contentment find repose. At fillmore city which is situated in a large
valley on a bold rushing mountain stream, known by the beautiful
Indian name of Nu-quin. We sent out a small party under the direction
of Col. Carrington to explore for lead, some indication of which had
been reported, and morover being an article very much needed.7 He
5. On Y
oung’s tour of the southern settlements, see Kenney, Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, April 23–May 11, 4:136–139.
6. Young expressed similar sentiments in a letter to the Latter-day Saints in Fillmore. “Treat them in all respects as you would like to be treated,” he wrote, for they were “descendants of Abraham who wander in ignorance and darkness.” He implored the Fillmore Saints to
“learn their language so [they] can explain matters to them.” Young to Fillmore Saints, May 25, 1852, BYOF.
7. In April 1852, Albert Carrington was appointed to be a topographical engineer in the Nauvoo Legion, the territorial militia. Carrington had previously been involved in lead mining in Wisconsin and had also played an important role in the Howard Stansbury survey of the Great Salt Lake in 1849–1850. See General Orders No. 1, April 12, 1852, Nauvoo
Young to Kane, May 29, 1852
135
proceeded in a North westerly direction skirting the mountain ranges
on his right thro’ the passes, of which we had made our way from the
Salt Lake City until he reached the Sevier River, some forty miles
distant, which having now taken a southerly course makes it way to
Sevier Lake, in this direction from Fillmore the country is open, no
mountain intervening betwixt it and the great western desert, and the
river can be brought around to supply any deficiency of water in the
Pauvan Valley. Following down the devious windings of this stream
the Col: found an opening into another valley lying west of Pauvan (in
which the aforesaid City is located) and tributary thereto, which pass-
ing on his left continued down to the mouth of the River, and along
the eastern shore of the Lake from its head about twenty miles, passed
over a low range into it. The Lake is about 25 or 30 miles long by 10
or 12 broad and salt water with hard gravelly shores, steep slopes from
low mountain ranges on eastern and western sides.
The valley which he now entered laying as before shown westerly
and southerly from Fillmore city is one of exceeding beauty and fer-
tility, having a large stream called the Beaver running thro’ the entire
length of it in a Northerly direction entirely past the Lake west of
the range spoken of, and in high water empties into the Sevier in a
contrary direction of that river about five miles above its mouth, for
fifty miles he travelled up this stream, the valley sloping smoothly
from the bank on either side to the mountain benches from fifteen
to twenty miles apart. How many inhabitants think you, will such
a valley sustain? An abundance of cedar groves on the benches and
mountain slopes. The Col remarked that he never saw a more beauti-
ful valley, nor one that could be so extensively and easily irrigated,
no ravines nor ridges to intervene the gentle flow of the waters on
either side.8 This valley taken in connection with Pauvan furnishes
a greater extent of country lying in a body susceptible of cultivation
than any that has hitherto been explored as the Pauvan itself is from
fifty to sixty miles long, by thirty to [p. 3] fifty broad. He came to us
at Parowan City, a settlement formed by Elder Geo A. Smith in the
winter of 1850, ninety five miles further south westerly, not finding
the lead however, searches for which will be continued this summer
Legion
Collection, folder 1, CHL; Brigham D. Madsen, “Albert Carrington,” Utah History Encyclopedia, Allan Kent Powell, ed. (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1994), 75.
8. This may be a reference to Beaver Valley, which is located southeast of Sevier Lake and southwest of Fillmore.
136
the prOphet and the refOrmer
farther North and West.9 There is also another settlement on a stream
formerly known as Muddy now called Coal Creek owing to Coal being
found upon its head waters this is in the iron region: a company has
been formed to commence immediate operations for making Iron,
and are very pleasantly located in the valley which extends easterly
around little Salt Lake where Parowan is situated and terminates in
the Beaver before spoken of ebbing south upon the rim of the basin
and interlocking with the with the waters of
but true to remark that altho’ the mountains are usually covered with
grass it is rare to find any on the plains, and low lands. This is owing
to the mountains catching the showers of snow and rain, the latter
seldom reaches the valley during the dry season.
From our extreme settlement upon the south to Bear river North
extending through the settlements there is an excellent road a distance
of about three hundred and thirty miles, and following as it does the
base of the mountain ranges and over low passes between vallies is
amply furnished with grass and water, but some of the ridges are rather
steep, and some of the streams need bridging. The labor required for
these ridges as well as bridges are usually far from settlements, and such
improvements should be made at the public expense. We had a fine
time while out although it was somewhat stormy in the first part of the
trip: camping out and traversing the country has become pastime with
me, and proves invigorating to my health and strength. I am continually
among the people, visiting and receiving visits from the native tribes,
and doing all I can to preserve peace, good order, and improve the best
interests of society. I am conscientious in believing the course I am pur-
suing in the discharge of my official duties, is calculated to subserve, and
promote the best interests of the people and the Government under
which it is our proud boast to have an inheritance; an inheritance which
for a season it was our fate to be deprived. Yet again it is to be hoped
thro’ the kind mercies of an interposing providence may be our happy
9. As part of an attempt to develop the mineral resources in southern Utah, G
eorge A. Smith
led the December 1850–January 1851 expedition that settled the Parowan Valley (called Little Salt Lake Valley) and founded Parowan (called Center Creek). Shirts and Shirts, Trial Furnace, 25–55.
10. Cedar City was initially known as Little Muddy and then Coal Creek. In November 1851, settlers arrived from Parowan to establish an iron works, in part to take advantage of nearby coal deposits. Shirts and Shirts, Trial Furnace, 163–192.
Young to Kane, May 29, 1852
137
privilege to enjoy, and what is more perpetuate to the utter discomfiture
of the enemies of free liberty the world over.
Relying upon your generosity to excuse the tediousness of this and
sparseness of past correspondence, I bid you adieu, invoking the choic-
est of heaven’s blessings in your behalf that from henceforth your health
may be preserved, and truth as hitherto abide with you.
I remain most truly and cordially, your friend as ever
Brigham Young
21
Kane to Young, October 17, 1852
in late 1851 and early 1852, Kane, John Bernhisel, and Jedediah Grant
attempted to respond to the charges of the “runaway” federal officials. While
Kane did not correspond with Young regarding these activities during the
winter and spring of 1852, Young received reports from Bernhisel and Grant.
The Saints and Kane knew that the controversy could destroy the advances
in Mormon public image made over the past several years. Bernhisel had
returned to the east before the officials’ exodus and Grant, who had become
friends with Kane at the Mormon camps in 1846, soon followed to help rebut
the allegations of “Treason, Poligamy, Profanity, Abominations” against the
Saints. A colorful leader and powerful orator, Grant called himself “Mormon
Thunder” and was derided by eastern newspapermen as “Brigham’s
Sledgehammer.” He described Kane as “our warm friend; his zeal is unabated
and his ambition unchecked. He thinks all will come out right.”1
Huddled in the east, Kane, Bernhisel, and Grant prepared to battle the
charges of the former officials. In December 1851, Kane drafted a letter to
President Fillmore denying the officials’ allegations, including their state-
ments about Mormon polygamy. Grant—who had “fondly hoped” that
Kane “had some faint idea of our domestic relations”—thus found him-
self “under the disagreeable necessity” of informing Kane of the reality of
Mormon polygamy.2 To justify the practice, Grant explained that Mormon
leaders had discovered that faithful females outnumbered Mormon men by
a ratio of three to two, “showing that one third of our women must remain
1.
Grant to Susan Fairchild Noble Grant, December 11, 1851, Susan Grant Correspondence, CHL.
2. Grant to Kane, December 29, 1851, BYU; Grant to Brigham Young and Council, December 30, 1851, BYOF.
Kane to Young, October 17, 1852
139
figure 21.1 Jedediah M. Grant.
Source: Reproduced by permission from Church History Library.
single, or marry out of the church.” God then granted the Latter-day Saints
a special “dispensation” allowing polygamy. Grant emphasized that the
Mormon practice was “limited and strict in its nature,” and assured Kane
that “the rights of women among us are sacredly regarded and respected” as
they “are kindly treated well provided for and saved in the scriptural sense of
the word.” In describing the encounter, Grant wrote Young, “I am satisfied
he will not fail to do all in his power to help us in the present cricis of affairs.
Indeed he declares that he will never leave us when we are in trouble.”3 Grant
also recalled that Kane told him, “I will fight for you till the last man dies
and give them hell” as the Saints had “suff[ere]d enough they have rapt our
temple in flames and ravished our women” and he would defend the Saints
until “Uncle Sam give us our rights.”4
By 1851, despite the Mormons’ denials, most informed outsiders suspected
the Saints were practicing plural marriage and nearly all of Kane’s close
Mormon associates were polygamists. Nevertheless, Kane had accepted the
Mormons’ denials and he felt hurt that the Saints had deceived him and that
3. G
rant to Young, December 30, 1851. See David J. Whittaker, “The Bone in the Throat: Orson Pratt and the Public Announcement of Plural Marriage,” Western Historical Quarterly 18.3
(1987): 293–314.
4. Minutes, August 22, 1852, Minutes of Meetings, CHL.
140
the prOphet and the refOrmer
he had unknowingly deceived others in both private and public statements.5
He recorded in his diary, “Heard this day first time Polygamy at Salt Lake.”
The following day, he added, “This I record as the date of this great humili-
ation, and I trust final experience of this sort of affliction,” comparing the
revelation to the “descovery of wife’s infidelity.”6 To Bernhisel, he wrote of his
“deep pain and humiliation,” for which he “was indeed ill prepared.”7 As an
escape, Kane plunged into work on behalf of the European revolutionary Louis
Kossuth, then on an acclaimed tour of the United States. He considered his
“Pro Kossuth” activities as “Fortunate Labors to earn forgetfulness.”8
And yet, the same day that Kane penned this statement, he also wrote to
Bernhisel, reaffirming his loyalty to the Saints. Kane advised the Saints to seek
a congressional investigation to forestall an immediate censure by Congress.
In addition, Kane considered the other charges made by the former officials as
“false as they are perilous” and vowed to help Bernhisel battle them.9
As they had the previous year in their efforts to secure statehood and
favorable appointments, Kane and Bernhisel (now assisted by Grant) took
a two-pronged approach to discredit the former officials, combining patient
lobbying with attempts to change public opinion. They gathered information
which would rebut specific allegations, such as statements from the super-
visor of the census, Joseph C. G. Kennedy, affirming that the Utah census
“returns are all in good and regular form.”10
To combat the charges publicly, Kane suggested to Bernhisel and Grant
in February that they publish a “plain statement of facts” over Grant’s signa-
ture to deny the officials’ widely publicized allegations.11 To refute the charges, they eventually wrote three letters, appearing under Grant’s name but written largely by Kane, to the New York Herald. Grant wrote home, “I have got my reighteous indignation up to its very zenith and Col Kane is backing me
5.
William Wood to Kane, April 26, 1851 and June 14, 1851, Kane Collection, BYU; Postscript to second edition of Kane, The Mormons, in Zobell, Sentinel in the East, 88.
6. Kane, journal, December 27–28, 1851, Kane Collection, BYU.
7. Kane to Bernhisel, December 29, 1851, draft, Kane Collection, BYU.
8. Kane, journal, December 29, 1851.
9. Kane to Bernhisel, December 29, 1851.
10. Joseph C. G. Kennedy to Bernhisel, January 29, 1852, Kane Collection, BYU.
11. Bernhisel to Kane, February 4, 1852, Kane Collection, BYU. Bernhisel also gave suggestions for the pamphlet from Washington D.C. See Bernhisel to Kane, February 7, 1852 and February 13, 1852, Kane Collection, BYU.
Kane to Young, October 17, 1852
141
and the Lord gives me his Spirit and I am in my element.”12 While Grant had
some doubts about Kane’s “peculiar” literary style, he wrote to Young that the
letters “were written in a humorous readable style for which they were prin-
cipally indebted to the versatile pen of our friend, Col. Thos. L. Kane.”13 Grant
perceived that polygamy would be the largest obstacle to softening the public
climate: “Polygamy is the bone in the throat. It causes a grate deal of coughing
and sneezing wind &c.”14
In the first letter to the Herald, Grant and Kane used biting sarcasm to
attack the officials as undistinguished political hacks. Upon their arrival
in Utah, the officials had alienated the Mormon community through their
hubris, incompetence, and mis-steps. The “only utterly idle persons in our
whole community,” they nev
ertheless “assumed airs and graces, and vari-
ous manners of condescension and superiority.” The Saints mocked Lemuel
Brandebury for his refusal to wash his shirt and joked about the attention he
gave to a thirteen-year-old girl at a reception held to welcome him to Salt Lake
City. To make matters worse, the officials manipulated the Saints by “hedg-
ing and hatching, and laying traps, playing sly attorney’s tricks, giving advice,
and getting crooked law papers.”15 James Gordon Bennett Sr., editor of the
Herald, published this first letter, though he accused Grant of not answering the specific charges and predicted that the “government will yet have some
trouble with these Latter Day Saints.”16 Bennett declined to print any further
letters.
By the time the letter appeared in print, many political leaders and news-
papers had turned against the former federal officials, partly as a result of
Bernhisel’s patient lobbying, believing that the federal officials had not proven
their charges against the Saints and that they had been “runaways,” derelict
in their duties. The letter reinforced these ideas, both among politicians and
the broader public. According to Bernhisel, the Herald letter gave a “great deal of amusement” to Washington politicians, had a “salutary effect upon the
President’s mind,” and caused Treasury Secretary Thomas Corwin to laud it
as the “best thing he ever read.” Following its publication, Fillmore “appeared
anxious to do justice to the people” of Utah, most congressmen dismissed the
12. J
edediah Grant to Susan Grant, March 7, 1852, Susan Grant Correspondence, CHL.
13. Grant to Young, May 13, 1852, BYOF.
14. Grant to Young, March 10, 1852, BYOF.
15.Jedediah M. Grant, The Truth of the Mormons: Three Letters to the New York Herald, from J. M. Grant, of Utah (New York, 1852), 6, 16.
16. Sessions, Mormon Thunder, 101–103.
142
the prOphet and the refOrmer
allegations of the officials, “and the prevailing opinion is that they were incom-
petent and without character or standing.”17
The Prophet and the Reformer Page 21