Discourse 1898-07-25
President Woodruff was then pre-
sented to the audience by Mayor Clark
and was received with the warmest
demonstrations of applause. The ven-
erable Pioneer and leader said in sub-
stance:
It was fifty-one years ago yesterday,
a little before 11 o'clock a.m., that he
drove President Young in his carriage
on to the spot where the Knutsford
hotel now stands. On his arrival in the
valley, the speaker had, he said, one
bushel and a half of potatoes in his
possession. He had covenanted with
the Lord that he would neither eat
nor drink until they were planted, and
he kept his promise. Others of the
Pioneers also had potatoes with them.
They, too, promptly attended to the
work of planting. And they were
planted in the earth, not in the moon
(dark or light) as brother Orson Pratt
objected to that. (Laughter).
There was a man in Nauvoo who built
a carriage to suit his own fancy. It
had a bed 11 feet long, and was en-
tered by means of steps and door. This
vehicle the speaker bought and brought
to this valley. On the Monday morn-
ing immediately after the arrival of
the first Pioneers President Young
took some of the Twelve Apostles, and
with them walked on a short distance
in a northwesterly direction; a halt was
suddenly made and President Young,
striking his cane upon the ground, ex-
claimed, "Brethren, here will be the
Temple of our God." "I didn't ask
him," continued President Woodruff,
"who told him the Temple would be
there. I didn't care. I put a stake
there and the Temple is there, a monu-
ment to President Young's foresight
and prophetic accuracy."
After passing over the ground, which
is now Pioneer Square, the party en-
tered wagons and started for the
Point of the Mountain, which ap-
peared to be about five miles to the
westward. The distance, however, was
much greater, being about fifteen
miles. They continued on to Black
Rock where President Young, plunged
in the brine and took a bath, being
the first Mormon to lave in its
waters. He was followed by other mem-
bers of the party among whom was a
colored man. When the latter emerged
from the waves the salt brine dried
upon his skin and instead of being a
black man he was perfectly white.
(Laughter.) This transformation Por-
ter Rockwell declared to be the first
miracle performed in the valley. (Re-
newed merriment). But when he
washed himself in fresh water the salt
disappeared and once more the white
man was black. (Laughter and ap-
plause.)
On reaching here the Pioneers were
importuned to continue their journey
to California where it was believed
their condition could be bettered.
President Young said he knew he was
in the midst of a desert with his people,
but that would make no difference.
They would build a temple, a city and
a commonwealth here. When the first
message flashed across the the
new electric means of com-
munication, the words were
"What has God wrought?" And so re-
garding the declaration of President
Young, the speaker felt constrained
to say: "What has God wrought?" In
these mountain vale[s] [a]re now cities
and towns bedecked with temples of
worship, school houses, colleges and
the various conditions of an advanced
civilization.
Here President Woodruff paused
briefly and then said: "Wonderful
changes have come to this land and
people since the arrival of the Pioneers,
and I want to say that the changes,
the progress and increase will be just
as great during the next fifty-one years
as during a similar period that has
just closed. The destiny of this people
is before heaven and earth and noth-
ing can stay it."
President Woodruff then said he would
speak of one incident and only one
connected with the journey of the Pio-
neers hither. It was suggested to him
by the presence on the stand of W. C.
A. Smoot, who was the youngest teams-
ter in the advance guard. It occured
near the Platte river. One day the
little band of home and liberty seekers
were startled by seeing to the west,
directly ahead of them, what appeared
to be a great black cloud close to the
earth. To their amazement they dis-
covered on approaching nearer that it
was not a cloud, but solid, mighty,
moving body of buffalo, probably the
greatest herd that had ever assembled
in the western world. There was great
danger of being crushed to death by
the mighty horde. What to do was a
problem. But after consultation a
wedgelike column was thrown out and
an opening effected in the herd. Among
this animated mass of the monarchs of
the mountains and plains they
struggled on and on for their
own personal salvation for three days
and nights. At one time Brother Smoot
lost a horse which got mixed up with
the buffalo which were traveling not
in a scattered condition but just as
close together as animals could crowd
together. For [a] time it seemed as
though the loss would be permanent,
but after a while the horse was re-
covered.
"It always was," said President
Woodruff in his closing reference to the
incident, "a mystery to me why that
great bady of buffalo should have gath-
ered together and marched from its
roaming place on the slopes of the
Rocky Mountains and moved down on
to the Platte. It never occured be-
fore; it never occurred since, and will
never occur again."
As a finale to his address President
Woodruff said he felt that it was his
duty to give President Brigham Young
the credit of having laid the founda-
tion of this city and State. The streets
of Salt Lake City, for instance, were
the widest and most beautiful of any
city on the earth. In the historic city
of Jerusalem, two loaded camels found
it difficult to pass each other. In this
city, thirty of those caravans of the
desert could do so. President Young
believed in fulfilling the commandments
of God. He believed in doing things
well. That was a characteristic of the
Pioneers, no matter what the cost. For
instance, a mountain was moved at a
cost of a half million dollars for a foun-
dation for the Manti Temple.
