Henry Kendall, “A Week in Great Salt Lake City,” Hours at Home 1 (May 1865): 63-66.
Great Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah Territory, the great stopping place between the Mississippi and Pacific, is also the point of divergence for those who would reach the new-discovered mines of Montana and Idaho, or Walla-Walla on the Columbia, Portland, Olympia and the North Pacific; and is especially interesting as the residence of Brigham Young, being the chief city of Mormons, or “Church of the Latter Day Saints.” Late in the afternoon, about the first of July, I entered this city by Overland Stage, after riding night and day, 600 miles from Denver city. A bath, a change of linen, a good dinner at the “Salt Lake House,” from the proprietor of which I received numerous attentions, and a good night’s sleep, prepared me to inquire for letters from the East and present others, letters of introduction to gentlemen in the employment of the United States and others in whose society, to a large extent, I spent a week, and by whose aid I investigated the peculiarities of this famous city and its strange inhabitants.
Salt Lake City lies near the head of Salt Lake valley, and is laid out with great regularity; the streets are wide, crossing each other at right angles; it is situated on a gentle declivity, sloping towards the south; “Ensign” mountain lies in the immediate rear, with still loftier mountains behind it; the Wasatch, snow- capped even in midsummer, over which we had just come climbing laboriously upward and then plunging downwards through a narrow and rugged “rift” in the mountains called the “Devil’s Gap,” towers high above the plain, which stretches far out before you to the south; and through which, at no great distance, amidst the fields of barley and wheat, wind the waters of the “Jordan” on their way to Salt Lake, twenty miles away. The lake itself is 2,000 square miles in extent, and over its glimmering bosom rise two mountainous islands, barren and bleak, the result of volcanic action, the evidence for which is most abundant throughout the whole extent of the Great American Basin.
The city is said to contain 12,000 inhabitants, and is in the best possible sanitary condition, even without any intervention of the authorities, for the atmosphere is so dry that there can be no rapid decomposition, and the city was originally laid out on so large a scale that every householder might have several acres of ground, which, in most instances, except on the principal business street, is still undivided. Streams of pure, cold water from the mountains run down on each side of the principal streets, cooling, picturesque, novel and pleasant. At the corners of the streets, because there is no rain in the summer months, there are simple flumes, through which the water is directed into different wards, by municipal regulation, turning a portion into every man’s enclosure, say, two hours every ten days, for the purposes of irrigation. Whether the influx of water comes by night or day it is necessary for the owner to give proper attention to it, and with the hoe, or hand, or foot, direct it to the garden, to trees, grass or shrubbery, as the necessities of each may demand. Vegetation is therefore very thrifty. All vegetables used in cookery were of the first quality, the trees, green and healthy, grew rapidly and were loaded with fruit. Apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, and the smaller fruits, grapes, currants, raspberries, gooseberries and strawberries are found in great profusion. No “blight” or “mildew,” or “borer” or “black-knot,” or other pests of Eastern fruit-growers, seem ever to have invaded the regions of Salt Lake; but there is a freshness and vigor to all the forms of vegetable growth that it is cheering to behold, especially after the long stretches of barrenness one must pass over in reaching the place. The privilege of passing through the grounds of Brigham Young was given me, which are very spacious and kept with great care, and there was a great abundance of the fruits I have just named, and of the best qualities. Wherever I went through the city the houses, in many instances, were surrounded with fruit trees and flowers, and the gardens, well-tilled, were filled with all the common vegetables that load our eastern tables.
The buildings of the city are mostly plain and simple. A great number are small and made of adobe or sunburnt bricks, which, in so dry a climate, can be made not only quite comfortable but durable, if well protected by a projecting roof, in the rainy season, and when well plastered without and within, make residences not to be despised. The better class of houses, however, are of wood, though some of the prosperous business firms are building of stone, of which there is an excellent quality for the purpose in the mountains near by. There is an air of roominess, freedom, cheerfulness and comfort about many of the dwellings.
In the best and most conspicuous part of the city are two or three large enclosures surrounded by a high, tight stone wall; the entrances are secured by close double-boarded massive gates, opened and shut by a guard like the gates of a prison. The roofs of numerous buildings are visible from the street. Here is the residence of President Young, and I know not how many, certainly not all, of his wives and children. These gates are watched, and these buildings guarded every night, it is said, by an armed force of faithful Mormons. In these buildings are the public offices of the Presidency, the tithing-house, the public store-houses, the office of the President, and the school-house where he educates his numerous offspring, and in the rear well-appointed and well-filled stables.
Directly across the Main street is another close-walled enclosure which contains the sacred buildings of the Mormon church.
Nothing had I desired more to see than the Mormon Temple. I found nearly every traveller animated with a like desire. The emigrant, travel-stained, foot-sore and weary, would leave the train, and his family perhaps, to catch a passing view of that which is supposed to be as much the glory of the Mormons as Solomon’s Temple was of the Jews. Alas! for all such expectations. There is no Mormon temple. There are only foundations for such a structure, and even they are incomplete. The theater has been in use for years, but the temple, though begun seventeen years ago—the subject of numerous revelations, the theme of many harangues—lacks many a stone before even the foundations shall be complete. But justice demands that I should say that as far as the foundations are complete they are very massive and strong, and laid with great architectural skill, as would be necessary to sustain the walls of so large a building. The material is a gray granite quarried from the mountains, and with pillars and towers such as the plan contemplates, if the building should be completed in the proportions of good taste, it will be a most imposing structure.
Many think the temple will never be completed. The idea seems to have originated in a desire to imitate the Jews and Solomon; but as the dispensation of sacrifices is done away what will be its use? For it is not intended as the place of ordinary worship, and will be in demand only on grand occasions, which the Mormons on the sober second thought may think too few to authorize so great an expense. At all events, if their minds had been fully made up, and they had counted the cost of the enterprise, which must be enormous, and were fired with zeal, it seems strange that they have not accomplished more. Brigham Young, with his usual sagacity, perceiving how expensive it must be, proposed at one time that the building should be of adobe, but his architects at once assured him that walls of adobe so long and high could never be trusted, especially to sustain so heavy a dome or roof as such a building would demand. When the people could not find employment or bread, and were sure to rouse the spirit of discontent among the people, which has not been the case lately, they have been employed to work on the temple at the public expense. But it is quite evident, that at the present prices of material and labor at Salt Lake city, the Mormon exchequer must be in a very healthy state to meet the demands of so costly and gigantic an undertaking. For if their theater cost $150,000, the temple cannot cost less, when complete, than $750,000.
Within the same enclosure are also the foundations for a new, costly and very large “Tabernacle” which, when it is complete, is to be the place of ordinary worship. The present place of worship, which that building is to supersede, is commodious and cheap. In the summer, however, it is closed up, and as there is no rain, worship is conducted in a wide booth, a large space roofed over with branches of trees, completely shutting out the sun, while it is open on all sides to allow a free circulation of air.
The proprietor of the Salt Lake House kindly gave me an introduction to Brigham Young. We found him in his official reception room, where also were Heber Kimball, the Surgeon General and three or four other officers of state and dignitaries in the church. The President is about sixty-five years of age, quite stout, his hair light and thin, his jaws heavy, his chin, mouth and lips indicating unusual decision of character. He is natural and self-possessed in his manners, and apparently genial in his nature. But he evidently is never troubled with doubts as to his course, and never goes back to review his reasonings or reconsider the steps by which he has reached his conclusions. Having become a Mormon thirty years ago, the theory is debatable no longer, the question is never opened. Increasing honors and increasing wealth do little to break the charm. This clearness of conviction, and firmness of nerve, with a mixture of fanaticism, and a somewhat impetuous temper, have been the leading traits of many an ancient persecutor, and undoubtedly qualify Brigham Young to hunt down and burn at the stake those who differ from him, if it seemed necessary for him thus to sustain the faith. His firmness, his unswerving confidence in himself and his cause; his practical good sense, of which, he also has a large share; his ready solution of difficulties with the Indians and among his own people; his paternal and patronizing air toward the credulous and the young, with a terrible power of vituperation and a rough and ready eloquence, naturally point him out as the presiding genius for such a people, and undoubtedly prove him far superior to every other man of the Mormon church for the difficult and responsible position to which he is called.
He also impresses his simple-minded followers as a very courageous man; sending men “to hell across lots,” is a common but inelegant threat which he hurls against his opponents. His views are narrow, as might be expected of one whose opportunities have been limited, and his denunciations, especially against Gentile innovations, are very severe. He delivered a sermon aimed partly against the introduction of hoop-skirts in Salt Lake city, which was astonishingly bitter and vulgar. But the lambs of the flock proved refractory and carried their point; fashion was too much for him, and, as if in spite against the interference of their spiritual father, they have given their skirts a wider expanse than usual.
But it is difficult to reconcile the idea of the veneration and esteem in which Brigham Young is supposed to be held, with the defences which he throws around himself, if he be a truly courageous man. What mean those high walls around his residence, and that nightly guard? Besides, he does not hesitate in his public discourses to inform his hearers that he is fully armed, at all times. When he rides out into the country he has an escort of from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty armed men, as motley and dirty a company as was ever raised since the days of Falstaff! All these things seem un-American and very anti-Democratic, and strike the observer with surprise.
I found the “President” quite ready to converse about the resources and prospects of Utah, and he was enthusiastic in behalf of the Pacific Railroad. He claimed that a large part of the China trade would pass over it, and thought that if a single track across the continent were completed to-day, it would demonstrate the necessity for a double track to-morrow.
On telling him that a part of my errand was to inquire if there would be any objection to establishing a church among the Gentiles in Utah (they call all who are not Mormons, Gentiles), he replied promptly, “No objection whatever on our part, or to sending missionaries to the Mormons either, if you like.”
When I was about to leave, he asked me to preach to his people the next Sabbath, adding that he desired to have all his young people know what the other denominations believe, which I took to be only an artful way of claiming to be but another denomination of Christians, and as it would have seemed ungracious to insinuate that the “other denominations” would be very slow to reciprocate his civilities, in kind, I cheerfully accepted the invitation, making no other reply. Sabbath morning, I was seated on a large platform behind a long desk, and nearly or quite twenty of the elders and chief priests of the church were seated around me. The whole service was given into my hands to the close of the sermon. There was no difficulty in finding in their Hymn Book a number of approved and familiar hymns sufficient for my purpose. The singing was by a choir, accompanied with instruments, the leader making quite a display of his professional abilities. The audience was large, perhaps the largest I ever addressed, entirely respectful and attentive. At the conclusion of the discourse, one of the “elders” arose and delivered a short address. It is customary for them to have two or three discourses at one session. I attended the service in the afternoon also, but as a listener and observer. And I found there a custom which I do not remember ever to have seen noticed. They administer the communion every Sabbath afternoon. The blessing was asked on the bread just before the sermon, during which the distribution was made, though the sermon had no reference to this part of the service. When all was ready for the distribution of the “cup,” the preacher paused, asked a blessing on it, and then proceeded with his discourse. But, as their membership is very large, and their communion seasons weekly, either from economy or necessity, they use water instead of wine!
My readers will be ready to inquire, what is the religion of the Mormons? They say that they believe all that we do and more too! that is, they believe the Bible and the book of Mormon besides. But the discourses I heard, and the private interviews I had with the people, led me to fear that though they used some of the same proof-texts we do, they held a very different doctrine. While they used such passages as “Believe and be baptized,” “Repent and be baptized”—great stress was laid on baptism, which with them is immersion; but faith and repentance received only a passing notice. Their children are immersed at seven years of age, and then are members of the Mormon church in good and regular standing. If they fall away after that, it is only necessary to immerse them again, to work a complete restoration.
In 1854, the Mormon authorities published a volume of “Sermons, Discourses, etc., delivered by the Presidency, the Twelve, and others.” If any one ever said of the Latter Day Saints, “Oh that my adversary would write a book,” his utmost wish must have been answered in this volume. Whether absurdity or blasphemy predominates it is difficult to say. It teaches that Adam was the father of our Lord Jesus Christ; that the least saint, if faithful, will go on adding “kingdom to kingdom, throne to throne,” till he shall come into “possession of more solar systems like this than mortals can number, or than there are visible stars in the firmament, or sands on the sea shore;” that all our souls had a pre-Adamite existence, that myriads of souls are now waiting in a kind of imperfect or undeveloped state, for bodies which they may enter, and that a large number of wives and a far greater number of children is an act of benevolence towards these waiting souls; and, as a counterpart to this, they have invented the dogma of “Celestial Marriage,” and claim that, through the marriage relation, the saints through all their polygamous connections will “continue to increase and multiply to all the ages of eternity, and raise up beings in their own likeness, that are destined to become not only sons of God, but Gods themselves.”
As Paul said to the Athenians, “I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious,” or “too religious,” so we may say of the Mormons. For it is to the religious sensibility that they make their most successful appeals. Their converts, gathered from all parts of the civilized world, are drawn by a religious impulse. It is well for us that we have not to decide how far a true child of God may be blinded, or whether any Mormons are true Christians or not, or determine how many may be dupes or knaves, or both. “Deceiving and being deceived,” is the apostolic estimate of the progress of error. But the religious element enters so far into the history and policy of the Mormons, that whatever they undertake must have a religious basis. It is curious to notice how readily a religious reason can be found for any practices that among us would be reckoned doubtful or clearly immoral. Being the especial favorites of Heaven, the only true church of God on earth, the children of a King, there is a strong suspicion that it is their right by whatever of extortion or fraud practiced on the Gentiles, to serve or enrich themselves; and injustice has been done them if they have not pressed this doctrine practically to great lengths.
Hence their discourses on the Sabbath day deal largely in the prosperity which God has given them, at least, the last two or three years, however much some poor Gentiles have suffered on that account. Religious and secular affairs become strangely mixed; they discuss the development of the resources of the country, they regulate the prices of produce, and have been known to nominate a delegate to Congress, in the church and on the Sabbath day!
Here is a large, beautiful and costly building, on a prominent corner of the streets in the heart of the city. It is not a court-house where justice is administered; or state-house where laws are enacted; it is the theater. And all these strange people, from Brigham Young the president down to the humblest laborer, attend the theater Saturday evening as a fit preparation for the Sabbath. So I am told, that when Brigham Young and the other bishops go out through the territory to confirm and strengthen the brethren, they usually have a dance every night.
Precisely so is it with polygamy, which distinguishes the Mormons from and makes them a scorn and a scoffing to all other people in the civilized world. I will not attempt to prove that any unhallowed passions came into play when this unscriptural and unnatural doctrine became cardinal in the Mormon faith. The leaders were confronted with this great fact, namely, that, by far the larger portion of their converts from abroad were females. Without marriage they would always remain a dependent class and without settled homes. But as it is also a part of their doctrine that the whole world shall come into possession of the saints, or be filled with them, the more numerous the children the sooner the glorious consummation would be reached! Polygamy cut the gordion knot of the whole difficulty; it took on a high religious purpose and “Celestial Marriage” was invented to sanctify the scheme!
The Mormons seem to have no regret about the progress of our war. The men of the country are wasting away! “There are very few men left in New York, I suppose,” said one of them to me. When the men are all cut off, they can return and take possession of the country, according to their creed, they say. “Yes,” answer the Gentiles, sneeringly, “and every man of you have as many wives as he wants!”
If any ask whether the Mormon women approve this arrangement or not; it is a matter of history, that they have never been unanimous in it, and nothing could bring them to acquiesce in a custom so abhorrent to their noblest instincts, but to make it a religious idea by the authority of the church, to them the highest of all authority and declare it to be a righteous practice. Joseph Smith, Jr., who now claims to be the legal successor to the martyred prophet of Nauvoo, has always repudiated polygamy and has a missionary now at Salt Lake city, endeavoring to win back the faithful—and nearly one hundred have been sent back to him by Gen. Conner, under military escort, during the last year. I found some Mormons from the British Isles who declare that they never knew that polygamy was the theory or practice of the Mormons till they reached Salt Lake city. It is observed that the daughters of the saints marry the U. S. soldiers stationed here with great readiness, knowing that by such an arrangement, they need fear no rivals to their husbands’ affections.
It is even said, that Brigham Young, the greatest dignitary in the church though he be, could not induce one of his late young and beautiful wives to marry him till he silenced all opposition by a pretended revelation from heaven.
At the same time, it should be said that, as in South Africa, and perhaps in all polygamous tribes, the number of a man’s wives is made an index of his consequence in the community, and no man is allowed to marry a second or any succeeding wife till he has demonstrated his ability to support her. Hence, a man’s enterprise and business capacity is measured by the number of wives he has, and hence, also, he is under a constant temptation to multiply wives, and his wives under a corresponding temptation to consent to it, very much as it is a kind of satisfaction to a slave to belong to a master who has a well-stocked plantation rather than one who owns but a single negro. Nevertheless, if any one would know whether the women of Utah approve of polygamy or not, let him ask the next virtuous and intelligent lady he meets. He need not go to Salt Lake city to learn whether or not, any true woman can be content to have only a fifth or a twenty-fifth interest in her husband’s affection. Any woman can answer that question.
The Mormons have, indeed, published one letter written in praise of the institution, by a Yankee lady, a convert to the faith, relating how like a family of sisters the different wives of one husband dwell together in love and peace. But all analogy is against it, all history is against it. Utah is very much vilified or it is no exception to the general rule.
But what help is there? Said a woman to me: “If I were a Mormon, and my husband should bring home another wife, I would leave him.” “Would you?” said I, “The nearest house in which you could find a refuge is six hundred miles away. If you took the stage or joined an emigrant train, the Mormons would overtake you and bring you back.” So that, whatever a wife may say, if her husband see fit to marry two, ten, or twenty wives, she has no redress.
I had been told that very few women showed themselves on the streets in Salt Lake city, and that they all wore a downcast and unhappy look. I looked for something of the kind, but failed to find it. I was there the fourth of July, and the place was filled with people, but I could not perceive that they were not as happy as in other places. Polygamy degrades woman, of course. If there be fifteen wives, no one can be companion, bosom-friend or support to her husband, as when she stands alone. Who was ever invited to dine with Brigham Young? With what family should it be? Or should he bring all his wives and children together? The arrangement is difficult; and society breaks down under its complications.
Utah would long since have been admitted into the Union as a state, had it not been for polygamy. The population is said to be sixty thousand, mostly Mormons, growing in numbers by natural increase and by the arrival of converts from the old world. But the system is so utterly at variance with the sentiments of our people, that it was kept out by one pretext or another till, in 1862, Congress made polygamy a penal offense in all the territories of the United States. How was that act received in Utah? Brigham Young publicly denounced and derided it. He took an additional wife, and encouraged all his people that were able, to follow his example. He taught them to trample the law under their feet, and defied the United States’ authorities to enforce it in Utah. The United States marshal brought him before the grand jury for indictment. But it was composed of Mormons, and, as might have been expected, it failed to find a bill against him; and within a few months just past, he is said to have added another to his numerous wives, a beautiful girl of eighteen.
What will be the solution of the Mormon problem? The Mormons pretend that it has been revealed to them that in due time the angel of the Lord will descend on a mountain-top not far from the city, and “lift up an ensign to the nations from far,” according to Isa. v. 26, and mustering the Mormon hosts, lead them back to Missouri, where the seat of empire for the saints shall be established, and all nations shall come bowing unto them!
Many others believe that the whole system will fall to pieces by its own weight; that its incompatibilities, contradictions and inconsistencies can not be held together in one system when the iron hand that now holds them loses its grasp! When Brigham Young dies, they say, Mormonism will die also. When Brigham Young dies, what a scene there will be! twenty-eight broken-hearted widows and fifty-three fatherless children, following an old man to the grave! But will there be no aspiring widow, no ambitious son to seize the sceptre, or other person to usurp authority? The analogies of history do not make it certain that Mormonism will not outlive Brigham Young. Others, still knowing the hostility of the “saints” to the United States, the constant irritation between them and the Gentiles, and particularly the military force of the U.S. at Salt Lake city, look for collisions and usurpations till it shall become the imperative duty of the government to step in and wipe the system out of existence. Such a solution every thoughtful person would deplore.
On the other hand, it is believed by many that the mines contain the key to unlock the mystery. Many miners, from Idaho and Montana, are to be found at Salt Lake city. Rich silver mines, it is said, have been found in the mountain ranges of Utah, as they have been in every range that has been examined east of the Sierra Nevadas. The Mormons have no capital to develop these mines. If they are developed it will draw in a different population; the interests of coal and iron in the territory would draw still more largely from the east; and by degrees this new element would make itself felt on public opinion and legislation, and the obnoxious features of the system gradually disappear without violence or bloodshed. Gen. Conner, the commander of that military department, who has cautiously studied the problem, I am told, expresses great confidence in such a result. Already some think they see the beginning of the end. They say only “occasionally there comes from the tabernacle, which serves the double purpose of an arena and a church to the Latter Day Saints, an anathema in the old style, upon the Gentiles. These fulminations, however, have lost much of their audacity and quite all their terror, except to the more timid. The days of this remarkable fanaticism are numbered. Already through the surrounding gloom its devotees behold the hand which has unsealed their isolation, stretched forth to seal its doom!”
For my part, I think the great weakness of Mormonism is, that it affirms no important truth, makes no strong point. It has no vital principle, no reactionary force against time-honored customs, no cardinal doctrine, no rallying cry but “polygamy;” which is a millstone about its neck. No one has discovered anything in the book of Mormon worth remembering. Take away the outward pressure, and I see no force of cohesion in it to hold it together. It seems to be but the false and fanatical system of unlettered and ambitious demagogues, which like many others, similar and preceding, have been thrown like drift-wood, high and dry, upon the banks of the stream of time.
Meanwhile, what shall be done for these 60,000 people, in the very heart of our country, who, according to our views, have no true church or true minister of the gospel among them? “Why not send ministers among them?” says the reader, impatiently; “especially when we have permission to send one or many.” The difficulty hitherto has been the lack of families in the so-called Gentile community. Said a merchant to me, “you send missionaries to Africa, Japan, and the ends of the earth, and I have often wondered why none are sent here.” But even that man had left his wife in the east, or, as he said, she would not come with him! Bankers, merchants, agents and employees of the stage and transportation lines, United States judges and others, are there, who would be interested in a church, but all without their families; their wives will not go there. I could hear of only five Gentile women in the place. No lady wishes to go where every man she sees is liable to be a polygamist, and every woman she meets may be second or seventh wife of a polygamist. She will not consent to bring up her family in such a place. She will let her husband remain there temporarily, for purposes of business, if his pecuniary interests demand it, and live without his society and counsels, and take sole charge of their children meanwhile, but she will not live in such a place. Hence, the greatest element of permanency has been lacking among the Gentile population hitherto.
But all such difficulties are rapidly passing away. “Gentile” society is organizing and consolidating itself. This is owing, as a letter lately received states, “partly to a large influx of Gentiles who though generally subject to no very peculiar convictions or impressions, have yet religion enough to sustain them against all assailing fanaticisms; partly to the marriage and settlement here of a considerable number of soldiers who were discharged at Camp Douglas on the expiration of their term of service last fall; partly to the influence of the ‘Daily Vidette,’ a spirited little paper published at Camp Douglas, and which circulates pretty freely among the Mormons, and in some measure to the more vigorous action of the Federal Court here, in restraining Mormon persecution, which was formerly inexorably severe, and in many cases, it is believed, fatal to its objects.” “A Young Men’s Literary Association” has recently been formed there also, and has obtained and furnished a room capable of seating two hundred persons. The association now numbers one hundred members, and among other requisite qualifications for admission is this: “The absolute absence of all connection or sympathy with the Mormon fanaticism.”
All this is hopeful. It indicates growth in the right direction. These forces must expand indefinitely and become a power in the territory, till it becomes as accessible to religious influence as any other part of the country.