Letter to John Taylor, 13 January 1880
Prest. John Taylor
Dear Brother
In company with Bro Lot Smith I left Sunset
on the 24th of December, and attended the Quarterly
conference at Snow-Flake on the 27th and 28th and then
went to our missionary camp on the Meadows and to
St. John to see the state of things, and to assist the
brethren about the settling of the St John purchase
and we found two difficulties in our path. First
the Mexicans had destroyed in their ignorance nearly
all of the Government Survey stakes and Boundaries
(thinking that if the stakes were destroyed they would not have
to pay for the land). This made it quite difficult for
the brethren who had taken up claims on the Mead-
ows to find any lines so as to tell where to build.
And on our return to St Joseph I engaged Major Ladd
to go to the brethren at the Meadows and St John
and try to run out the lines. And the other difficulty
is the want of men to hold the claims at the Meadows
and take possession of the land we have purchased
at St John. We need 100 men ^at St John^ alone, while there is
room for 200. While at the same time our mission-
