because set­tlers wanted to go there; people did not have to be called and sent. Although Peter Maughan advised the colonists to stay in the south end of the valley, groups of land-hungry settlers continued to spread north along the numerous streams cascading from the eastern moun­tains. Mendon, Providence, and Logan were established in the spring of 1859; Smithfield and Richmond were established by autumn. The 36 HISTORY OF CACHE COUNTY crops that fad were not plentiful and, to make matters worse, the pio­neers only received fifty cents a bushel for their wheat. According to the DeseretNews, sugar cost seventy-five cents a pound, nads were the same, and a shovel cost five dollars. Calico sold for fifty cents a yard and coffee was nearly a dollar a pound. This price probably con­tributed to the church's reemphasis of its health code-the Word of Wisdom-counseling against drinking alcohol, coffee, or tea, and the willingness of many Latter-day Saints to obey it. One of the best accounts of settlement in Cache Valley is Isaac Sorensen's detailed remembrance of the early days in Mendon. Sorensen described in a clear and graphic style how difficult it was to break up the previously untdled land, and he also outlined another significant feature of colonist survival, cooperation. Sorensen's description is a good example of the realities of pioneering. [We] all set to work making beams for . . . ploughs,... Wooden Harrows with Wooden teeth and some of them whose teams were to [sic] poor to break land with two yokes put on four yokes of Oxen ploughing one day for one man and the next for the other, dien each using their own teams for sowing the land.8 Although the Mendon settlers repeatedly retreated to Wellsville when Native Americans moved along the western foothills, Mendon, in the evening shadow of the Wellsvflle Mountains, became and remained their home. Late in November 1859 Brigham Young sent two apostles, Orson Hyde and Ezra T. Benson, to observe and then organize the new com­munities. The two apostles not only performed ecclesiastical duties but assumed a rather interesting and, in a way, presumptuous role. After choosing Peter Maughan as local LDS stake president, bishops were appointed for six towns: William Maughan in Wellsville; Wdliam Preston, Logan; Robert Wdliams, Providence; James Glover Smith, Smithfield; Andrew Shumway, Mendon; and Thomas Tidwed in Richmond. Then Benson and Hyde visited each settlement and, using their ecclesiastical positions, renamed most of the new villages: We labored faithfully in every settlement. The place herefore known as Maughan's Fort we named Wellsville. Spring Creek set­tlement, being situated in an elbow of the mountain and appear- SETTLEMENT 37 ing to us somewhat of a providential place, we named Providence. The next settlement northward had been previously named Logan. The settlement on Summit creek, six miles north of Logan we named Smithfield, and told the people there to be spiritually what their location really was-a city on a hill.... Five miles northward from Smithfield is a settlement on Cub creek, which we named Richmond. The settlement five miles north of Wellsville . . . heretofore known as the north settlement we named Mendon.9 Benson and Hyde returned to Salt Lake City and reported, "For beauty of landscape and richness of soil, Cache Valley can hardly be equaled." Then they gave the usual warning about harsh winters. The next year Benson returned to the valley as an apostle-in-residence with broad ecclesiastical powers. Settlers on the eastern side of the valley had two advantages: abundant water and a timber supply nearby. Although Logan Canyon proved very difficult to enter, Green, Providence, Millville, and Smithfield canyons all provided relatively easy access to the available spruce, fir, pine, and aspen used for homes and public buddings. The numerous streams were diverted onto the rich farmland below the rocky benches. Spring Creek (or Providence), Logan, Smithfield, and Richmond all followed a similar settlement pattern as Wellsville and Mendon. Each community started out as a street fort like Wedsville, with rows of houses facing each other and extending along the street for as many as three blocks in the case of Logan, Richmond, and Hyrum. Only the village of Providence set out to budd a fort in the classic manner. The early Providence pioneers constructed a stone wall all the way around the square block encompassing present-day Center, Main, First North, and First East streets. However, that fort caused county surveyor James Martineau some difficulty. Martineau decided that since the permanent fort wad could not be moved, fewer normal-sized lots existed inside; therefore, he surveyed six city lots instead of the normal eight on every Providence block, which meant the lots were 1.35 acres, the largest in the county. Homes were budt along a main street (in the case of Logan it was called West Center Street), facing each other, with gardens and cor­rals in the rear of the lot. The city blocks were eventually surveyed and divided in the typical Mormon settlement pattern. Square 38 HISTORY OF CACHE COUNTY Artist's concept of the Fort at Hyrum, view from the east end, 1860. (Special Collections Merrill Library, USU) blocks, eight lots to the block, and wide streets typified the original communities. The block system with houses facing each other also provided an easily defended position in the event of attack. Martineau created ten lots to the block at Smithfield because there were more settlers in the Smithfield fort than there were townsite lots. Charles Nibley arrived in the valley as a chdd during the fad of 1860. Nibley's description of his famdy's original dugout offers a clear view of living conditions in the early years: We dug out a square hole in the ground three feet deep and then built logs around that hole three logs high. We built up to the gables with logs then put a center roof log and one on each side of that, halfway down the wall. On top of these logs we laid small quaking aspen poles not larger than my wrist. On top of these we put straw and then covered that with a thick coat of dirt. Once Nibley described the exterior, he turned his attention to the internal structure: My father built a cobble stone chimney in the opposite end from the entrance on door. The chimney was simply built of cobble SETTLEMENT 39_ stones and mud for plaster, as we had no lime or any other kind of plaster that would hold. Then, in one of those delightful frontier statements, Nibley stated, "The chimney never knew enough to draw the smoke up but spewed it out and filled the room." He continued, There was not window of any kind whatever in our house. Neither was there a door. My mother hung up a quilt or piece of an old quilt which served as a door for the first winter. This was our bed­room, our parlor, our sitting room, our kitchen, everything in the room of about 12 x 16.10 This description contrasts dramatically with the stately and elegant home on West Center Street that Charles Nibley built thirty years later. Much had transpired during the intervening three decades; but the promise was there early. By the end of 1859 Brigham Young stated that "no other vadey in the territory is equal to this. This has been my opinion ever since I first saw this valley." At the time Benson and Hyde established ecclesiastical organiza­tions and named the towns, General Chauncey W. West of Odgen, commander of the Weber Mditary District, organized the militia in Cache Valley. A local militia is a long-held American and Mormon tradition, and safety from Indian attack was a top priority. The Deseret News reported that two battalions were organized, one in Wedsville and a second in Logan: The next morning [14 November 1859] at 9 o'clock, according to previous notice, the Militia in that part of the County paraded on the public square in Wellsville, and were briefly addressed by Gen. West. . . . The election of commissioned officers took place, and the Battalion was dismissed into the hands of William Maughan.11 After West left, Maughan and Israel J. Clark of Logan decided that infantry was not what they needed for quick response to Indian attacks. Maughan also served as bishop and he and his colleagues knew their situation much better than did an outsider. They infor­mally organized a mounted response unit called the Minute Men under Thomas E. Ricks of Logan. As the valley grew, so did the mili­tia, and by the summer of 1860 enough units existed to form a Cache 40 HISTORY OF CACHE COUNTY Valley regiment with Mormon apostle Ezra T. Benson as colonel; Ricks stdl commanded the Minute Men. In 1860 each major com­munity had a battalion and officers from their own town. In the year that Abraham Lincoln won the American presidency and the American nation faced Civd War, 1860, Cache Valley became the promised land for hundreds who knew little about Lincoln or southern leader Jefferson Davis. However, some converts came from the South and brought African-American slaves with them into Wedsville. Although they were freed within a few years, still, thirty years after free black trappers James Beckwourth and Moses Harris roamed the valley, other blacks entered the valley in bondage. Although the Civd War resulted in the freeing of all slaves, slavery did exist for a brief period in Utah Territory, including Cache County. The slaves worked primardy as farm laborers, but most moved to Salt Lake City after gaining freedom. Logan and Wellsville both claimed more than 100 families according to the 1860 census, and the county population stood at 2,605. Of the residents counted, 200 were born in the British Isles and 120 came from Scandinavia, mostly Denmark. Since more than 800 people in Cache County listed Utah as their birthplace and the Mormons had only been in the territory since 1847, the population of Cache County demonstrated a healthy youthftdness. Most people considered themselves farmers, and men barely outnumbered women-1,312 to 1,293. These statistics dlustrate that Cache Valley experienced significant growth between its founding in 1856 and the census of I860.12 An anonymous correspondent with an eye toward the future wrote the Deseret News in April 1860 and described the advantages of Cache County: "The first... is the abundance of snow which ensures good skiing from four to six months each year. There is plenty of water . . . , timber in the mountains, an abundance of grass for hay,... and building stone abounds in all or most of the Canyons."13 Mormon pioneers, or any other settlers, no matter how numer­ous, had to be somewhat aware of the Native Americans whom they displaced. By plowing land, diverting water, building houses, bridges, and roads, as well as killing game, the newcomers altered Native American traditions, habits, and lifestyles. Denied their traditional SETTLEMENT Al methods of life support, the Indians became acutely aware of the impact of the emigrants' intrusion. The land's original inhabitants were confronted with options that included fight, steal, beg, or leave. The Shoshonis complained to a U.S. government surveying crew that "they had nothing but fish to eat; that the Mormons had driven away all the deer and elk which they said formerly abound in these val­leys." 14 Long before reservations were established, many Native Americans developed an unfortunate dependancy on the numerous white intruders. Peter Maughan followed the example preached by Brigham Young. The Mormon leader believed the natives to be children of God and descendants of people mentioned in the Book of Mormon, considered sacred scripture by Mormons. Although nineteenth-cen­tury Mormons also believed that the native inhabitants stood in the way of westward expansion and their own ownership of the land, Young encouraged his followers to try to convert the Indians. Brigham Young also developed an official policy of coexistence which taught that feeding was preferable to fighting, and Peter Maughan adopted Young's counsel. However, both groups did not succeed in avoiding all conflicts and disputes, and there also were many Mormons who ignored Young's counsel completely. Yet, a limited trust developed among leaders, even though it was not always adhered to by followers. James G. Willie of Mendon summed up the reality in March of 1860 when he wrote: The people of the valley have been greatly annoyed with the Indians during the winter, and they have had to feed about two hundred of them most of the time since last fall, which has been a heavy tax, but it had to be borne, as there was no alternative but to feed them or do worse.15 Feeding alone could not and did not keep a total and complete peace. That was simply asking too much of the Native Americans, who saw their culture, environment, and very existence under siege. In spite of the efforts of Young and Maughan, conflicts between settlers and natives proved inevitable. From the beginning each set­tlement prepared for possible attack by utdizing community mditia as well as constructing fortifications within the towns. The militia 42 HISTORY OF CACHE COUNTY drilled frequently and took turns being on guard during times of unrest or perceived difficulty. Community herds were guarded against potential theft. By late 1860 a valleywide militia existed, with Ezra T. Benson as colonel and Thomas E. Ricks as major. Even with an organized mditia, problems remained and conflicts arose. Although numerous suspected cases of horse and cattle thievery existed, the first recorded tragic clash came at Smithfield during the summer of 1860 and the entire valley rapidly became engulfed in conflict. On 23 July 1860 a group of Smithfield men went to the foothills above the town where a small band of Shoshoni Indians were camped. The men, Thomas Winn, George Barber, and Sylvanus Collett, arrested the Shoshoni leader, Pagunap, and accused him of stealing a pony from the Richmond area. Pagunap, taken into town, protested and then later tried to escape, but he was shot and killed. The Indians returned fire and Samuel Cousins fed, wounded. While escaping, the Shoshoni came across three men camped on Summit Creek. They killed John Reed of Franklin and wounded James Cowan. Continuing up the canyon, they came across Ira and Solyman Merrill, and Ira Merriti was ktiled in an exchange of gun­fire. Panic swept through the valley and the settlers responded by tightening security around their communities and sending rein­forcements to Smithfield. When Shoshoni chief Bear Hunter came back to Smithfield and threatened an attack, he found over a hundred armed men waiting. Henry Ballard, the bishop of Logan Second Ward, recorded in his journal that "they soon found we was to many for them they said they was not mad they wanted to be friendly Bro Maughan and them had A long talk and they Agreed to go And hunt up them Indians that Done the murder."16 Another diarist, eighteen-year- old Thomas Irvine, also recorded the confrontation between Bear Hunter's people and the mditia: The next day the Indians came down to Logan, and it looked like there would be trouble. Every man or boy that could handle a gun was called out. There was a party held in the old log house, and about 20 of us was lined up with our old Yeagers, Carbines, and Muskets, as a guard. It had a good affect on the Indians, and they SETTLEMENT 43 came to terms. We were all pretty badly scared and glad when it was over.17 Ezra Benson gave Bear Hunter 1,300 pounds of flour along with other items and the crisis temporardy passed. Later that week, how­ever, Daddy Stump, the old mountain man, was murdered near his cabin in Paradise. Anticipating potential difficulties and the spread of hostilities, Brigham Young warned the settlers of Richmond that their farms and cabins needed to be closer to each other: What would you do, provided the Indians became angry and sud­denly attacked you? . . . I will give you my counsel; build good stockades. Move your famdies and wagons close together, then, if you are disturbed, you are like a hive of bees, and everyone is ready and knows at once what to do.18 The threat of Indian attacks was the primary reason that settlers fre­quently moved temporarily into the forts. Fearing a concerted attack, Benson alerted the militia and they prepared to defend the settlements. The Native Americans withdrew to the north; but the next year about 1,500 of them returned to Cache Valley. Since the Shoshoni appeared hungry but not hostile, Maughan, Benson, and I. J. Clark, an interpreter, went and held coun-cd at their camp. Clark, a veteran of the Mormon Lemhi Mission to Central Idaho, was fluent in the Shoshoni language. As late as 1870 Clark received government payment as the Cache County interpreter; he received nearly the same amount as the probate judge, slightly over $300. The men were able to avoid full-scale conflict between the groups that year. For the next few years potential trouble loomed and tension gripped the pioneers. Every summer the settlers prepared for addi­tional difficulties. There may have been as many as five different groups of Shoshoni Indians in the valley; but, by 1863, Bear Hunter and Sagwitch were the primary leaders. They were in a struggle for survival, and they were losing as more and more settlers cultivated land; the Indians' traditional use of Cache Vadey rapidly disappeared. They fought back as they were able. Margaret McNiel Ballard described how pioneer men would take their guns with them into the fields and, while one person guarded livestock, others would farm. 44 HISTORY OF CACHE COUNTY We had a great deal of trouble with the Indians. They were very hostile, and the people had to seek shelter in a cellar, I have seen the Indians ride their horses into the houses, and tramp the gar­dens all to pieces. This was the worst time we had with them. They did an enormous amount of damage in the fields.19 During the winter there was usuady little difficulty; but when the nomadic followers of Sagwitch, Bear Hunter, and others began their customary treks for game and sustenance, trouble began. In 1861, a group of an estimated 1,000 Shoshoni moved into the valley and camped west of Logan on the church's farmland. The entire mditia was put on alert for nearly ten days. A band of accused horse thieves was chased by the local mditia. Henry Badard recorded their fate in a 21 July 1861 entry in his journal: "Bro. Benson Spoke very warm About the Horse thieves As the Minute Company had chased four of them and took one of them at Box Elder. And he broke loose from them and they shot him and stopped his thieving and the Ogden Boys took some more of them."20 George Barber also recorded the event and gave a grimmer description of the Indians' fate. "Heard of the capture of all the horse thieves except one that our boys had routed and chased so hard and of their receiving their just reward in the shape of a blue pdl or two each rightly administered."21 During these conflicts neither Ballard nor Barber demonstrated much desire to follow the counsel of Brigham Young or Peter Maughan. These were armed frontiersmen who obviously felt justice for Shoshonis did not include a hearing or a trial. Later full regiments of the Salt Lake-based Nauvoo Legion were established in Cache County as a powerful demonstration to the Indians of the whites' force. They seemed a bit more organized and pompous; but they were a source of security for the residents. There are some reports of white chddren kidnapped and animals stolen, but the greatest conflict in Cache County history came in January 1863. During the Civd War, the United States Army ordered Colonel Patrick Edward Connor and the Third California Volunteers to Salt Lake City. The federal government, with some cause, doubted Mormon loyalty to the Union and wanted Connor to closely watch the Mormons as well as guard the overland route connecting SETTLEMENT 45 California and the east. Simultaneously, gold and sdver discoveries in Montana and Idaho had led to a very lucrative freighting route through Cache Valley. Native Americans took advantage of the freight trains and attacked many as a way to obtain supplies. Fearing that northbound encroachment would further threaten their existence, the Bannock and Shoshoni Indians became quite aggressive in their efforts. In order to protect the wagon freight trains, Connor decided to attack the Indians and secure peaceful passage for the freighters. With nearly 400 men, he marched into Cache Valley during January 1863. Obtaining information about the Indians from settlers, Connor made his way north to Franklin, the northernmost settlement. Although the temperature was well below zero, Connor moved his troops ten mdes to the northwest during the night. Many soldiers suf­fered from frostbite; but, when the cold January dawn came, Connor's forces launched an assault on the unsuspecting Indian encampment. With cannon and small-arms fire, the troops wreaked devastation on the Native Americans in what came to be called by some the Battle of Bear River and by others the Bear River Massacre. Accounts vary, but in probabdity more than 300 Indians, mostly chil­dren and women, were ktiled in the massacre, which hardly reached the status of a battle. Connor and his troops had crossed the 42nd paradel and consequently fought in present-day Idaho. The location did not matter to them, because as federal troops they chose to sim­ply remove the obstacle to northern trade.22 After Connor's virtually complete victory, the shattered surviv­ing Shoshoni retreated to the north and the pioneers believed that the entire valley was now theirs to secure. The next year, however, trouble once again occurred in Franklin. Settlers had sold a consid­erable amount of alcohol to the Indians and, in an ensuing con­frontation, a Native American was shot off his horse as he rode wddly through town. After taking Robert Hud hostage, the Indians' leader, Washakie, negotiated with Peter Maughan. Maughan gave the Native Americans two yoke of oxen and secured Hud's release. This incident dlustrates the fact that Maughn had to be available as a church and civic leader at all times, as he bore responsibdity for the entire vadey's welfare. 46 HISTORY OF CACHE COUNTY After the Battle of Bear River and the hostage incident at Franklin, the Indian threat diminished considerably. However, the pattern of settlement established in part because of the threat of attack continued and only disappeared slowly. The pioneers lived in communities where there were adequate fortifications, a church in which to worship, and plenty of friends. Their homesites usually included a garden and areas for mdk cows, chickens, and other farm animals. Irrigation water was brought into the villages through smad canals. This brought a sense of unity and community to pioneer set­tlements. The town and church ward became almost synonymous. Cooperation was fostered by the community structure, and settlers shared the tasks of building small log schoolhouses, chapels, and bowerys. Larger farm plots outside the vdlage site supplied grain, hay, and cash crops; but most people stid lived in town. Church leaders often appropriated land, and even after the passage of the Homestead Act in 1862 most Mormon settlers stid lived in towns. Although they were required to show on-site improvements to their homesteads, a small cabin and shed usually sufficed. Isaac Sorensen's History of Mendon provides a classic account of what life was like in the communities as the Indian threat disap­peared: In 1864, after five years of life in a fort where a splendid lesson had been taught and learned, it being really necessary to love the neighbors, there doors being only half speaking distance apart, which . . . was quite convenient in one respect, as people had to borrow This spring it was considered safe to break up the long string of log fortifications and move them into their new lots.23 Sorensen added that the close proximity and the living conditions in the forts, dugouts, and early homes had a great positive impact on the inhabitants of the communities: The people danced together, prayed together, sang together, and worked together . . . and come together in meetings . . . with a new country to be subdued, their own clothing to manufacture,... and many other inconveniences and hard obstacles to contend against, they were in no wise discouraged but on the contrary encouraged although only 15 or 20 acres for their farms they felt well, it was SETTLEMENT 47 '^i^K^-^^^^7^^7^i7^'''' •• Double Log house with shingle roof, Richmond, 1870s. (Special Collections Merrill Library, USU) their own and they worked and looked forward in the future for many good things in their beautiful Valley, and they were not dis­appointed. 24 Not everyone agreed with Sorensen's assessment of the virtues of compact community living. Richmond's Angus Taylor Wright had a different view when his family was allowed to move from the fort to a town lot: We received an acre lot down near town. It was a welcome change and relieved the crowded condition of the families huddled together at the "fort" where neighbors were living too close together to maintain peaceful and decent relationships. The move was there­fore very desireable and resulted in promoting a better influence.25 Having space was nice for some people, but they still had to con­stantly deal with the environment, animals, and potential Indian dif­ficulties. Grizzly bears often presented a problem because they endangered and frequently killed cattle, sheep, and other domestic livestock. Other predators like wolves, coyotes, and foxes also drew the wrath of the pioneers. At one point, Providence's citizens got embroiled in a nasty 48 HISTORY OF CACHE COUNTY Amenzo White Baker and his cabin built in Mendon, early 1860s. (Special Collections Merrill Library, USU) week-long saga with a grizzly bear on the Blacksmith Fork River west of Providence. The settlers often combined forces for bear hunts, trapping expeditions, and general animal predator control. John Hill of Wellsville was killed accidentally during one of these nighttime hunts. Three days later a bear walked away with one of Ira Rice's large traps attached to its leg. Rice, Wdliam Dees, and others tracked the bear to its lair northwest of Providence. Rice took a shot at the grizzly at close range and, although wounded, the bear turned, cuffed Dees, and mauled him. Although lacerated and bleeding badly, Dees sur­vived and he and his friends retreated to Providence. According to a letter from Charles Wright to the Deseret News, the men reassembled the next morning with reinforcements and pursued the bear. There were as many as fifteen men and boys, some armed, some not, but all wanting a shot at the grizzly. Wright wrote: Not having learned the science of bear hunting, the amateur Nimrods soon found it necessary to act on the defensive, after arriving on the field, and some of them, to insure safety, took posi­tion in the tops of the tallest timber they could find.26 SETTLEMENT 49 Two men ran and were closely pursued by the bear, so they decided to split up, turn, and shoot at the bear. Alpheus Harmon's gun misfired and the bear turned on him; according to Wright, Harmon got "shockingly mauled." The others came to Harmon's res­cue and once again a gun misfired at close range, so they started to beat the enraged animal with their guns. Henry Gates ran up and shot one barrel of his shotgun into the bear's mouth, which knocked out some teeth. Before Gates could reload, the bear attacked him and tore at his face, arms, and legs, inflicting frightful wounds. Three point-blank shots from a revolver did not deter the bear, so Wdliam Dees, the man mauled the previous day, jumped on the bear, put his gun's muzzle to the head, and finally ktiled the grizzly. Gates died a few days later, but Harmon survived. In a partial response to the bear incidents, a hunt was organized in which the valley was divided into teams, north and south. Thomas Rick's northern team went to Preston and hunted southward, whde Moses Thatcher's southern team moved north from Paradise. All bears, coyotes, wolves, and foxes were considered fair game with a bounty price established by the county for each pelt. Consequently, much of the predator wddlife was exterminated very early in the his­tory of area settlement. Less than a decade after first entering the valley, the pioneers felt they were home and that their future was tied to the beautiful vadey that surrounded them. Still predominantly of one religion, the Mormon settlers looked to Salt Lake City and Brigham Young for guidance. Since a county government also existed, James H. Martineau, the county surveyor, and Jesse W. Fox, his territorial counterpart, completed surveys of the area's town plots by late 1864. Fodowing the survey's completion, Brigham Young advised settlers to move west of the Bear River, and the communities of Clarkston and Newton resulted from that effort. The problem of western drainage and less avadable water deterred the growth of these com­munities, however. Later, in the 1870s, homesteaders filed on the grazing lands that became Trenton, Cornish, Lewiston, and Amalga. Dry farming and grazing became the early types of agricultural oper­ation. There were many economic risks involved in dry farming, and bringing the sagebrush under control proved very difficult. However, 50 HISTORY OF CACHE COUNTY when Brigham Young toured the valley settlements in 1870, he saw a flourishing and rich agricultural vadey that had doubled in popula­tion since the last census. The primary question faced by these dedicated and adventurous pioneers was how to survive economically. Feeling somewhat blessed and guided, they still looked to a future filled with uncertainties. Religiously and economically, the settlers were part of the Intermountain West Mormon settlement system of Brigham Young. Many Cache Vadey residents or their chddren subsequently moved or were sent to Bear Lake Valley; Idaho's Upper Snake River Valley; Star Valley, Wyoming; and Wyoming's Big Horn Basin. Some later moved to Alberta, Canada. Many individuals found themselves start­ing over time and time again. On the other hand, Cache County was considered the home base for family, religion, education, and the economy. It was the home that people returned to from outlying areas. Life was difficult, but the residents soon found themselves part of a vital, changing America in the throes of an economic industrial revolution. ENDNOTES 1. Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, Fillmore, Utah, 18 December 1855, Territorial Papers of Utah, Special Collections, Merrill Library, Utah State University, (hereafter USUSC). 2. Doran J. Baker, "Investiture of Cache Valley to Herders and Settlers," unpublished article, 3-5, USUSC. See also M.R. Hovey, An Early History of Cache County (Logan: Chamber of Commerce, 1936). 3. Baker, "Investiture of Cache Valley," 5. 4. Journal of Mary Ann Weston Maughan, comp. Kate B. Carter (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1959), 383-84. 5. Ibid., 242. 6. See A.J. Simmonds, "Looking Back," Herald Journal, 30 June and 7 July 1991, and 8 October and 15 October 1993. See also Baker, "Investiture of Cache Valley," 8-9. 7. Brigham Young to Peter Maughan, Brigham Young Cache Valley Letters, USUSC; see also Baker, "Investiture of Cache Valley." 8. Issac Sorensen, History of Mendon, ed. Doran J. Baker, Charles S. Peterson, and Gene A. Ware (Salt Lake City: Utah State Historical Society, 1988), 330. Many of Cache County's communities have histories written by SETTLEMENT 51 individuals or committees. Utah State University's Special Collections includes histories of WellsviUe, Hyrum, Providence, River Heights, Logan, Smithfield, Richmond, and Trenton. 9. Deseret News, 3 December 1859. 10. Charles Nibley, Reminiscences (Salt Lake City: n.p., 1934), 31-32. 11. Deseret News, 3 December 1859. 12. U.S. Census, 1860, U.S. Government Documents, USUSC. 13. Deseret News, 4 April 1860. 14. Stansbury, Exploration and Survey of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, 74. 15. James G. Willie, Journal, USUSC. 16. Henry BaUard, Diary, USUSC. 17. Thomas Irvine, Journal, USUSC. 18. Brigham Young to Peter Maughan, Peter W. Maughan Papers, USUSC. 19. Margaret McNiel Ballard, Diary, USUSC. Her biographical sketch is in the Joel E. Ricks Collection at the Cache Valley Historical Society. 20. Henry Ballard, Diary, USUSC. 21. George Barber, Journal, USUSC. 22. See Brigham D. Madsen, The Shoshoni Frontier and the Bear River Massacre, and Newell Hart, The Bear River Massacre (Preston, ID: Cache Valley Newsletter Publishing Co., 1983). 23. Isaac Sorensen, History of Mendon (Logan: Cache County Historical Commission and Utah State Historical Society, 1988). 24. Ibid. 25. Simmonds, "Looking Back," Herald Journal, 15 April 1986. 26. Deseret News, 17 March 1877.