UTAH HISTORICAL QUATERLY VOL I - VI

Reminiscences of the early days of Manti

REMINISCENCES OF THE EARLY DAYS OF MANTI 117 REMINISCENCES OF THE EARLY DAYS OF MANTI* Chapter 2 A Year of Privations The encampment of the Sampitch Indians was near the set­tlement. They were a weak and humble band attiring themselves in blankets made of rabbit skins twisted, twined, and tied to­gether with fine sinew. But in February and early March the Utes, who had wintered farther south, began to arrive in squads. The Sampitches were the veriest slaves to this more power­ful tribe of Utes who treated them very cruelly; but could a Sampitch, by fair means or foul, become the happy possessor of a horse, gun, and blanket, he was admitted as a member of the Ute tribe. About the first of July, Walker (pronounced by the Sam­pitches Yawkeraw), the head warchief of all the Utes and Sam­pitches, came to the valley with his entire tribe. The braves had just returned from a successful raid against the Shoshones, and were laden with plunder, prisoners and scalps. Walker himself was a tall fine looking man, and one of seven brothers, all, with one exception, remarkable for athletic proportions and all influential men in the tribe: Arrapeen, Groceepeen, Sam­pitch, Ammon, Tabbinaw, Yankawalkits. Undoubtedly, it was owing to the influence of Ammon, and Tabbinaw, that the party which wintered in the canyon escaped the vengeance of Big Elks exasperated warriors. The Indians' encampment covered that portion of the present site of Manti, from Temple hill on the north, to the hills on the east and to City creek south and west, this vast area being thickly dotted with "wickiups" (Indian tents), thus forming a huge semicircle around the whites. For two weeks they held their feasts and war-dances, in honor of their victory; the prisoners all having their heads close-lv shaven were easily designated by the settlers who frequently went out to observe and admire the savage pageantry, which was exhibited with a barbarous refinement of cruelty - only equalled in the nineteenth century by the federal judges of Utah, who compel little children to give evidence in court that would make them orphans in very deed, placing their fathers behind •The Home Sentinel, Manti, Utah, Aug. 15, 1889. Our Prize Articles, No. 1. (Written by A. B. C's.) 118 THE UTAH STATE HISTORICAL QUARTERLY prison bars and making their mothers dishonored widows-these savages compelled the poor captive sguaws to sing, dance, and bear aloft, a pole from which depended the painted scalps of perhaps, their nearest male relative; and oft-times, when in excess of grief, the monotony of their song and dance were broken with tears and sobs, as they bent beneath their ghastly burden, shouts of derision and mirth met these human weak­nesses ; differently expressed, but emananting from the same hellish impulses as meets the tears of helpless women and chil­dren, when their defender and protector is dragged from their embrace to answer to a sentence obtained under an ex-post-facto law. The human tendencies are the same to-day as when the Lord deemed it necessary to command; "Thou shalt not seethe the kid in its mother's milk." The number of these warriors has been variously estimated as from five to seven hundred; and the little settlement of whites besides this vast encampment, reminded one vividly, of a mouse in a lion's paw. Walker in his moody moments was in the habit of reminding the settlers in forcible language of what he was capable of doing, and judging from subsequent events, the temptation was doubtless frequently very strong upon him, to make a "breakfast spell," of the white population. The general health of the people was good, but in July, Jerome Bradley was stricken with a malignant fever of which on the sixteenth, he died. The estimable young man was be­trothed to Miss Mary Shumway. They were united-in Mar­riage, but death, stern relentless unyielding death, closed his eyes, and they were disunited to await a happier union in a future existence. This was the first deathbed marriage in the valley. Dr. Richards (whose name was inadvertently omitted in our list) was our first disciple of Esculapius-performing every serv­ice without money and without price-something after the man­ner of Apostle Lyman's extracting teeth during his sojourn at the "Pen" last winter, the sign over his door reading, Teeth Extracted with Pleasure! Without Pain, and Without Price! He explained that the pleasure was his, the pain belonged to the patient, and he performed the operation "Free! On August fifth, 1850 Pres't Young visited Sampitch for the first time, and gave our valley the more euphonious name of Sanpete (not San Pete as now erronously written by many) and the settlement itself was christened Manti. His arrival was the occasion for loading and firing our one piece of ord­nance, which by the way was a loan from Salt Lake City. The magnetism of his presence always produced like enthusiasm wherever he visited, and meetings and banquets were the order REMINISCENCES OF THE EARLY DAYS OF MANTI 119 of the day; and if vaulting ambition overleaped itself so far as to overload the cannon in a manner to break the windows in the vicinity of the firing-who cares now? or who in their excess of joy cared then? or who can wonder that after so lengthy,a period of isolation, this diminutive but vigorous, nu­cleus of civilization should demonstrate its enthusiasm in divers ways and places. The cannon was shouldered by our young giant, Geo. P. Bil­lings, of whose Herculean strength we loved to boast, and car­ried up, on the summit of the hill, just east of where the Temple now stands, and chained to a large cedar tree, when the firing was successfully continued without further damage to either life or property. The season advanced, the grain ripened, the stock fattened, and haystacks of mammoth proportions graced the great public stackyards; and the flight of autumn found the colonists bet­ter prepared in many respects, to meet the rigors of such a winter as they had already experienced. School was opened in a log house erected for that purpose, and also for Sabbath Services-with surveyor Jesse W. Fox as teacher during the winter months of 1850-51, Mary Whiting being his immediate successor who occupied that position for some years. CHAPTER 3, AUGUST 22, 1889 The Indians - Goodyear's Story The Indians still had their encampment near, and the settlers were obliged to witness many heartrending cruelties practiced upon their prisoners and objectionable members of their own tribe. The squaws of the chiefs all wore a round black ring printed in the center of their foreheads to designate them from the common squaws. One poor little boy, not more than five years old, an ema­ciated, motherless, little captive, with scarcely one thin dirty rag between his tender flesh and the chilling frosts of early spring, came night after night, close to our homes and built his lonely little campfire, of the chips hewn from the logs, which the settlers had been using. When the earth beneath the fire became sufficiently warmed, he would carefully remove the coals, and with the patient stoicism of his own race, lie down to sleep. It was apparent to all that he was slowly dying of hunger, cold, and neglect. The children of the whites occasion­ally divided their scanty morsel with him. But one morning, by the lifeless embers of his little campfire, he lay dead. 120 THE UTAH STATE HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Poor little motherless forsaken one, be this thy epitaph. Walker, once in solemn conclave with the conflicting pas­sions of his own turbulent soul, decided that his mother, a with­ered, wrinkled scrap of a women, who looked as if the first mountain breeze might annihilate her, had cumbered this earth long enough, attempted to end her life; but she was a quick, wiry, plucky little creature, and though well advanced in years, after receiving several very severe cuts and bruises at his hands, any one of which would have ended a common mortal's career, made good her escape, and remained hidden among the bul­rushes of Sampitch swamps, for a week or more with no known means of sustenance, until she concluded his wrath had some­what subsided, she came crawling back to the wickiups, and was permitted to drag out a sort of attenuated existence a few years longer. One more incident of barbarity, I can-not forbear mention­ing. Miles Goodyear, the wealthy ranchero, who owned a large part of Utah, under a grant from the Mexican government, and of whom Capt. Brown purchased the northern portion of the Territory for the sum of $3,000, had married a young, hand­some Ute squaw, whose native grace, beauty and amiabibty won the admiration of all who knew her. By this woman Miles had two children. After Goodyear's death, which occurred soon after the pur­chase, his widow married Sampitch, one of Walker's stalwart brothers, and came to Sanpete with the tribe. Billy Goodyear was a fine manly specimen of a half breed, but poor Bill and his little sister were treated with such brutality by their step father, Sampitch, that Pres't Young, with his customary magnanimity sent for the children and treated them as members of his own family, sending them to school, and extending to them that kindness and generosity, for which he was so noted. One day Sampitch in a fit of jealous rage, and with a con­suming desire to exterminate something or somebody, vented his unbridled malignity upon his defenseless wife. My mother, as she frequently did, as they were old neighbors at Sessions (now Bountiful) Salt Lake Co., happened to pay her a visit next day; she found her lying helpless upon her couch of robes and skins. My mother returned home for bandages, linament etc., went back and washed and dressed her wounds. She had but partially recovered before the band left; but her life was brief; we never saw here again, but occasionally heard from the children. Andrew Goodyear, their uncle, took Bill with him, back to REMINISCENCES OF THE EARLY DAYS OF MANTI 121 the old homestead in Massachusetts, where the boy received a collegiate course. While we lived at Sessions settlement, this same Andrew Goodyear, when on the eve of moving his camp to pastures new, made my mother a present of a bucket of flour (our diet consisted of hominy and corn dodger straight), and I have many times and quite recently, heard my mother say, her heart was filled with more unalloyed happiness, intense gratitude and sublime joy, at being the recipient of that gift, than she could possibly be, at the same bucket heaped and piled with shining coins of gold at the present time. Then and Now; and behold the ingratitude among this peo­ple toward God, in the verv midst and presence of all his muni­ficent gifts and blessings. Oh! the selfishness of the human heart! Listen at the grumblings, the murmurs, at the quarrel-ings, over every stream of sparkling water, flowing freely down the canyons of our magnificent mountains to fertilize and beau­tify these valleys the glorious chambers of Zion; the earlier settlers (not earliest) refusing to share this free gift of God with the more recent arrivals of "His elect" I sometimes wonder if these sticklers for human and pre-existing rights will not soon endeavor to monopolize even the life giving air we breathe. I blush sometimes at the thoughts and disgrace of being "an old Settler." Let the old settlers rejoice that they "obeyed counsel" for the wisdom of that "counsel" will yet become apparent. Mean­while possess your souls in patience. Stand still and see the salvation of God, make use of the old motto, "Share and share alike." CHAPTER V. AUG. 29, 1889 Waljker-the Crafty Indian Chief The question has repeatedly been asked, "What started the Walker war?" The question will in all probability never be satisfactorily answered. Those best acquainted with the promi­nent traits of the nomadic races of North America, know how small a spark it takes to explode the dynamite of their fero­cious natures. Pitiless and blood thirsty, the smallest injury is avenged in deeds of blackest barbarity. Incapable of consecutive reasoning; with violent, but tran­sient feelings, it is difficult to tell what slight cause precipitated the bloody war referred to. But this is certain, when the In­dians were most peaceable, the settlers were never free from ap­prehension, as the following incident will serve to illustrate. 122 THE UTAH STATE HISTORICAL QUARTERLY The tribe acknowledged allegiance to two chiefs, Walker and Sowiatt. Walker was the "War Chief," and the aged Sowiatt, the civil,. political, or diplomatic chieftain, a very eloquent speaker, wielding quite as much influence and power as Walker himself, though seldom interfering with war matters. On one occasion when the male portion of the inhabitants of Manti were mostly away, some working at Hamiltons saw­mill on Pleasant creek, others gone to "the city" on business etc. leaving only 10 to 15 men, including aged men and very young boys, Walker, who happened to be in one of his "moods," literally spoiling for a "row" and knowning too well the weak­ness of the town, put on his war paint, and sent a peremptory demand for the whites to deliver up to him for death, Shum-way and Chase, the two most influential, men left in-the settle­ment. Of course the demand was not complied with, the settlers determining to sell their lives as dearly as possible; the fate of the town hung on a mere thread. Sowiatt disapproved of this high handed proceeding, and called a council (of course the doomed inhabitants supposed the council was to decide the time and the manner of their death) Walker, who was no "slouch" in an argument, appealed to the basest passions of his braves, till it seemed universal slaughter was imminent. Then, old Sowiatt arose and with manly fervor pleaded the cause of the whites, beseeching his followers to forego the hope of plunder, and the gratification of conquest, presenting to them with the eloquence of a Demosthenes, the coward braves, at­tacking "squaws and papooses;" and though passion, tradition, and savage nature, were all against him, the magnanimous old fellow, so wrought up the feelings of the warriors that when he drew a line and said "those who will live in friendship with the Mormons, let them follow me." He drew after him such a formidable array of braves, as to leave the discomfited Walker, with a force too small to dare the attack and he accordingly stowed himself away somewhere to sulk in morose and moody silence, until his war paint had lost some of its vivid hues, when he came in and told the whole story on himself. And this is how our Mormon stttlements were planted, and under God's divine protection throve. Our men labored hard all day, standing guard by turns all night, bearing with fortitude and patience, the various disap­pointments and disasters incident to frontier life. Walker-the Crafty Indian An incident in the career of Walker, unconnected with the REMINISCENCES OF THE EARLY DAYS OF MANTI 123 Mormon settlements, but illustrative of the craftiness of his character, his extensive resources, the subtle fertility of his intellect, the immense distances and domains traversed by him in his raids, may not be uninteresting. With quite a following of his dauntless braves, he went away off across the Colorado, through Arizona, perhaps even to the borders of Old Mexico, to obtain a fresh supply of horses. They were very successful in bunching several hundred of the Spaniard's "Cayuses," and in getting off without an en­counter. But the Mexicans were in hot pursuit. Walker and his braves kept ahead of them with their booty well in hand, until the Colorado was reached. Once across this formidable stream they would be in comparative safety; but it was a raw day, and the horses were not warm enough to "take the water." In spite of their utmost endeavors, the animals could nof be forced to cross the river. The Indians were in a dilemma and it appeared as though they must either abandon their prize, or risk a pitched battle on an open plain. Walker was disposed to do neither, and was equal to the emergency. The-daring chieftain being personally.unknown to the Span­iards, selected a dozen of his trusty braves, took a few head of the stolen horses, and with crest-fallen and dejected counte­nances, turned back and met their pursuers. He delivered to the Spaniards the few horses taken for the purpose; represent­ing to their owners, that this small party of warriors were mutineers; that they had quarrelled, and in consequence, had a fight with Walker, had lost three of their men, and had suc­ceeded in capturing this many of the horses, told them that Walker was now far across the Colorado, beyond the possibility of pursuit and capture, and that this leader and his mutineers deserved a great reward, not only for their dead warriors, but for their honesty. They comported themselves in a manner to bear out this daring fraud, and convincing the Spaniards of the utter use-lessness of following Walker. The two parties camped together for some time, smoked the pipe of peace, and the Mexicans after paying them a liberal "bonus" for their supposed dead braves bade them a friendly farewell, taking with them the few head of horses returned, and for which they had paid almost the full value, departed for their respective ranches. By this time the weather had settled, and Walker on again reaching the banks of the Colorado, was enabled to cross, and without firing a shot, risking an encounter, or losing a man, brought his still numerous band of horses in triumph to Utah. Such was the man in whose tender mercy, the infant settle­ments of Sanpete were cradled.