A History of Sevier County

Social, political and economic development of Sevier county

SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF SEVIER COUNTY, 1865-1896 I n 1850 the Utah Territorial Legislature created six counties: Great Salt Lake, Weber, Tuilla, Utah, San Pete (later Sanpete), and Little Salt Lake.1 Each of these entities was formed around pockets of white settlement. County borders and names changed over time until 1917 when the creation of Daggett County gave Utah its present twenty-nine counties. On 16 January 1865 the territorial legislature created Sevier County out of the southern portion of Sanpete County. The bound­aries of the county were outlined as follows: That all that portion of Sanpete county lying south of an east and west line passing through the ford of Willow Creek between Gunnison and Salina, and east of the main range of mountains dividing Round and Pauvan valleys from the valley of the Sevier is hereby created and named Sevier county, with county seat at Richfield.2 The county's northern, western, and southern boundaries were essentially the same as they are today. However, the county's eastern 98 SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1865-1896 99 border extended to the present Utah-Colorado state line, making Sevier County a long and narrow rectangular county. In 1880 the cit­izens of Castle Valley petitioned the territorial legislature to separate themselves from Sevier County. Their petition was granted and Emery County was formed out of the eastern ends of Sevier and Sanpete counties.3 A small change in the county's boundaries was made in 1890 by the territorial legislature. That year, a section of Sevier County located between Axtell and the Sevier River was removed from the county and added to Sanpete County.4 Probate courts executed the basic law to Utah's settlements from 1852 until statehood in 1896. Each county probate court was com­posed of a probate judge elected by the territorial legislature for a term of four years. The probate judge held unusual judicial powers: in addition to deciding matters regarding probates, he held original jurisdiction of civil and most criminal cases.5 The territorial legislature gave additional powers to the probate courts, frequently called county courts. The county court, which also included three county selectmen (or county commissioners), elected for terms of three years, served as the executive and legislative branches of county government-in short, to take care of the man­agement of all county business.6 The county court was to create school and road districts in the county and ensure the proper man­agement of them. Additional authority was given to the county courts and selectmen a year after the creation of Sevier County. The Sevier County Court was given the responsiblity for the proper dis­tribution and management of the county's natural resources. The county courts, the laws of the territory stated, shall have the control of all timber, water privileges on any watercourse or creek; to grant mill sites and excercise such powers as in their judgement shall best preserve the timber and subserve the interests of the settlements in the distribution of water for irrigation or other purposes.7 The Sevier County selectmen were also responsible for care and maintenace of "insane persons" and others incapable of conducting their own affairs. The county probate judges, selected by the territorial legislature, 100 HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY Looking north along main street in Richfield about 1875. (Utah State Historical Society) were generally bishops or men of high standing in the Mormon church, as were also the county selectmen.8 The county courts held unusual political and economic power in the county until 1896. William Morrison was selected by the Utah Territorial Legislature in 1865 to serve as the first probate judge in Sevier County. James Crawford, Peter Rasmussen, and James Mecham were elected the county's first selectmen. Morrison was involved in local promotional activities and land speculation in the Richfield area and he built the county's first gristmill in 1865. In 1856 the Sevier Valley was reportedly surveyed by U.S. gov­ernment surveyor Charles Mogo. The territorial legislature in 1866 designated Richfield the county seat of the newly created Sevier County. Richfield was first surveyed in 1872 by Edmund Fox. In 1873 the townsite of Richfield was officially established in the federal land office in Salt Lake City, and in 1874 settlers began to receive official title to their claimed property. In 1878 the territorial legislature incor­porated Richfield, after an earlier charter had been vetoed in 1876 by Governor George Emery. Elections were held in August 1878 and Franklin Spencer became the town's first mayor.9 SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1865-1896 101 By the early 1870s the Sevier River Valley, with its hub at Richfield, was on its way to becoming a major regional commercial center.10 During the 1870s and 1880s Elsinore with a population of 400, Joseph with about 300 people, Glenwood with 500, and Monroe with 600 inhabitants challenged Richfield as the county's leading population center.11 By 1890, however, the population of Richfield reached 1,531, surpassing all other communities in the county, Monroe being the closest with a population of 850.12 In 1885 the first city hall had been erected in Richfield at a cost of $750. Roads were gradually improved and created during the early years, and bridges also were constructed across the Sevier River, fur­ther improving communication between the county's settlements. A bridge was built across the Sevier River between Richfield and the Glenwood area in 1875; another was built in 1876 between Elsinore and Monroe. In July 1872 it was decided by LDS church and county leaders to extend the telegraph line south from Gunnison through Sevier County. loseph A. Young led the local telegraph movement. Each community in the county was given an allotment of telegraph poles to provide so the desired construction could begin. Richfield was called upon to provide 450 poles; Monroe, 240; Glenwood, 225; and Salina, 90. By December 1872 the telegraph line was completed as far south as Monroe.13 It is recorded that Monroe had a post office in 1872, and although information about other early post offices has not been found, it is to be assumed that Richfield and other towns of the area had official U.S. postal service at an early date. In the 1870s Peter Miller was the postmaster at Richfield.14 Other economic endeavors embraced by county residents during the second half of the nineteenth century included a tannery, a dairy, some mining, a sawmill, a quartz mill, a gristmill, and a textile mill. Jens Jensen built lime kilns in the vicinity of Richfield at an early date, and later, in the 1870s, there was even an attempt to create a silk industry as mulberry trees were planted and silkworms brought in at the behest of LDS church leaders. Although this experiment failed, it did at least lead to the growth of the mulberry trees in the county. As the LDS ward clerk at Richfield noted, "The Saints were encouraged to sustain mechanic shops and manufactures."15 George Robinson is believed to have established a gristmill at 102 HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY Richfield Creamery, located at 309 East 200 South, Richfield. Built in 1876 and operated by Archie M. Young. (Utah State Historical Society) Monroe in the early days of settlement, and Andrew Bartleson estab­lished a gristmill shortly after resettlement.1 6 Although they later became foes, Nelson Higgins a n d William Morrison were jointly operating a gristmill at Richfield by 1865. The whole community laid plans for a cooperative gristmill by 1871; it was completed two years later. Joseph Young established a sawmill on Cove M o u n t a i n in August 1872 which was moved three years later to Clear Creek Canyon. At Koosharem, grazing was originally the sole economic pursuit; but by 1879 the residents could proudly claim, "We have a co-opera­tive tannery, also a dairy and a co-operative saw mill is under erec­tion." At the Marysvale Ward, actually in Piute County, but then a part of the Sevier LDS Stake, a quartz mill was built in 1881 which brought in "quite an influx of miners and prospectors." Monroe had a gristmill by 1864, and "a new saw mill" commenced operation in 1871. A t a n n e r y was established for a brief p e r i o d of time at SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1865-1896 103 Glenwood by the local United Order in 1877. The cooperative store was built in 1878 as part of the United Order, and the building sur­vives to the present, one of the few Mormon cooperative buildings still remaining from the time of the great communtarian experiment. Also at Glenwood, a committee was appointed in 1879 to secure the purchase of a carding machine from John W. Young, another son of recently deceased church president Brigham Young. At Salina, steps toward light industrialization were taken in 1882 when the community built a flouring mill powered by the waters of Salina Creek. The following year, "a rude manufactory of salt" capable of an output of five hundred pounds of salt per day commenced business in the community.17 According to another history, E.W. Crane built a salt refinery in 1880, and these two operations could well be the same. Salina residents were among the participants of the famous Hole-in-the-Rock expedition sent by Mormon church lead­ers to colonize the southeastern portion of the territory in 1880.18 Freighting was undertaken in the early decades of settlement, including west to the Nevada mining towns. This was often danger­ous on account of the weather and road conditions as well as the out­laws that frequented the roads to the mining areas across the bleak and desolate stretches of western Utah. The enterprise, however, did provide a market for some county produce and brought cash to a cash-poor society. Saloons in the county served traveling freighters and miners as well as (no doubt) a few locals. The Deseret News on 26 November 1875 in its "News From Sevier County" section noted "the excellent harvest" the county had expe­rienced. Local farmers, apparently, felt strongly about the value of their agriculture products. "Parties there [in Sevier County] had been offering $1.10 a bushel for it [the local wheat]," the Deseret News reported, "but the people declined to sell at that price, preferring to hold it until they can get $1.25."19 Nature appeared to be on the side of the local agriculturalists in the summer of 1877. The Richfield Ward history of that time observed: "The crops are all a little backward, but are going finely, and it is the opinion of many that the prospects of a plentiful harvest were never seen to be as promising as they are now. Never before were so many rainfalls seen as in the last April and May."20 This entry, 104 HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY Inside the Richfield Bank. (Utah State Historical Society) penned by an unidentified LDS ward clerk, is very telling about life in Sevier County about a decade after its founding. Obviously the people were confident in their ability to survive and even prosper. But the entry indicates that they were still dependent upon nature to advance their material condition. The rather tentative words seem to indicate that times had not always looked so bright. The 1880s saw the residents of Sevier County busily engaged in various economic enterprises. At Glenwood, the year's harvest in 1882 was said to be "briskly in progress" with a "fair yield" of cereals being realized. Two years later, the people of Monroe were interested in building a reservoir and in planting trees. Tree planting was also carried on to "a considerable extent" at Salina in 1884. That same year, the Sevier Valley canal was "located and surveyed" from west of Richfield to the bench above Elsinore.21 Sigurd (from Norse mythol- SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1865-1896 105 ogy) was officially assigned by the post office as the name for Vermillion on 11 June 1887 because of the same name being used for a Kane County settlement. A report from Redmond in 1885 observed, "The crops as a rule throughout the valley look very well and give promise of an abun­dant harvest."22 The following year, local opinion held that "the poor­est land was taken first because it happened to be the most accessible to water, but now the people have grown strong enough to construct canals to irrigate the bench land . . . which is better adapted to till­ing." 23 A stake h i s t o r y compiled in 1888 b e m o a n e d the economic dependency a n d the somewhat underdeveloped character of the region: Markets for the produce of our county have been poor. The farm­ers hope for a good harvest, but to the stranger it looks very dirty. What is wanted here as elsewhere is manufactories. The country is overrun with sheep with no facilities to manufacture the wool into fabrics, though there are splendid water powers at some points in this valley.24 This was not really as much an outcry against sheep raising as it was a plea for economic expansion and integration; not really a manifes­tation of social discontent as much as a sign of economic discontent. Like others in a rapidly industrializing America, c o u n t y boosters wanted textile mills, not simply more herds of sheep. According to the Pacific Coast Directory for 1880-81 and its com­panion volume for 1883-84, Glenwood had nearly a dozen business owners and professional men including A. Shaw, groceries; O.H. Speed, physician; Joseph Wall, hotelier; A.T. Oldroyd, general mer­chandise; and T. Bell, carpenter and justice of the peace. In Monroe the businesses listed included N.J. Pates, musical i n s t r u m e n t s ; F. Lundquist, bootmaker; R. Sorenson, t i n s m i t h ; as well as t h i r t e en other businesses and professionals. The business d i r e c t o r y listed more than twenty-two businesses and professions in Richfield. In the hamlet of Inverury (Central), located six miles south of Richfield, six business and professional men were listed, i n c l u d i n g James W. Stewart and William Greenwood as railroad contractors. J.L. Butler was listed as a sheepraiser and woolgrower, and six other business- 106 HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY men were listed in loseph. In Burrville, N. Linvik and H.J. Olson were listed as bootmakers along with seven other businessmen. In Koosharem, Linvik and Olson also were listed as bootmakers along with about a half-dozen other businesses. Monroe, according to the business directories, had two liquor stores, the Anderton Brothers store and J.H. McCarthy's establishment. The directories listed in Monroe nearly a dozen businesses and professional men including E. Crane, saltmaker, and Fred G. Willes, druggist. There were two hotels in Monroe and, at one time, eight grocery stores.25 The first bank in the county was opened in Richfield in 1883 by James M. Peterson. Another business in Sevier County with roots in the late nine­teenth century was the Richfield Reaper, the local newspaper, which was founded in 1885 by Joe Thompson. Initially, Thompson bought a small printing press from H.P. Miller, who had ordered it from a Chicago mail-order house for the purpose of cataloguing his per­sonal books. Editor and publisher Thompson kept his new press in a building in the southern end of early Richfield. loe Thompson's pub­lishing career must not have proved too lucrative, however, for soon he was trying to add to his income by selling "drugs," some of which were said to be nothing more than doctored liquor. This second enterprise landed Thompson in trouble with the law. He was indicted for fraud, and in order to pay his fine he had to sell his press.26 County residents enjoyed dancing from earliest settlement times. Academy (or Farnsworth) Hall in Richfield was built by brothers Austin, Alonzo, and Albert Farnsworth and finished in 1873. It was celebrated with a dance on Christmas night. A local dramatic com­pany formed in 1876. Earlier there had been a ward chorus and the­atricals were performed in the old rock meetinghouse/schoolhouse in Richfield. In 1881 Hans Peter Hansen and Ed Thurber built what became known as the Opera House, originally a 30-by-70-foot build­ing that was enlarged over the years and hosted both local and tour­ing productions and dances.27 Hansen also organized a brass band in 1882, and other towns also featured dances and local musicians. Outdoor activities included sleigh riding in the winter and parades in the summer, especially on Pioneer Day (24 July) and (later) the Fourth of July. Baseball was popular for both participants and observers. Mormon ward teams from the county played each SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1865-1896 107 Looking east along main street in Si Society) Jtah State Historical other as early as the 1870s; later, organized teams were sponsored by the various communities.28 In earliest settlement times, medical service was rendered by those with the courage to attempt it. Midwives were important in all early communities and provided basic health care before the arrival of medical practitioners. George Ogilvie was Richfield's first doctor. Other early doctors-some with little or no formal training- included Elizabeth Burns Ramsay, Elias Blackburn, and Kennedy Neal. By the turn of the century, Richfield and other county towns were served by a number of qualified medical practitioners, nurses, and dentists. For example, Martin Hansen opened a dental office in Richfield in 1886.29 Light industries, although often largely oriented toward local consumption like Salina's flour mill and salt manufactory, were indi­cators along with the arrival of a regional railroad that Sevier County was moving beyond a simple grazing and farming economy. 108 HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY Agricultural diversification and a growing industrial presence were beginning to sweep the nation, Utah, and Sevier County. By the late 1880s the county was knocking at the door of the modern world.30 The Sevier LDS Stake was officially organized with Joseph A. Young as stake president on 24 May 1874. During its years practicing the United Order, the Richfield Order owned a gristmill shingle mill, some 200 head of horses, 800 cattle, and 1,700 sheep. LDS wards were organized in most of the county's communities through the years, the larger towns eventually being served by more than one LDS ward. Meetinghouses, which often doubled as schoolhouses and civic social halls in the early years, were constructed in all LDS wards. In 1888, the Mormons of Sevier County began construction of what became the county's most imposing structure, the Sevier LDS Stake Tabernacle, located on Main Street in Richfield. As the Richfield Reaper boasted following the edifice's completion, "There is no finer church building in central Utah than the Richfield tabernacle."31 The tabernacle was for Sevier County Mormons what the Salt Lake LDS Temple became for the entire LDS church in the 1890s.32 The Sevier Stake Tabernacle became a visual sign of the dominant religion-an outward reflection of the people's inner devotion. While living in the United Order had represented the spiritual resolve and economic commitment of local Mormons, the tabernacle emerged as the manifest symbol of the importance of the church in the county. In what evolved into the traditional LDS way of accomplishing things, a building committee comprised of W.H. Clark, Simon Christensen, Paul Poulsen, I.K. Wright, and E.P. Bean was constituted in the spring of 1888. Its charge was to formulate plans to raise the building. The original design of the structure was the work of Niels Skowgaard. Work on the tabernacle was intermittent at best. The Richfield Reaper somewhat disparagingly observed, "The work progressed fairly well at intervals until 1893 when it began to drag."33 In 1896 W.H. Clark was succeeded as chairman of the building committee by Theodore Bradley. Bradley and the committee tried in vain to insti­tute several "donation schedules"; however, the area residents were generally so impoverished that this brought little needed financial support. It was finally decided "to make the matter one of straight SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1865-1896 109 practice"34 (possibly a direct monetary or labor assessment of each church member rather than a system dependent upon voluntary donations). This new strategy was put into action in early 1898, ten years after construction began. The work was nearly pushed to completion by that fall. Then, as so often was the case for the Latter-day Saints of Sevier County, tragedy struck. On the evening of 14 October 1898 the nearly completed structure caught fire. Much damage resulted. But the resiliency developed by life in an austere environment and the deep religious commitment of the county's people prevailed. "Without waiting any length of time," according to a church account, these faithful people "resumed [work] and the building was again completed eight months after the fire." The Sevier Stake Tabernacle was "appropriately dedicated" on 16 July 1899.35 Unfortunately, it was condemned as unsafe in 1914, necessitating the building of yet another tabernacle, which was completed in 1930.36 Contemporary with the tabernacle was the second Sevier County Courthouse. The first county courthouse had been erected in Richfield during 1876-77, just six years after the resettlement of the county. Then, in 1890, county officials, led by commissioners A.W. Buchanan, James L. Jensen, and A.D. Thurber, decided to construct a new courthouse. The Sevier County voters of the time were not all convinced that such a building was needed, however. Perhaps the fact that the tabernacle construction was still in progress deterred some residents. The ensuing bond election to secure financing for the new public structure brought enough votes to carry the measure, 321 (59 percent) voters favoring the proposed courthouse to 223 (41 percent) opposed. It was approval, yes, but not an overwhelming mandate. The second county courthouse, a two-story building constructed primarily of brick, featured a tall central tower bounded by smaller corner towers. Combining an eclectic blend of classical motifs with the familiar American courthouse architectural style, this Sevier County Courthouse was quite typical of civic buildings of the 1890s. It was begun in 1892 and completed in July 1893 and featured a separate jail.37 The courts of Sevier County before statehood had limited power. That is to say, the penalties that the county's courts were empowered 110 HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY to impose for crimes were fixed or established by other authorities. When Utah was admitted as a state in 1896, the county's trial court functioned at only one level. The county's population was not yet great enough to warrant other court levels and jurisdictions. Only courts in the more metropolitan areas, such as Salt Lake City, Ogden, or Provo, were initially granted powers to try criminal cases.38 Nearly eighty years later, in the 1970s, the state legislature created the circuit court system in Utah. Circuit courts replaced the earlier city courts in less populated areas of the state. The three areas cov­ered by the newly created circuit courts were headquartered in Spanish Fork, Vernal, and Richfield. Under Utah law, the circuit court does not adjudicate marital disputes (divorces), child custody cases, or property matters. Such rulings fall under the purview of probate courts.39 Before the creation of Utah's circuit courts, the most powerful judges serving Sevier County were those in probate courts. The county's probate judges between 1865 and 1896 were William Morrison (appointed in 1865), George W Bean (1874), W.G. Baker (1878), Andrew Hepler (1883), J.B. Kenney (1888) and W W Wallace (1894).40 A probate judgeship was a desirable appointment. It might have been used as a political reward or for proven service to the com­munity. In 1874 Congress passed the Poland Act, which severely restricted the power and authority in civil and criminal matters of county probate judges. The Utah state constitution abolished the office in 1896. That same year county commissions replaced county selectmen as the executive and legislative heads of county govern­ment. The county commission functions were also changed. No longer directly involved with the management and distribution of natural resources in the county or to serve as a court, the commis­sions' responsibilities were expanded in the areas of road mainte­nance, education, health care, and the care of the poor. Education is a primary function of government and was a con­cern of county residents from earliest settlement times. Schools were generally established and schoolhouses built in area towns at an early date, generally within a year of the town's founding; however, the quality of education was often less than could have been hoped for, especially considering the lack of facilities and funds. County resi- SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1865-1896 111 Richfield Schoolhouse. (Utah State Historical Society) dents did endeavor to provide schooling as they were best able to do so.The first school in Richfield was held in the home of Betsy Gardiner in 1864; forty pupils were enrolled. A rock schoolhouse was built the next year; Hans Peter Miller was the first teacher at this school. Sevier County officers selected school trustees on 6 March 1865, and after resettlement educational activities resumed in all the towns of the county. In 1876 Richfield residents applied to the Sevier County Court for the establishment of a school district. Their peti­tion was granted.41 Until statehood, free universal public education was unknown, and in rural counties like Sevier much of the organized education was provided by local LDS church organizations. For example, the Sevier Stake established an academy for older students in 1887 that operated for a few years in the county. Other Christian denomina­tions increasingly saw education as a means to establish a foothold in Mormon-dominated Utah. Quality schools were opened throughout the state by Protestant denominations beginning in the 1870s in an attempt to attract students and their parents by means of the improved educational opportunities they offered. In Sevier County, along with growth came perceived threats to 112 HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY Richfield Presbyterian Church. (Utah State Historical Society) area Mormons from the non-Mormon world, and the late nineteenth century also witnessed the coming of Protestant missionaries and churches into the county. Seeking to save Mormon souls, Presbyterians and Methodists l a u n c h e d missions and schools in Utah. In Sevier County, unfortunately, early records are somewhat incomplete or at variance in their dates regarding the establishment of other religious denominations. The basic facts remain, however. SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1865-1896 113 Monroe Presbyterian Church. (Utah State Historical Society) Under the direction of Dr. D.J. McMillan, Presbyterians founded mis­sion schools, including a grade school at Richfield in 1880 (some sources say 1877), with Miss J.A. Olmstead as the teacher, which also served as a mission station.42 Primary schools were also established in Monroe (1877), with Phoebe Wheeler as instructor, and in Salina (1884). A Presbyterian church was built and dedicated in Richfield in 1889-90 with Reverend P.D. Stoops as the first minister. It was pre­ceded by a church in Monroe in 1884. The Richfield Presbyterian school closed in 1908, the Salina school in 1918, and the school in Monroe in 1929.43 The establishment of a school in Salina was fol­lowed by the construction of a small chapel built with funds from a Mrs. Crosby of New York City in memory of her daughter.44 In rural Utah the missionary ministers often were circuit riders 114 HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY - ililrf _ * : "" - . | ~* ILL - - B - 1 J - H - Richfield Methodist-Episcopal Church, 1886 (Utah State Historical Society). (itinerant preachers). Locally, the Reverend D.J. McMillan oversaw large geographic districts during the 1880s. Reverend McMillan, whose home station was Richfield, usually preached in that town on Sunday, then traveled his circuit, which took him to Gunnison on Monday, back to Richfield on Wednesday, and then to Monroe and to Marysvale later in the week. In Monroe, McMillan held Sunday services in the school built in 1877. For all of this effort, however, there is no evidence of any conversions of Sevier County Mormons to the Presbyterian church.45 The Methodists were also active in the county. One source reported a Methodist Episcopal church organized in Richfield in 1884 by Rev. Martin Anderson, preceded by a Methodist mission estab­lished in Salina in 1864. A Methodist church congregation was estab­lished in Richfield in 1886 among area Scandinavians and included many area miners. Reverend Emil Mork was the first pastor.46 Grade schools were established at Richfield (1886) and at Monroe (1890), hoping to persuade young Mormons to embrace Methodism. A church was built at Monroe. A primary Methodist focus was upon the Scandinavian Latter-day Saints. A Scandinavian mission was established in Utah which operated fourteen churches and at least SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1865-1896 115 thirteen grade schools. The ministry had a Norwegian conference and a Danish conference. Sunday services were conducted in both English and appropriate Scandinavian tongues, and a Scandinavian-oriented periodical, Utah Tidende, was published, starting in 1890. Along with a proselyting focus upon Scandinavians, the Methodists also vigorously attacked Mormon polygamy.47 After the establishment of free public schools with Utah statehood in 1896, mission schools declined. Methodists in Sevier County discontinued organizational worship after the turn of the century, area Methodists joining with local Presbyterians for worship at that time. Evangelical Protestants were not all that Sevier County's Mormon residents had to be concerned with during the 1880s and 1890s-their religion during these very decades was locked in an intense struggle with the federal government over the practice of plural marriage, better known as polygamy. While the available evi­dence is too incomplete to determine the extent of polygamy within the county, there is enough information to give some idea of the practice of plural marriage within Sevier County during the late nineteenth century. The story of polygamy in Sevier County has never been as com­pletely told as it has been for some other Utah counties-Davis and Washington, for example.48 Given the secrecy surrounding the prac­tice during the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s due to the fear of prosecution under several federal anti-polygamy laws, the full story may never be known. While the extent of plural marriage in Sevier County is diffi­cult to determine, there are some limited extant records. At a Sevier Stake general priesthood meeting held in February 1879 there was "considerable discussion of plural marriage." The sec­ond counselor in the stake presidency, later to become stake presi­dent, William H. Seegmiller, commented on "the nature and design of the institution of plural marriage." He characterized the recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the George Reynolds case as being tantamount to a "Declaration of War against the Kingdom of God." Seegmiller further charged that the "elders would come under the censure of the Almighty God for not sufficiently honoring the Ordinance."49 The trials endured by the Latter-day Saint practitioners of plural 116 HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY marriage were great. Let us look at four practitioners of the principle from Sevier County to help understand the impact plural marriage had u p o n life there. Gottlieb Ence, a Swiss i m m i g r a n t living at Richfield whose views were n o t e d in regard to the United Order, wrote of his wife's struggle with plural marriage: My dear Wife Elisabeth being a good Latter Day Saint wished to obey all the Principles the Lord has revealed unto man in order to obtain a place in his Celestial Kingdom, she was willing to sacrifice her own feellings in order to be able to inherit a place in his Celestial Kingdom. She then consented an let me have her sister Caroline for my second wife, this she don[e] in full faith that it was a commandment of God, and she would be rewarded for doing so.50 Some years later, Ence happily noted, "My two wifes, Elizabeth and Caroline have lived together with their families for mainy years in peace & love as one united Familie." Unfortunately, life was not always so serene for Gottlieb Ence. He, like other polygamists, lived with the fear of arrest for unlawful cohabitation. As Ence noted in his autobiography, By the interpretation of the law by the Courts or judges, . . . it was not alowd for two Women as Wifes could live to gether in one haus [house]. If so a Man would surly be convicted for Cohabitation or adultery, so they [his two wives] supperated an each lived in thier [sic] own home since 1885, in order to comply that much with the law.51 Even after Elizabeth and Caroline were living in separate residences, Gottlieb Ence feared the coming of the marshals to spy on suspected polygamists. " D u r i n g the Winter [of] 1886 8c 87," n o t e d a worried Ence, " t h e Deputies would call a r o u n d p r e t t y often." Probably in order to avoid arrest, Gottlieb Ence decided to go "on the under­ground," a Mormon phrase signifying hiding to evade apprehension. In late January 1887 Ence in company with his son Alma and a few other men made a t r a d i n g t r i p to Silver Reef, a m i n i n g town located in Washington County. While the stated purpose of the jour­ney was to sell grain and flour to the miners, it appears likely that at least Ence, if not some of the others, was seeking to disappear for a SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1865-1896 117 Elsinore Livery Stable owned by Henry C. Larsen. (Utah State Historical Society) time. "After selling out," he wrote, "the others return [ed] home." But Ence chose to go on to visit his brother at Santa Clara, "whom I had not seen for mainy years." That he was really on the underground in southern Utah becomes clear when Ence writes, "I stayed with them about one month as things look a littel more favorable [than] around home in regards to deputies." Gottlieb Ence finally returned to "my dear home" sometime later when he felt it safe to do so.52 The memoirs of Hans Christensen of Richfield, written in 1890 while he was incarcerated at the Utah Territorial Penitentiary at Sugar House near Salt Lake City on charges of illegal cohabitation, provide an additional record of plural marriage in Sevier County: "I had maried another wife [Johanne Catherine Jensen] two years before [in 1877], and rented a place for her to live, untill the year after [1879] when I bought a House and Lot in the outskirt of town, for her to occupy." Christensen knew he was facing the "prospects of being sent to this place [prison]" for polygamy.53 Albert King Thurber, a native of Rhode Island, converted to Mormonism while on his way to the California gold fields in 1849. Following his return to Utah, Thurber married Thirsa Malvina Berry, 118 HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY daughter of John W Berry, with whom he had traveled on his return trip. They wed in February 1851.54 About thirteen years later, around 1873 or 1874, after moving to Sevier County, Thurber took Agnes Brockbank as a plural wife. Between his two wives, Thurber fathered fourteen children, at least four of whom were born at Richfield.55 Another area resident, Joseph Smith Home, married Lydia Ann Weiler in Salt Lake City's Endowment House on 7 November 1868. Just weeks before this wedding, Home, described by Brigham Young as "a good, faithful, energetic man," had been called to serve as the bishop of the Gunnison Ward. Lydia, although friends and relatives viewed it as "somewhat of a trial for her," was willing to go with him to Gunnison.56 Ten years later, just days after Lydia had died, Home was called as bishop of the Richfield Second Ward. He arrived in Richfield in December 1878, a widower with three small children. Caroline Ence, one of Gottfried's wives, was Home's housekeeper that winter. In the end of February 1879, Caroline Ence returned to her home and Maria Snow, the estranged wife of Warren Snow of Manti, along with her children came to live with the motherless family. Joseph Home described her as "a woman of experience [who] can do well for the children." According to Home, Maria and Warren Snow "had not associated as husband and wife for several years." In the summer of 1879 Maria Snow, who had been a plural wife for over twenty years, obtained a divorce and assumed her maiden name of Baum. In October 1879 Joseph Home asked Maria Baum to marry him. "She hesitated a little," Home wrote, "wondering what her children and friends would think, but finally consented." They were married in the St. George LDS Temple on 5 December 1879.57 Home's story concerns aspects of plural marriage in nineteenth-century Utah (note that Mrs. Snow had already been a plural wife before getting a divorce). It also addresses the issue of rearing small children without a mate. Home remarried fairly quickly after his wife's death (about one year). By comparison, one of Home's con­temporaries, Henry W Bigler, another widower with children who served as an ordinance worker at the St. George LDS Temple, lost his wife of many years in the mid-1870s and then waited three years before remarrying.58 SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1865-1896 119 At almost the same time as his marriage to Maria, Joseph Home was already looking for a plural wife: I had paid some attention to Martha Maria Morrison, daugh­ter of William Morrison, and Anne Maria Hansen; and while I was in S.L. City, in the legislature, she came to the city and we were married in the Endowment House Feb. 14, 1880 by los. F. Smith.59 The bridegroom made no mention about his wife's thoughts on this union. While he and his three children returned home after the leg­islative session (Maria was not mentioned), Martha Morrison "went to Mt. Pleasant to visit friends and relatives." Perhaps tellingly, it was not until two months later that Martha actually joined the Home household. Joseph S. Home's plural marriages once again illustrate the legal risks faced by polygamists. In 1880 a federal judge, believing "we must break this thing up," sentenced Home to one and a half years in prison. "What consistency! How noble!" Joseph S. Home sarcasti­cally wrote in his autobiography. "In one breath [the judge] acknowledge[s] a woman as my wife, asks when I married her, and in the same breath sentences me for committing adultery with her, she not being my wife!" It would seem safe to say that Sevier County's other polygamists must have felt trepidation about their own situations. In Utah Territory, particularly Salt Lake and Weber counties, the coming of the railroad and the influx of non-Mormons it brought had a marked impact upon local politics. Following their mid-nine­teenth- century move west, the Latter-day Saints attempted to shape, in one historian's view, "a community which conjoined church and state, politics, the economy, and society into one whole."60 In Sevier County, isolation allowed the luxury of continuing local Mormon control. Social and economic change was most evident in the attempts at diversification of the county's economy from almost solely agricultural pursuits to manufacturing, such as Monroe's grist­mill or Salina'a salt manufactory. The value-in fact, the necessity-of such diversification became clear to many in Sevier County when, in the summer of 1887, the county faced a brutal drought. During a July meeting of leaders of 120 HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY - „ A funeral procession for James M. Peterson makes its way along Richfield's main street 11 April 1899. (Utah State Historical Society) the LDS Sevier Stake, George W. Bean, first counselor in the stake presidency, spoke of the "scarcity of water that exists at the present time." At the same gathering, G.A. Murdock told those in attendance that "we received water through the blessings of the Lord . . . and the Lord may dry the water away from us."61 In the midst of this crisis, some long-term residents of the county were apparently contemplating legal action against newcomers to ensure that they continued to receive their share of the available water. Simon Christensen denounced the very idea of "going to the law with the people of this valley on the water question." Instead, William H. Clark, a stake leader, suggested that the different irrigating companies be organized into one company so that "water may be dis­tributed satisfactorily."62 While this hardship did not break the will of the pioneers of the Sevier Valley, two decades later the problem of access to available water proved very divisive. The water controversy continued unresolved into the next year. In the spring of 1890 Stake President William H. Seegmiller twice addressed the problem which the water issue was causing for the people of the Sevier Valley. At an April stake priesthood meeting SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1865-1896 121 Bro. Seegmiller spoke with considerable force in relation to the pending water suits; [he] said that we had departed from the orig­inal object in settling ourwater difficulties. [Seegmiller] said it is all wrong for us to spend our money foolishly and that we ought to settle our water troubles peaceably and amicably in place of feeding shyster lawyers.63 The following month, at the Sevier Stake's quarterly conference, the stake president, whose counsel in April must have been ignored by at least some parties, charged that there were "influences at work in the stake tending to cause disunion and distrust." Apostle John Henry Smith, visiting the conference, remarked, "in reference to our disputes," that "we should as far as practicable settle these matters among ourselves by church courts or arbitration and keep out of civil courts." Then Smith offered the Mormons of Sevier County some very practical suggestions: build more reservoir sites; store the water which goes to waste at certain times of the year; use the water wisely; and plant fruit trees to assist in conservation.64 Do not "let the opportunities of storing water pass us," cautioned Apostle Anthon Lund to the conference attendees, "but secure them while we have an opportunity lest we have to pay tribute to others and to a certain extent come under the yoke of bondage." The words of the LDS general authorities must have been heard, for three months later William H. Clark reported that the "reservoirs move­ment" had proven "very favorable." By November he reported that "the adjudication of our water rights up and down the Sevier River and its tributaries [had] a fair prospect of having this matter settled without much trouble or expense and with good feelings."65 All across Sevier County, as in Utah Territory, modernization and economic diversification was occurring by 1890. As the county's people struggled to adapt to and succeed in a rapidly modernizing world, they sought to avoid the caprices of the ever-expanding mar­ketplace. A major sign of impending modernity was still to come. Inexpensive and reliable routes of transportation serving rural western areas were critical to their economic expansion. When the Denver and Rio Grande Western (D&RGW) railroad steamed into Salt Lake City in the early 1880s it signaled the end of the Union Pacific's monopoly over Utah's rail traffic. This competitor from 122 HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY Colorado was able to accomplish what Mormon entrepreneurs had tried in vain to do for over two decades.66 Freight rates to and from Utah dropped. Not only did the capital city of Utah benefit from the entrance of the D&RGW, so too did Sevier County. In 1888 the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce praised the new road for its shipping policies, which the chamber described as "conducive to the development of Utah Territory."67 Without a doubt, t h e people of Sevier County welcomed the Denver & Rio Grande Western with open arms. By the late 1880s it was almost essential for a community's future for it to have a rail link to the outside world. In 1891 the Denver 8c Rio Grande Western Railroad began serv­ing the northern Sevier Valley. That year a great step forward in the progress of the county was made when the railroad reached Salina.68 Five years later, the line extended to Richfield, and in early lune 1896 t h e first passenger t r a i n arrived at t h e county seat. Eliza Shelton Keeler, a local woman, excitedly recorded that event: Now we have a railroad in Richfield, the depot is one block south of our house. It is making times pretty lively around here; this is something new but we are glad to have it. lune 2nd was a great day in Richfield, the first passenger cars came in at fifteen minutes of four p. m. with 1,500 passengers aboard, from Salt Lake City and all the way along. A great many from the surrounding settlements were here to witness the great event.69 This event created a holiday mood in Richfield and throughout Sevier County. The railway seemed to offer something to please everyone. Sevier LDS Stake records, reflecting a more restrained view than that of Mrs. Keeler, proudly noted in 1897 at least one accom­plishment of the new line: "The railroad has furnished . . . one of the finest stockyards and chutes for loading sheep and cattle on the cars, that is to be found in the state."70 The r a i l r o a d u n d o u b t e d l y s p u r r e d economic growth in the county, especially in the livestock industry. According to the report of the Utah State Board of Equalization for 1896, more than 110,000 head of sheep were assessed (taxed) in the county, ranking Sevier C o u n t y f o u r t h b e h i n d Sanpete C o u n t y (332,728 sheep), Tooele County (202,890 sheep), and Millard County (152,378 sheep). In that SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1865-1896 123 same year, Sevier County ranked ninth in the number of cattle assessed, with 8,776 head. San Juan County ranked first in the state, with 14,078 head. This economic diversification and reaching out to embrace the outside world was not achieved without a social cost for the people of Sevier County, however. Just as LDS church members had been warned by church president Brigham Young during the California gold rush of the late 1840s and 1850s about the potential evils of worldly riches, members of the Sevier LDS Stake were counselled by their leaders four decades later to put aside thoughts of worldly riches and concentrate on building up the kingdom of God. The Sevier LDS Stake presidency warned church members in 1883, "We should not go to the mines and work for our enemies and build them"; rather, the Saints were advised to "stay at home and help to build temples."71 The concerns of LDS church leaders and parents regarding the evil influences of the gentile (non-Mormon) world upon their youth was very similar in the 1890s to those voiced years earlier.72 Apparently, local youth wishing to escape what they likely saw as the confining nature of rural America wanted to leave home and find work in larger cities. In 1891 Sevier Stake President William H. Seegmiller cautioned the parents of the stake "against letting [out] their girls to Provo, Salt Lake and Ogden cities to work at hotels, etc."73 Three months later, the youth of the stake were exhorted "to stay at home with their fathers and mothers instead of going abroad to the world, railroad camps, etc. to get work as their [sic] was danger in boys and girls going to ruin if associated with evil society."74 For Sevier County's Mormons, whether young or old, being in the mod­ern world but not of it was becoming more and more of a challenge. During the closing years of the nineteenth century and the dawn­ing of the twentieth, in order to reach accord with the federal gov­ernment and achieve statehood for Utah, Mormon church presidents Wilford Woodruff and Lorenzo Snow promoted the development of two-party politics in Utah. Importantly, the two aging presidents appear to have "supported the establishment of a strong Republican Party."75 This was somewhat surprising in light of the fact that Mormons had long considered the Republicans to be the party of their oppressors, for they were the national party holding power dur- 124 HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY The cast for a locally produced play in Richfield. (Utah State Historical Society) ing much of the later nineteenth century. However, the politics of Utah's drive for statehood dictated support of a two-party political system by Mormon voters. By the late 1890s some Mormon church leaders were consistently voicing support for national Republican politicians, and in state races some Mormon leaders backed the can­didacy of Republican, and Catholic, Thomas Kearns in his successful bid for the U.S. Senate.76 This political reorientation also affected Sevier County. The off-year elections of 1894 show that many Utahns were ready to back Republican candidates. The Republican congressional candi­date, George Q. Cannon, defeated his Democratic opponent by almost 2,000 votes statewide (in Sevier County, 672 votes to 516 votes).77 The following year, 1895, when delegates were chosen for the state constitutional convention, there were fifty-eight Republicans (including three from Sevier County: Theodore Bradley of Rich­field, George F. Miller of Monroe, and Joel Ricks of Salina) and only forty-nine Democrats selected.78 It would seem that Utahns were get­ting more comfortable with Republicans. Utah's desire for admission to the Union was answered at last in 1895. The reasons for sue- SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1865-1896 125 An early Independence Day Celebration in Richfield. (Utah State Historical Society) cess included the growing national belief in the sincerity of the Woodruff Manifesto issued in 1890 encouraging Mormons to obey the national laws regarding plural marriage. Utah's increasing inte­gration into the national mainstream helped make statehood possible at last. On 4 January 1896 President Grover Cleveland issued the procla­mation admitting Utah as the forty-fifth state. Locally, the Sevier LDS Stake president delivered the long-awaited news announcing that he had received a telegram informing him of President Cleveland's actions.79 Two days later, Utah's first state officials were inaugurated in the Salt Lake LDS Tabernacle. Throughout the new state it was a day of celebration. Despite the joy felt as a result of statehood, Utahns were experi­encing some troubles. The financial depression which had struck the nation with the Panic of 1893 continued and economic dissatisfac­tion was mounting. Many Utahns, including those of Sevier County, 126 HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY bolted from their new friends, the Republicans, opting instead to sup­p o r t Democrat/Populist presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan. In this instance, local concerns were paramount. In the 1896 presidential race, the majority of voters in Utah and in Sevier County cast their ballots in favor of Bryan, whose policies, including support of silver as a treasury base (popular in the silver-mining West), were looked u p o n with favor by most Utahns. The Democrat/Populist more closely represented local concerns than did the Republican can­didate, William McKinley. Bryan carried the state of Utah, including agrarian Sevier County, which voted for h im overwhelmingly. The nation, however, chose Bryan's opponent, McKinley, as the new pres­ident to lead t h em into the new century. Sevier County was growing rapidly as the new century approached. In 1890, the county recorded 6,199 inhabitants, and by the t u r n of the century there were 8,451 residents of Sevier County- almost double the 4,457 count of the 1880 census just twenty years before. Ground was broken for a major area reservoir in 1897, and, with a bustling county seat, a railroad connection with the world, statehood status, a n d a n u m b e r of thriving smaller communities, Sevier County residents looked forward to the twentieth century. ENDNOTES 1. Miriam B. Murphy, "Utah's Counties," Beehive History 14 (1988): 2. 2. Acts, Resolutions and Memorials of the Utah Territorial Legislature, 1865, 16, Utah State Historical Society. 3. lames B. Allen, "The Evolution of County Boundaries in Utah," Utah Historical Quarterly 23 (1955): 261-78. 4. Laws, Memorials, and Resolutions of the Utah Territorial Legislature, 1890, 13-14, Utah State Historical Society. 5. For further information on probate courts see lames B. Allen, "The Unusual Jurisidiction of County Probate Courts in the Territory of Utah," Utah Historical Quarterly 36 (Spring 1966): 132-42. 6. Acts, Resolutions and Memorials . . . of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, 1855, 126, Utah State Historical Society. 7. Acfs, Resolutions and Memorials . . . of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, from 1851 to 1870 Inclusive, 1870, 206. 8. Allen, "The Unusual Jurisdiction of County Probate Courts," 134. SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1865-1896 127 9. Pearl F. lacobson, compiler and editor, et al., Golden Sheaves from a Rich Field: A Centennial History of Richfield, Utah (Richfield, Utah: Richfield Reaper Publishing Company, 1964), 123-27. 10. Murphy, "Utah's Counties," 24. 11. Glenwood, Monroe, and Salina surpassed Richfield in the number of commercial establishments listed in the 1883-84 Utah Directory pub­lished by I.C. Graham. 12. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Census Office), 477. 13. Irvin L. Warnock, compiler and editor, Thru the Years: Sevier County Centennial History (Springville, Utah: Art City Publishing Co., 1947), 40. 14. lacobson, Golden Sheaves, 225. 15. Richfield Ward Manuscript History, 23 May 1880. See also Richfield Ward Manuscript History, 1865-1873, 1879; Koosharem Ward Manuscript History, 1876; Marysvale Ward Manuscript History, 1879, 1881; Monroe Ward, 1871, 1878; all LDS Archives. 16. Wilford Murdock and Mildred Murdock, Monroe, Utah: Its First One Hundred Years (Monroe: Monroe Centennial Committee, 1964), 26. 17. Richfield Ward Manuscript History, ca. 1865, 1871, 1873; Koosharem Ward Manuscript History, ca. 1879; Glenwood Manuscript History, 22 February and 3 May 1879; Salina Ward Manuscript History, ca. 1882 and 1883. 18. Warnock, Thru the Years, 385, 392. 19. Deseret News, 26 November 1875. 20. Sevier Stake, Richfield Ward Manuscript History, 10 lune 1875, LDS Archives. 21. Deseret News, 21 August 1882. 22. Redmond Ward Manuscript History, 17 June 1885, LDS Archives. 23. Ibid., 1886. 24. Ibid., 28 May 1888. 25. Pacific Coast Directory for 1880-1881 (San Francisco: L.M. McKenney & Co., 1881); Pacific Coast Directory for 1883-1884 (San Francisco: L.M. McKenney & Co., 1884); Murdock and Murdock, Monroe, 53. 26. Coquette Ross, "The Richfield Reaper,'" Richfield High School Honors English paper, 17 lanuary 1988, Utah State Historical Society. 27. lacobson, Golden Sheaves, 76-87. 28. Ibid., 75, 81. 128 HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY 29. Ibid., 40, 116. 30. On this transition in Utah see Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958), 223-25. 31. Richfield Reaper, 6 March 1902, 1. 32. Regarding the contemporary significance of the Salt Lake LDS Temple, both within and outside of Utah see M. Guy Bishop and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, "The 'St. Peter's of the New World': The Salt Lake Temple, Tourism, and a New Image for Utah," Utah Historical Quarterly 64 (Spring 1993): 136-49. 33. Quoted in "The Sevier Stake Tabernacle," 1. 34.Ibid. 35. Ibid. In 1914 the tabernacle was condemned because of earthquake damage and in 1918 was razed. 36. lacobson, Golden Sheaves, 64. 37. Sevier County Historic Sites File, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City. 38. Aimee Mower, "The Court System in Sevier County," 2, Richfield High School Honors English paper, 25 April 1988, copy at Richfield City Library, Richfield, Utah. 39. Ibid., 3. 40. Ibid., 5. 41. Warnock, Thru the Years, 45; lacobson, Golden Sheaves, 148. 42. Thomas Edgar Lyon, "Evangelical Protestant Missionary Activities in Mormon Dominated Areas: 1865-1900," (Ph.D. diss., University of Utah, 1962), 91. See also lacobson, 69-70. 43. Carl Wankier, "History of Presbyterian Schools in Utah" (M.S. the­sis, University of Utah, 1968), 40. See also Warnock, Thru the Years, 55. 44. Wankier, "History of Presbyterian Schools in Utah," 30. 45. Lyon, "Evangelical Protestant Missionary Activities," 99. 46. Warnock, Thru the Years, 56, 321; lacobson, Golden Sheaves, 72. 47. Lyon, "Evangelical Protestant Missionary Activities," 156. 48. See Lowell Bennion, "The Incidence of Polygamy in 1880: 'Dixie' versus Davis Stake," Journal of Mormon History 11 (1984): 27-42. 49. Sevier Stake Historical Record & Minutes, 1 February 1879, Reel 1, LDS Archives. For background on the Reynolds case see Dean L. May, Utah: A People's History (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1987), 126. 50. Gottlieb Ence, Autobiography, typescript, 39, Utah State Historical Society. SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1865-1896 129 51. Ibid., 64. 52. Ibid., 64. On the Mormon underground see Richard S. Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A History, 2nd ed. (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989), 108-17. 53. Hans Christensen, Memoirs, Utah State Historical Society. 54. Albert King Thurber, "A Brief Biographical Sketch of Albert King Thurber," 1, Utah State Historical Society. 55. Albert King Thurber, Genealogical Record, Utah State Historical Society. 56. loseph Smith Home, Autobiography, 28, Utah State Historical Society. 57. Ibid., 53. 58. Erwin G. Gudde, Bigler's Chronicle of the West (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962), 134. 59. Home, Autobiography, 53. 60. Thomas G. Alexander, Mormonism in Transition: A History of the Latter-day Saints, 1890-1930 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986), 3-4. 61. Water Records Index, Part III, 6 luly 1889, LDS Archives. 62. Water Records Index, 5 August 1889. 63. Sevier Stake Minute Books, 10 April 1890. 64. Ibid., 22 May 1890. 65. Ibid., 22 May 1890, 4 November 1890. 66. See Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, 348; and M. Guy Bishop, "More Than One Coal Road to Zion: The Utah Territory's Efforts to Ease Dependency on Wyoming Coal," Annals of Wyoming 60 (Spring 1988): 8-16. 67. [Chamber of Commerce], Salt Lake City (Chicago: Rand McNally 8c Company, 1888), 68-69. For a contrary, pro-Union Pacific opinion see H.W.B. Kantner, A Handbook on Mines, Miners, and Minerals of Utah (Salt Lake City: R. W. Sloan, 1896), which argued, "There has been no greater factor in the development of the manifold mineral resources [of Utah] than the Union Pacific Railroad" (1). 68. Warnock, Thru the Years, 50. 69. Kate B. Carter, comp., Our Pioneer Heritage (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1962) 5: 303. 70. Sevier Stake Manuscript History, 12 November 1897, LDS Archives. 71. Sevier Stake Minute Books, 7 January 1883, Reel 2, LDS Archives. 72. See M. Guy Bishop, "Preparing to 'Take the Kingdom': Child- 130 HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY rearing Directives in Early Mormonism," Journal of the Early Republic 7 (Fall 1987): 288. 73. Sevier Stake Minute Books, 26 May 1891, Reel 2. 74. Ibid., 23 August 1891. 75. Charles S. Peterson, Utah, A History (New York: W. W. Norton and Company and American Association for State and Local History, 1977), 162. 76. Ibid., 163. 77. Wayne D. Stout, History of Utah, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City: Wayne D. Stout, 1970), 1:482-83. 78. Ibid., 1:491-94. 79. Memories of Sevier Stake Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: Diamond Jubilee Memorial Volume 1874-1949, compiled and edited by President and Mrs. Irvin L. Warnock (Springville, UT: Art City Publishing Co., 1949), 29.