to publish, knowing him to be a good general geographer, seems [p. 8]
So far almost its only advocate. I shall send you a copy of one of his argu-
ments if I can hunt it up.23
Have you nothing on its way to the New York World’s Fair?24 It is
not necessary that objects characteristic of a country be manufactured
articles, if they be strange and of a nature to take with the vulgar.—All
this sort of things, you remember provokes notices; and Notice in these
days of universal advertising means next as much as Favor.
I am at the end of my second sheet. I have written to you more at
length than I can write to Dr. Richards; considering my letters addressed
as in old times to all my friends who are yours.
I am and know you believe me Ever
Faithfully your friend
Thomas L. Kane
P. S. No. 38 Girard Street is the name of my House in Philadelphia,
where I hope no Deseret pilgrim henceforth will find it hard to
his way.>25
railroad. Richard O.
Cowan, “Steel Rails and the Utah Saints,” Journal of Mormon History 27
(Fall 2001), 179.
21. Kane was probably referring to Young’s letter published as “Advice to Overland Emigrants,”
in the St. Louis Republican, May 22, 1853 and reprinted in the New York Times, May 31, 1853.
22. For Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton’s views, see William M. Meigs, The Life of Thomas Hart Benton (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1904), 417–422.
23. In October 1853, Kane sent the Saints a newspaper article written by “Mr. S. H. Fisher,”
but it apparently never arrived. See Jedediah Grant to Kane, December 31, 1853, Kane Collection, BYU.
24. America’s Crystal Palace Exhibition (or the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations) was held in New York City in 1853–1854. See Ivan D. Steen, “America’s First World’s Fair,”
New York Historical Society Quarterly 47.3 (1963): 256–287.
25. Kane’s parents lived at 36 Girard Street. Thomas and Elizabeth lived next door to his parents until late 1854, when they moved in with his parents. Elizabeth explained the decisions in terms of family duty: “Tom’s father and mother are growing old.” His parents, on the other hand, noting Thomas’s recent serious illness and Elizabeth’s pregnancy, “thought us not strong enough to continue keeping house, and so it pleased us all.” Along with his parents, Thomas and Elizabeth began to split their time between the Philadelphia mansion on Girard Street in the winter and a country estate, Fern Rock, outside of the city in the summer. See Elizabeth W. Kane, journal, December 31, 1854 and March 12, 1855, BYU.
24
Young to Kane, January 31, 1854
On January 31, 1854, Brigham Young responded to Kane’s letter of July 18,
1853, which had announced Kane’s marriage to Elizabeth Wood. Besides con-
gratulating Kane, Young discussed a broad range of territorial questions in the
letter, including the possibility of Utah statehood, Young’s pardoning power
as governor, and the appointment of new territorial justices by President
Franklin Pierce.
Young also raised the possibility that Congress would commission the
building of a railroad to the Pacific with a route through Utah. Since their trek
west, the Mormons had supported the construction of a transcontinental rail-
road, mainly in the hope of facilitating the immigration of converts to Utah.
In the mid-1850s, debate over Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas’s proposed
Kansas–Nebraska Act had placed the issue of a Pacific Railroad, and the sec-
tional controversies over its potential route, on the national agenda. Douglas
hoped that the creation of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska would pave
the way for a railroad to the Pacific that would run through his home state.1
Both Young and Kane had a deep interest in railroads, fully expressed in
the following decades; Kane surveyed routes for railroads in the Allegheny
Mountains of northwestern Pennsylvania during the 1850s and 1860s and pro-
moted construction of lines in that region into the 1880s.2 Young directed the
Church to become heavily involved in the completion of the transcontinental
railroad in the late 1860s and later used the church’s resources, as well as his
own, for the construction of lines within Utah.3
1.R
obert W. Johannsen, Stephen A. Douglas (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973), 395–399.
2. Grow, Liberty to the Downtrodden, 164–165, 254–255.
3. Arrington, American Moses, 348–350.
158
the prOphet and the refOrmer
In this letter, Young stated that Utah was the “natural Great Central Depot
to Southern California and Oregon, the natural diverging point, or crossing
place.” Furthermore, he argued that the construction of a Pacific Railroad
would benefit all Americans. Along with the letter, Young sent to Kane a copy
of a memorial from the Saints to Congress regarding the transcontinental
railroad.4 At the time, he was actively lobbying several of his Washington con-
nections for a Utah route. In April 1854, Young wrote to Senator Douglas,
“What are you going to do about a Rail Road to the Pacific?” He suggested that
Douglas pursue the railroad aggressively, “for rest assured that whatever route
that road takes it will be the very best one for the interests of Utah & precisely where we had rather have it.”5
Source
Young to Kane, January 31, 1854, Box 15, fd 2, Kane Collection, BYU.
Letter
Utah Territory
Great Salt Lake City Jany 31st/54.
My Dear Friend
Your letter of July 18th 1853, containing the news of your marriage
&c. was received some 2 months after, and was laid by for the present,
in hopeful expectation, that the “Friendship Offering” might also
have a chance to speak for itself;6 But presuming that no opportunity
having occurred, I might wait in vain, at least longer than I wished
without answering your excellent letter, I proceed without further
apology.
Well, you are married! Please accept, (though rather late for wedding
salutations,) my most hearty, and sincere congratulations; not forgetting
your good Lady, for your happiness, peace, and prosperity. I am truly glad
of it! And pray that you may long live upon the earth, to enjoy the sweet
4. Y
oung to Jefferson Hunt, January 31, 1854, BYOF.
5. Young to Stephen A. Douglas, April 29, 1854, BYOF.
6. Kane told Young that he would send him a “Friendship’s Offering” of a “Wedding Cake”
to be “divided among all my well wishers.” Kane to Young, July 18, 1853.
Young to Kane, January 31, 1854
159
society of “wife, children, and friends,”7 and when at last old age shall have
arrived, may your numerous progeny, the fruit of your own loins, be your
faithful Representatives upon the earth, and rejoice your heart in undying
affection, ever cherishing the proud reflection of worthy ancestory; feeling
that they too came of parentage, who were the soul of honor,—the heart
of benevolence and charity,—the faithful [p. 2] dispensers of Truth and
Justice, the defenders of right, and whose fair escutcheon, not the most
unblushing effrontery, shall dare to tarnish with an unworthy reflection. Is
this eno
ugh? To live, and be fairly represented in Posterity is desirable, is
a glory often sought, but will never satisfy the yearnings after immortality,
the cravings of the human soul, the structure and design of our being.
To live! To increase! To build up! To spread abroad, upon the plat-
form of never ending existence; increase, <&> progression in posterity,
in wisdom, in strength, honor, and glory, and in all excellence, is much
better than a mere posthumous halo around a semblance of what once
existed, But now alas! nearly lost, forgotten, and finally quite enveloped,
and absorbed in the mist and fog of a few short ages to be remembered
no more, Always abounding in truth, may we ever cherish those prin-
ciples which lead in present life to honor and virtue, and in future life to
eternal exaltation and glory.
I am rejoiced to learn of your improved state of health, for I really
feared the result of your Southern visit;8 truly a father’s or Patriarchal
blessing, is better than a worldly inheritance.9
Politics
When shall Utah become a State? Is the Federal Government too
old to establish a precedent?
Can not Deseret gain admission prior to another Presidential [p. 3]
Election? The Politics of the nation are rather too diversified for us to
very much appreciate, forgive us therefor, if we get up some of our own.
The Rail Road to the Pacific, from the Missouri, via the Great Basin,
cannot pass without benefitting us upon any practicable route; here is
the natural Great Central Depot to Southern California and Oregon, the
natural diverging point, or crossing place.
7 . Young likely referred to a popular poem by William Robert Spencer (1769–1834). The poem was republished in the Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star 16.13 (August 15, 1851): 256.
8. Kane visited the West Indies from January to March 1853. See Grow, Liberty to the Downtrodden, 108.
9. Kane, patriarchal blessing, September 7, 1846, CHL.
160
the prOphet and the refOrmer
We send you a Copy of the Memorial to Congress, and also proceed-
ings of a Mass Meeting upon that subject, which will fully express our
views, in relation to feasibility of Route, facility of construction &c. We
consider that Box Elder Pass, South Fork of the Platte, and Laramie
Plains; besides being the most judicious route, for its location will com-
bine the Northern and Eastern interest at least as far South as St. Louis,
and the mouth of the Ohio River.10
It should be a national work, and constructed without delay; the
Magnetic Telegraph should also precede it.11 Give us a Magnetic
Telegraph in Two years, and a Rail Road in five years; it may be com-
pleted to this point in that time, if not fully finished. The true policy of
the nation is to bring it through the heart of the country. The trade of the
Pacific, and the Commerce of the old world, will be poured into the very
lap of the nation. It will be the most natural Highway from England to
India, and be a much quicker passage than it would, should they even
succeed in the hitherto fruitless search of a North West [p. 4] Passage. It
may, and it must be speedily accomplished; the energy of the Republic
should be concentrated in the first instance upon this route; ultimately it
is presumable that other lines will be established. There is no question,
but that the business will increase as fast, and probably faster than facili-
ties to accommodate it can.
We are informed that our present Judiciary is supplanted, by the
appointment of other Judges; very well, I suppose that it is neces-
sary that the country should sometimes suffer, to promote party ends,
but really, we had become quite attached to our present incumbents;
so much so, that we could have been quite satisfied, had the politi-
cal Guillotine fallen elsewhere. They also appeared quite contented
to remain with us, and had taken some interest in the affairs of the
Territory, as though they were a component part, and whose interest
10. F
or a copy of the memorial probably sent to Kane, see memorial to Congress, undated (ca. early 1854), BYOF. The Mormons advocated a route that would “commence at Council Bluff City, keep up the main Platte to its South Fork, and up the South Fork to the proper point for diverging to the summit of the Black Hills, in the neighborhood of what is known as the Box Elder Pass.” See “Memorial,” Deseret News February 2, 1854, 3. For an earlier, similar memorial, see Memorial to Congress, March 3, 1852, BYOF.
11. In January 1853, the Utah territorial legislature petitioned Congress to “provide for the construction of a Telegraph . . . to preserve inviolable our glorious Union.” This would help to facilitate “instantaneous intercourse from the Eastern to the Western limits of our widespread country, annihilate the distance, and make the freemen of Maine, and Oregon, Florida and California immediate neighbors.” See Memorials to Congress, March 3, 1852 and January 29, 1853, BYOF.
Young to Kane, January 31, 1854
161
was measurably identified with ours; in this they are unlike any of their
predecessors, or other non-resident Officers.12
By the way, I wish to propound a question to you, somewhat con-
nected with the Judicial proceedings in this Territory. One William
May killed a man of the name of Gokee; May was indicted by a [p. 5]
Grand Jury, convicted, and tried, under the laws of the United States,
and was sentenced to be hung, when he doubtless should have been
indicted, and tried under the Laws of Utah. The question now arises,
whether in the matter of pardon, the Executive shall be governed by
the ruling of the Court in the mode of trial, or by the power granted
in the Organic Act, regardless of said ruling.13
I have good and sufficient reasons why he should be pardoned, and
had I followed my own suggestions, I doubtless should have done so, but
finally concluded to Reprieve him, until the case could be decided by the
President, who will probably do it; but if he should not, I may, as I am
convinced there has been foul play in procuring his conviction. I should be
much pleased to have your views upon the subject, touching my right to act
in this matter. The opinion of an unswerving friend, the son of an eminent
Jurist, and more
and of personal acquirements, as well as extended acquaintance with men
and things, would have, as it certainly would be entitled to receive due
weight, and consideration, and I wish you to consult your father, and other
reliable jurists, upon the point of my right to pardon in this case.14
I cannot think that I under-rate true friendship, although the world’s
friendship and myself parted company long since, much however to
my satisfaction, [p. 6] and it is not that, nor yet their good opinion that
12. In F
ebruary 1854, President Pierce appointed George Edmunds Jr. and John W. H.
Underwood as associate justices and John F. Kinney as chief justice in the territory to replace justices Leonidas Shaver, Zerubbabel Snow, and Lazarus H. Read. Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America, 1852–1855, vol. IX (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1887), 224.
13. May was convicted of murder before Ju
dge Leonidas Shaver on June 8, 1853 and was sentenced to die on January 13, 1854. Young received a petition, including signatures from all the members of the legislative assembly, “mercantile men,” and judicial officers, asking him to pardon May. The petitioners believed May had shown a “disposition to future good behavior”
and was not a “bad-hearted man nor a man that would deliberately take away the life of a fellow being unprovoked and in his right mind.” Rather than grant a pardon, Young reprieved May’s sentence on January 12, 1854. See petition, December 12, 1853, BYOF; reprieve, BYOF.
See also Kane to Young, April 28, 1854; and Young to Kane, June 29, 1854.
14. Kane’s father, John K. Kane, was a U.S. district court judge in Philadelphia.
162
the prOphet and the refOrmer
I covet, but simply, that right, and justice may have its course regardless
of all else.
Dr Willard Richards is at present very ill, doubts are even entertained
of his recovery, but we hope for the best; his health as you are aware has
been poor for many years.15
Your old friend the Patriarch, is also slowly sinking away, until quite
recently he has been able to officiate in his office, and many a heart has
rejoiced under the blessing of the Good Old Man.16
Our settlements are prosperous, although Indian disturbances some-
what retarded operations the past season. They are quiet now, being
hemmed in by the snow, but we think if they resume hostilities in the
spring, we shall be compelled to chastise them severly. Our hopes are,
that we may be able to effect a good understanding with them, with-
out resorting to offensive war, hitherto we have operated strictly on the
defensive, and our policy has ever been to conciliate them, and to learn
them the art of civilization. Of our success in this work, you can judge
from the fact, that at a harvest feast given in Parowan, Iron County, all
the natives who had assisted, in raising and securing the Grain, were
invited to attend; when they were found in that small settlement to
number 154; these are principally Piedes. A small family of Utahs, who
professed friendship [p. 7] in the vicinity were also invited, but refused
The Prophet and the Reformer Page 24