The Prophet and the Reformer
Page 44
remain unopened. We hope that all the things are safe and think
they are.31
You are warmly remembered by all my friends.
I remain truly, Your Friend,
Brigham Young
31. In M
ay, Young had sent two Latter-day Saints, including William Godbe, to retrieve Kane’s trunk, instructing that if necessary they should “go to San Bernardino after the trunk which should have been forwarded long ago.” When Kane left Utah a few days later, he was “considerably disappointed in not receiving his letters and trunk.” Despite Godbe’s express speed of 60 miles per day, he arrived in Salt Lake City on May 31, after Kane had left Utah. Young to bishops and military officers south, May 7, 1858, BYOF; Daniel H. Wells to Young, May 12, 1858, BYOF; Historian’s Office Journal, May 31, 1858; Walker, Wayward Saints, 44.
52
Young to Kane, October 22, 1858
In thIs letter, Young informed Kane of the return of Latter-day Saints to
their homes in northern Utah following the Move South, complained of vio-
lence committed by the “customary followers” of the army, and referred to the
army’s building of Camp Floyd. That same day, Young similarly wrote Stewart
Van Vliet, a sympathetic non-Mormon who had attempted to purchase sup-
plies for federal troops by traveling to Salt Lake City in advance of the army
in September 1857, that the Saints had tired of the “standing army and the
train of hell which follow after.” Furthermore, he claimed that the army was
dependent on the Mormon population: “The Army would sink and die where
they are even now . . . if it was not for the supplies drawn from the people of
this Territory.”1 In response to the disorder, including the death of a volunteer
police officer, Young had recently organized a “vigilance committee consisting
of about two hundred police who patrol our streets night and day.”2
Young also complained that the federal government had not adequately
compensated the Saints for a mail contract that had been annulled during the
tensions of the previous year. Young had envisioned the mail contract as one
piece of a larger freight company, the Brigham Young Express and Carrying
Company, or Y. X. Company. The holders of the monthly mail contract between
Independence, Missouri, and Salt Lake City had been William M. F. Magraw
and John M. Hockaday, but their contract had been canceled in October 1856.
1. Y
oung to Stewart Van Vliet, October 22, 1858, BYOF. Opponents of Young noted that
Mormons were also benefiting from the army’s presence. In its first issue, Utah’s first non-Mormon newspaper, the Valley Tan, wrote a few weeks later that the army “opened a market for their produce,” gave “employment to their mechanics and laborers and put gold in their pockets.” “Camp Floyd,” Valley Tan, November 6, 1858, 2.
2. Young to Isaac Haight, October 8, 1858, BYOF.
300
the prophet and the reformer
Acting on behalf of Brigham Young, Hiram Kimball bid for the contract at an
annual rate of $23,000, a bargain price made possible by the investment the
church intended to make in the larger freight company. Kimball received a
four-year contract extending from December 1, 1856 to November 30, 1860.
When unofficial word of the contract arrived in Salt Lake City in February 1857,
Young, Kimball, and church leaders vigorously moved forward with their plan;
the first mail left Salt Lake City on February 8.3
However, the tensions between Latter-day Saints and federal officials
doomed the mail contract and the larger enterprise of the Y. X. Company.
On June 10, 1857, Assistant Postmaster General William Dundas informed
Kimball that the mail contract had been canceled.4 In this letter to Kane,
Young vociferously denounced these actions, as well as the awarding of a new
mail contract for substantially more money.
Source
Young to Kane, October 22, 1858, Brigham Young Letterbooks, box 4,
vol. 4, 480–489.
Letter
G. S. L. City Oct. 22d/58
Col. Thomas L. Kane
Philadelphia Pa.
Dear Colonel,
Since my last letter per politeness of Genl. H. S. Eldredge, and bear-
ing date of Sept. 10,5 but little has transpired that would be deemed
interesting beyond our borders, for reason which you, who are so cor-
rectly conversant with many of the characteristics of Utah’s population,
3. Arrington,
Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830–1900
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958), 162–166.
4. Dundas explained that the decision was made due to a “delay in executing” the contract issued to Kimball. In the initial contract, Kimball was directed to accept or decline the contract by December 1, 1856. However, the letter was not sent until late November and weather conditions delayed its delivery until March 1857. See House Executive Documents, 13th Congress, 2nd Sessions-49th Congress, 1st Session (Washington: James B. Steedman, 1858), 353.
See also Young to Horace Eldredge, October 20, 1858, BYOF.
5. Young to Kane, September 10, 1858.
Young to Kane, October 22, 1858
301
can most readily understand. Nearly all who moved south have returned
to their homes, a labor which, in connection with haying, harvesting,
repairing buildings and fences, securing fuel and making other prepara-
tions against the severity of winter, has pretty closely confined the atten-
tion and efforts of all to the management of their individual affairs.6 And
Genl. Johnston, so far as I can learn is no doubt, very anxious to earn that
reputation in the management of troops, that should be the pride and
just deserved claim of every officer in an American army, seeking to pro-
tect and never trampling upon the most lightly prized right of even the
poorest and most unpopular citizen; but thus far he fails in his attempts.
The Government Storehouses and other buildings being erected
in Cedar valley are reported to be, as a general thing, not of the most
durable description, a species of economy which the General, probably,
[p. 2] deems politic, while at the same time affording the troops ample
comforts and conveniences.7
An influx of quite a number of the customary followers of an army
and army suttlers and attaches has caused, as fortold to Capt. Van Vleit,8
the enactment in our streets of a few of those scenes of profanity, drunk-
enness, &c, hitherto almost unknown here, and which are so properly
ever offensive to even the lowest grade of moral decorum. And a few
of these reckless and characterless adventurers have defied wholesome
law, both in word and deed, two of them having been killed by their fel-
lows in quarrels, and one of them, a few days past, having shot a police-
man quietly engaged in the discharge of his duty in guarding a prisoner,
from which wound he has since died, and as yet the ruffian has eluded
the grasp of justice.9
These are a few of the incidents attending the course of those who
fain would trample upon all law and virtue, but an efficient police force10
6. See Poll, “Move South,” 82–83.
7. On the building of Camp Floyd, see Moorman and Sessions, Camp Floyd and the Mormons, 56–58; Thomas G. Alexander and Leonard J. Arrington, “Camp in the Sagebrush: Camp Floyd, Utah, 1858–
1861,” Utah Historical Quarterly 34 (Winter 1966): 3–21.
8. Young referred to the visit of Stewart Van Vliet in Salt Lake City in September 1857.
“Captain Stewart Van Vliet, Assistant Quartermaster U.S.A.,” Deseret News, September 16, 1857, 5.
9. On the violence, see also Young to Kane, September 10, 1858. The policeman shot was William Cooke; for more information, see Young to Kane, November 22, 1858; Young to Horace Eldredge, October 20, 1858, BYOF.
10. See Young to Isaac Haight, October 8, 1858, BYOF.
302
the prophet and the reformer
and the reception of no open countenance from General Johnston suf-
fice to keep affairs partially within bounds, all things considered; and we
trust to be able to do so, until the army, whom they look to for support, is
withdrawn, when without doubt the rabble speculators will leave.
Our Friend Governor Cumming and his good lady are well, and
apparently enjoy themselves quite as much as they could have antici-
pated in a region so far from their former associations and endearments.
[p. 3] The Governor, as hitherto, pursues his impartial and manful
course in favor of justice and rights, as he understands them, and con-
tinues to be very popular with all the inhabitants who are acquainted
with his acts and feelings.11
The removal of Hurt, Craig, Morrell and other U.S. civil officials
here, whose removal has long since been petitioned for with the best
of reasons, and which the Peace Commissioners expressed themselves
almost assured would be at once attended to upon presentation, seems
as yet to sleep in some hole or corner in Washington, leaving a strong
impression that some power outside either the “Golden rule” or con-
stitutional law, stands between us and the granting of our just petition,
since the “adjustment,” for a small share of the cheapest description of
American inalienable rights.12
By the perusal of the “News,” which I trust you receive, you will
at once observe that we have deemed it most politic not to treat much
upon agitating topics, being of the opinion that handling them in detail
in our paper would prove more injurious than beneficial, and at any rate
that the appearance of that class of articles in the “News” could have
but little influence in quarters whose influence will be most effective in
producing correct political and social action.13
This view of home policy does not, of course, have any bearing upon
[p. 4] what it may be deemed proper to handle in papers outside of
Utah, nor upon the when nor how; neither is it known how long the
present course in publishing may be best for the “News” columns.
11. The
Deseret News similarly opined that the Saints “respect and have confidence in
[Cumming] because he does his duty like a man and an American!” “Truth and Liberty,”
Deseret News, October 27, 1858, 2.
12.For the petition seeking the removal of Chief Justice Delana Eckels, Postmaster Hiram Morrell, and Indian Agents Garland Hurt and C. L. Craig, see BYOF.
13. The October 6, 13, and 20 editions of the Deseret News primarily focus on the corruption of the army rather than difficulties with the federal appointees.
Young to Kane, October 22, 1858
303
Since the arbitrary, unjust and illegal annulling of the mail contract
awarded to Mr Hiram Kimball of this City, we have seen nothing to
warrant our intrusting any matter of importance to the conveyance of
the mail; and all the facts connected with that annulling tend directly to
lessen any confidence which might otherwise obtain
our mails. Mr. Kimball, early in February, 1857, and upon the mere news-
paper rumor, that the contract had been awarded to his bid, began to put
mail service upon the route between this city and Independence, Mo.,
and very rapidly, for the season of the year and circumstances, efficient
and trusty men with numerous animals were placed upon the line, and
expensive arrangements gone into for speedily completing and maning
the necessary stations for safety, rest and other accommodations until
in a brief period, so energetic and well conducted were the operations,
the mail was taken through in the hitherto unprecedented short time
of sixteen travelling days; so satisfactory and praiseworthy and gratify-
ing a result was attained by [p. 5] the outlay of probably nigh $200,000,
and after such a speedy, faithful and reliable public service, so contrary
to the customary unsatisfactory and uncertain mode of conduct in mail
transportation, the P. O. Department not only annull’d the contract, but,
so far as we have heard, have only paid a small part of the amount due
under the pitifully low rate of $23,000 a year, the contract bid; and the
Postmaster at Independence refused, under orders as he alleged, to
let Mr Judson L. Stoddard, one of the conducters, have the July mail,
notwithstanding Mr Stoddard told him that he would bring it through
for nothing.14 There is not an American possessed of the least spark of
patriotism but would spurn at the authors of such treatment, and regret
that high handed outrage upon the rights of American Citizens, by their
fellows, should not only have so ruthlessly cut of[f] the faithful render-
ing of such efficient public service at so low a rate to the Department,
but should also have indefinitely [p. 6] postponed the thick scattering
of prosperous and useful settlements along so long a line of now dreary
and unprotected travel. But no, the rate of $23,000 a year could not
be paid for carrying a mail in several days short a time than I have yet
learned that it has been carried by the contractors at some $200,000 a
year. True, the present contract is for a weekly mail, but who does not
understand that when a route is stocked the cost of transportation for the
three additional trips will fall far below three fourths of the whole sum,
14. S
ee affidavit of Judson Stoddard, October 23, 1858, BYOF.
304
the prophet and the reformer
thus giving the present contractors in the neighborhood of $100,000 for
what Mr. Kimball was to have received $23,000. It is possible that the
Post master General has awarded the contract, allowed the rates, and
otherwise laid the wires, that so soon as a little rough weather occurs
the service will fail, a strong opposition to the northern route be raised
under that plea, and Utah Mail service by the South Pass be discontin-
ued in favor of the so much (in certain Departments) loved southerned
route. And it is more than possible that all we can say [p. 7] upon the
subject will not at present do much towards effecting the extension of
mail rights to Utah, still there can be no harm, in stating as I have, a few
of the late prominent abuses meted to Utah by the P. O. Department,
for they serve to elucidate the rampart working of political trickery and
chicanery, and the proof can be forthcoming when wanted. The annul-
ling of Mr Kimballs contract was a great national loss, in a financial point
of view, and a great legal and moral outrage.15
How would it answer for George Q. Cannon to occasionally treat
upon the subject of slavery, at such times, and in such say and manner as
your judgment might direct?16 Bro George has command of all the funds
you may deem requisite for the accomplishment of his work
In accordance with what I deem
duct and conversation, continue to be quite reserved, at the same time
being easy of access by all that business or courtesy warrant. Senator
Broderick arrived in our City from California on the 18th instant, and
was tendered the hospitalities [p. 8] of the City.17 I had a pleasant inter-
view with him in my Office on the 20th; though he appeared somewhat
unwell and fatigued by his journey, having encountered some rough
15. F
or more information on the mail contract, see Arrington, American Moses, 250–251; Turner, Pioneer Prophet, 271; and Whall, Salt Lake Post Office.
16. Young hoped that Cannon would give “sufficient propelling power to that mighty engine, the press, which had been so successful in the manufacture of public opinion against us.”
See Young to Horace Eldredge, October 20, 1858. For Cannon’s published thoughts on slavery a few years later, see “Emancipation of the Slaves—The Prophet Joseph’s Plan—Results of Its Rejection,” Latter-Day Saints’ Millennial Star 25, no. 7 (February 14, 1863): 99–101.
17. Senator David Broderick, a Democrat from California who served from March 1857
until his death in a duel in September 1859, was traveling through the city with George W. Chorpening, the postal contractor for the Salt Lake City–Placerville mail route. Broderick informed the Saints that their prospects for admission to the Union were “very poor, owing to strong prejudice.” See “Truth and Liberty,” Deseret News, October 20, 1858; Young to George Q. Cannon, October 20, 1858, BYOF; Arthur Quinn, The Rivals: William Gwin, David Broderick, and the Birth of California (New York: Crown Publishers, 1994).
Young to Kane, October 22, 1858
305
weather as he neared our City. He purposes leaving for Washington in
the morning.18
Bro Kimball says, “my kind respects to Col. Kane and family, and
God bless him, and his family and all his Fathers house,” on which he is
most cordially joined by Brother Wells, all your acquaintances in Utah,