Joseph Smith presided at a Conference held at
Quincy Ill on the whare it was resolved
that 15 of the Seventies Names given also 5 High priest accompy
the Twelve to Europe ownly two out of the Twenty fulfilled
the mission. May 9th Joseph Smith left Quincy with his family
for Commece Ill. on the My and arived on the &
stoped with his family ain a log Home Nearly all the Church
who were driven from Missouri soon followd the
prophet to Commerce, Ill. On the 9 11 June Joseph
Smith commenced dictating his History to his Clerks, who
write for him. On the I left Quncy Ill. and
started with my family for Commerce Ill I ownly drove
to the committee House & spent the night. Brothe Brigham
Young & myself started with our families & drove 15 mils
& camped for the night, and on the night of the we
camped on the bottom of an open prairie. We arivd in
Commerce on the and called upon Brothe Joseph
Smith & his family. I allso say may other old friends
who had been driven from place to place yet
they felt well, & were not Discouraged but felt to
trust in God. The Saints felt Determined to ^try to^ build
up a City where ever they went. Commerce was beautiful
for situation yet there was but two or three buildings
in the town. After spending a short time visiting old
acquaintances I crossed the Missippi River in a
ferry boat and landed in Montrose Iowa. this
was the first time I Ever was in the Territory
Montrose was built for a garrison in 1834 by the
United States Army It containd about 12 bloks of
building making about 75 rooms in all. After spending
the night in Docter Gallands office, I moved my family
and effects into a Room on the west side of the public
squa[r]e. this room I occupied untill I started upon
my mission for England and my family occuped it
after my Departure
On the , Joseph the prophet having been
sick for several days, & his home & Door yard containg many
of the sick saints who had Been driven from Missouri. Joseph
arose from his bed with the power of God Resting upon him
And He took the sick by the hand & in a loud voice
commanded them in the Name of Jesus Christ to
arise & be made whole & he healed all that were
in his house & around about He then took some
of the Twelve with him & walked up the River bank
about a mile & healing all that were sick as he went
along & they were may among the Number was Elder
Sherwood who lay at the point of Death. He crossed
the River to Montrose went into the Home where Brigham
Young lay sick & healed him, who walked out of the
Home & followed him. The prophet came to where I was
standing & told me to follow him I did so we
then went into the Home of Elijah Fordham who
was at the point of Death, his friends had looked
for him to breath his Last for several hours. He
had lost his speech & nearly his breath. we walked
into the Room Brother The prophet Joseph took brother
Fordham by the Hand & looking the dying man in
the Eyes for several moments. He them said Brother Fordham,
in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I comnd
you to arise & be made whole. The voice of the prophet
was like the voice of God it seemed as though the whole
Home shook from its very foundation And the man
leaped from his bed & was made whole instaneously
He kicked his pettiees off from his feet, dressed himself
Eat a Roll of bread & milk & followed us out of the House
& went into the House of Bates Nobles who was also
very sick the prophet Healed him & we knelt down & pryd
& gve thanks to God. The wicked became alarmed at the seeing
the power of God and followed to see what the End would
be After the propht Had healed, all the sick saints in
Montrose He with several of the Twelve & S. Rigdon went
to the ferry to Return to Nauvoo. A Gentile
came to him & asked him if He would not
go out into the country some two miles & heal
a pair of Twinn chldren about 3 months old both
of which were vary sick. He said I cannot go but
I will send a man, who will do just as well. He
Turned The prophet Turned to me & said you go
with this man & teach him & his Houshold the princples
of faith in Christ then lay your hands upon
the Chldren & heal them in the name of the Lord
At the same time handing me a silk Bandanna
red Hankerchief & said wipe their faces with that
Handkerchief & they shall get well ^and as long as you will keep
this Handkerchief it shall ever remain as a league between you & me^ then the prophet returned
home & I went & done as I was Comma[nded] & the
children were healed. The deeds of this day showed me more
of the power of God in healing of the sick than I ever
before saw in the Church & kingdom of God in any day
of my life. I still keep the Handkerchief in memory of
the prophet Joseph
London , Sunday G. A. Smith & myself met at
Father Cornors & held three meetings though the day and Evening
we red in the book of Mormon, broke bread to the
Saints. I felt the Spirit of God bore testimony to
me that there would be a great work in London
We retired to rest in good season. I felt well in
my mind and slept untill about 12 oclok at night
I awoke and meditated upon the things of God untill
about 3 oclok in the morning and while forming a Determina-
tion to warn the Inhabitants of London, & overcome
the powers of darkness which were besetting us day by
day and trying to overcome us. As I was forming
this determination in my own mind A personage appeared
unto me which I considered was the prince of Darknss
darkness or the Devil. he made war with me and attemptd
to take my life He laid hold of me like a strong
armed man. I felt like the wait of a heavy man
lying upon my body and he caught me by the thoat
with a strong grip and choaked me nearly to death
I struggled with him as one man would struggled
with another I felt as though this destroyer would ovecom
me & that I must die as I saw no way that I could
Escape his grasp, at that instant the thought came to me
why do you not pray, & call upon the Lord for help. I them
asked the Lord in the name of Jesus Christ to deliver
me from the powers of the Devil & preseve my life
instantly three personages came through the door drapd
in white with considerable light surrounding them they
came up to the bed side where I was lying in the grasp
of the Enemy & they laid their hands upon my head & in
the twinkling of an Eye I was liberated & the spirit of God
vibrated my whole body from the crown of my head to the souls
of my feet and I was instantly covered all over in a light
state of perspiration water stood upon ^me^ in drops As soon
as I could speak I spoke to GBroth G A Smith &
I foud that he had been Laboring under the same
difficulty the same power of the Destroyer had been
seeking his Life as well as my own, and he was
delivered in the same way. The three personages that
appeared unto me one was a tall man I shoude think
over six feet the other middle one was anothe man was
medium size & the 3rd was a short man they wee all dressed
alike Neither of them spoke a word to my hearing but
as soon as they laid hands upon my head & I was
delivered they disappeared. I felt thankful to God for
the presirvation of my life. (Brother Tullage Record this
in one of the Blank pages & Refer to the page)
. In company with the Twelve and many
other Saints I attended a Discussion in the Evening held
at the Carpenters Hall, Garrett Road, Manchester]]. One Mr
Barrett had tried hard for a length of time to get
some of the Twelve to hold a discussion with him. th[r]ough
his continued teazing president Brigham Young told him
the Twelve would not stoop to discuss any subject
with him but if he must discuss the subject of Mormonsm
He would appont some bo[d]y to meet him as Mr Barry
would not take no for an answer Brothe Alfred Corden
was apponted to meet him Brother Cordon as it were was
a Beardless boy yet he had been ordand an Elder &
possessed much of the Spirit of the Lord And they met
for this purpos at Early candle light. The Stand was
occupied on one side by many Methodist priest, & on the
othe side by the Twelve Apostles & Elders. The Home was light
by 3 chandeliers with 12 lights in each lighted with
gass there was some 1500 people present. Mr Barrett pledged him-
self to prove the Book of Mormon Fals & water Baptism
^not^ Essential to Salvation while Brother Cordon pleged
himself to prove the Book of Mormon true & water
Baptisms essential to Salvation. As Mr Barrytt arose
& declgaired to the Assembly that He would prove the Book of
Mormon Fals & watter baptism not essential to
Salvation 4 ^glass^ chimney in each of the chanderliers burnt
to peaces & the glass flew among the congregation
And the man who had tended the gass in that Hall and
for twenty years said he had never know
any weirder of the kind. the chimneys were replasced
& the discussions went on I set by the side of Doctor
W Richards and at the commencement of the meeting
A very interesting old gentleman apperd in the congrega-
tion he sat at the end of a seat going the ally near
the platform. He made me think if what he s is said of
the Ancient of Days his hair was white as wool & rested
in a large white roll upon his shoulder, he was a noble
looking man he Eyed us with great interest &
penetrations, he occupied his seat to our view for
some half an hour I called the attentions of Doctor
Richards to him we both looked at him with feelings
of both Interest, some little disturbance in another part
of the Home attracted our attention & when we
returned our eyes to the seat of our interestng visitor
as we found his seat vacant, & he had disappeard
then for the first time we felt that we had been
visited by John the Revelator or one of the thee
Ancient Nephite, However the discussion went on
Mr Barrytt was confounded, & Elder Cordan gained
the victory, & quite a number of the methodist who
attended that discussion wer Baptized & joind the Latter
Day Saints.
Autobiography of Wilford Woodruff
The remaining months of
the year was spent by the
Twelve, after their return from
their successful mission in G
to Great Britain, in settling
their families in Nauvoo and
taking charge of the affairs of
the affairs Church. Several
noteworthy events took place at this
time among which were the
dedication of the baptismsmal font
in the Temple by the Prophet and
the Twelve and the first adminis-
trations of the ordinance of
356 TULLIDGE'S QUARTERLY MAGAZINE.
said that he was a man of excellent busi-
ness qualities.
CHAPTER III.
UTAH OBTAINS AN HISTORICAL IMPOR-
TANCE THROUGH HER COMMERCIAL
MEN.
IT was the merchants of Utah who first
brought the Mormon community
fairly into socialistic importance. And
this affirmation is true of them, both in
their results at home and in the influence
which they exercised abroad for the good
of the people and the glory of Utah.
Moreover, in the general sense of the pub-
lic weal, this affirmation is as true of the
Walker Brothers and Godbe and Law-
rence, as it is of Jennings and Hooper or
Eldredge and Clawson. The very con-
struction of society and the necessities
and aims of commerce convert the enter-
prises and life work of this class of men
into the public good. Over a quarter of
a century, for instance, the Walker Broth-
ers and Godbe and Lawrence have been
identified with the material prosperity and
destiny of this Territory. The welfare
of the country is their own good as a
class;—the glory of the commonwealth
glorifies their houses and augments their
own fortunes. Of all men, the life-work
and enterprise of the class who establish
commerce, build railroads, develop the
native mineral resources of the country,
and construct the financial power of the
State, must per force tend to the public
prosperity as well as conserving and pre-
serving society. And if this is the case
with those influential men of commerce
and great enterprises who have gone out-
side the pale of the Church, yet are still
identified with the community in all their
essential interests, how much more,
specially speaking, is it the case with those
men who have remained inside the pale
of the Church and built up her commer-
cial and financial power? The Church
owes to her apostles of commerce and fin-
ance more than many would like to con-
fess; and yet in this point of their extra-
ordinary service to the Church is at once
the significance and potency of "Zion's
Co-operative Mercantile Institution."
This will be strikingly illustrated in the
circumstantial history of "Z. C. M. I.,"
towards which we are traveling in these
preparatory commercial views.
Often has it been told what the com-
munity has done for the merchants, and
as often have those same merchants—who
built up the commercial and financial
power of the Church—been ungraciously
twitted that they have made their money
out of "this people." Let us look at
the other side now, and ask something
of what the merchants have done for the
community, and what "this people"
have made out of the merchants? And
this line of review of our commercial
history is very necessary to be under-
stood, insomuch as it will be suggestive
of what the community already owe to
the existence of "Z. C. M. I." And,
furthermore, the remarkably successful
example of that unique Institution dur-
ing the last twelve years, under the
united incorporation of these apostles
temporal with the apostles spiritual, will
foreshadow the vast results which the
community will derive in the future in
the growth and augmentation of the pow-
er and resources of said Institution.
A cursory view has been given of the
destitute condition of the Mormon peo-
ple during the first period of the settle-
ment of these Valleys. As late as 1856,
there was famine in Utah, and the
community was barely preserved by the
leaders wisely rationing the whole and
dividing among the people their own
substance. But it was neither the econ-
omy and wisdom of the leaders, nor the
plentiful harvests that followed, that re-
deemed Utah from the depths of her
poverty, and the anomalous isolation of
a people reared in lands of civilization
and plenty. She was redeemed from her
social destitution by a train of Providen-
tial circumstances on the one hand, and
the extraordinary activities of her mer-
chants on the other. As we have seen,
the Providence came in a United States
Army; the temporary existence of Camp
Floyd; the departure of the troops,
leaving their substance to the community;
the needs of the Overland Mail line; the
construction of the telegraph lines; and
then again the arrival of another U. S.
army under Colonel Connor, and the es-
tablishment of Camp Douglas with sev-
eral thousand soldiers to disburse their
money in Salt Lake City after their pay
days, besides the constant supplies which
the camp needed from our country, and
often labor from our citizens. It was
then, under these changes and propi-
tious circumstances, that our Utah mer-
baptism for the dead, both of
which occurred on Sunday, . A large congregation
assembled and Elders Brigham
Young, Heber C. Kimball and
John Taylor baptized about forty
and persons and Elders Willard
Richards, George A Smith and
Wilford Woodruff confirmed them.
During the following week
a company of about 200 Saints
arrived from England, and I was
now again in the midst of
hundreds whom I had baptized
in America, the "Islands of the Sea"
and England and Wales.
356 TULLIDGE'S QUARTERLY MAGAZINE.
said that he was a man of excellent busi-
ness qualities.
CHAPTER III.
UTAH OBTAINS AN HISTORICAL IMPOR-
TANCE THROUGH HER COMMERCIAL
MEN.
IT was the merchants of Utah who first
brought the Mormon community
fairly into socialistic importance. And
this affirmation is true of them, both in
their results at home and in the influence
which they exercised abroad for the good
of the people and the glory of Utah.
Moreover, in the general sense of the pub-
lic weal, this affirmation is as true of the
Walker Brothers and Godbe and Law-
rence, as it is of Jennings and Hooper or
Eldredge and Clawson. The very con-
struction of society and the necessities
and aims of commerce convert the enter-
prises and life work of this class of men
into the public good. Over a quarter of
a century, for instance, the Walker Broth-
ers and Godbe and Lawrence have been
identified with the material prosperity and
destiny of this Territory. The welfare
of the country is their own good as a
class;—the glory of the commonwealth
glorifies their houses and augments their
own fortunes. Of all men, the life-work
and enterprise of the class who establish
commerce, build railroads, develop the
native mineral resources of the country,
and construct the financial power of the
State, must per force tend to the public
prosperity as well as conserving and pre-
serving society. And if this is the case
with those influential men of commerce
and great enterprises who have gone out-
side the pale of the Church, yet are still
identified with the community in all their
essential interests, how much more,
specially speaking, is it the case with those
men who have remained inside the pale
of the Church and built up her commer-
cial and financial power? The Church
owes to her apostles of commerce and fin-
ance more than many would like to con-
fess; and yet in this point of their extra-
ordinary service to the Church is at once
the significance and potency of "Zion's
Co-operative Mercantile Institution."
This will be strikingly illustrated in the
circumstantial history of "Z. C. M. I.,"
towards which we are traveling in these
preparatory commercial views.
Often has it been told what the com-
munity has done for the merchants, and
as often have those same merchants—who
built up the commercial and financial
power of the Church—been ungraciously
twitted that they have made their money
out of "this people." Let us look at
the other side now, and ask something
of what the merchants have done for the
community, and what "this people"
have made out of the merchants? And
this line of review of our commercial
history is very necessary to be under-
stood, insomuch as it will be suggestive
of what the community already owe to
the existence of "Z. C. M. I." And,
furthermore, the remarkably successful
example of that unique Institution dur-
ing the last twelve years, under the
united incorporation of these apostles
temporal with the apostles spiritual, will
foreshadow the vast results which the
community will derive in the future in
the growth and augmentation of the pow-
er and resources of said Institution.
A cursory view has been given of the
destitute condition of the Mormon peo-
ple during the first period of the settle-
ment of these Valleys. As late as 1856,
there was famine in Utah, and the
community was barely preserved by the
leaders wisely rationing the whole and
dividing among the people their own
substance. But it was neither the econ-
omy and wisdom of the leaders, nor the
plentiful harvests that followed, that re-
deemed Utah from the depths of her
poverty, and the anomalous isolation of
a people reared in lands of civilization
and plenty. She was redeemed from her
social destitution by a train of Providen-
tial circumstances on the one hand, and
the extraordinary activities of her mer-
chants on the other. As we have seen,
the Providence came in a United States
Army; the temporary existence of Camp
Floyd; the departure of the troops,
leaving their substance to the community;
the needs of the Overland Mail line; the
construction of the telegraph lines; and
then again the arrival of another U. S.
army under Colonel Connor, and the es-
tablishment of Camp Douglas with sev-
eral thousand soldiers to disburse their
money in Salt Lake City after their pay
days, besides the constant supplies which
the camp needed from our country, and
often labor from our citizens. It was
then, under these changed and propi-
tious circumstances, that our Utah mer-
Just before the Conference
the Prophet administered the
ordinance of rebaptism to the
church, baptizing many himself,
among whom were the Twelve,
who afterwards assisted him
in baptizing and confirming
the multitude. This was the
first time I was rebaptized. At
since my and the Prophet
Joseph administered
the close of the administration
the Prophet lifted up his hands
to heaven and blessed the
people and the Spirit of
356 TULLIDGE'S QUARTERLY MAGAZINE.
said that he was a man of excellent busi-
ness qualities.
CHAPTER III.
UTAH OBTAINS AN HISTORICAL IMPOR-
TANCE THROUGH HER COMMERCIAL
MEN.
IT was the merchants of Utah who first
brought the Mormon community
fairly into socialistic importance. And
this affirmation is true of them, both in
their results at home and in the influence
which they exercised abroad for the good
of the people and the glory of Utah.
Moreover, in the general sense of the pub-
lic weal, this affirmation is as true of the
Walker Brothers and Godbe and Law-
rence, as it is of Jennings and Hooper or
Eldredge and Clawson. The very con-
struction of society and the necessities
and aims of commerce convert the enter-
prises and life work of this class of men
into the public good. Over a quarter of
a century, for instance, the Walker Broth-
ers and Godbe and Lawrence have been
identified with the material prosperity and
destiny of this Territory. The welfare
of the country is their own good as a
class;—the glory of the commonwealth
glorifies their houses and augments their
own fortunes. Of all men, the life-work
and enterprise of the class who establish
commerce, build railroads, develop the
native mineral resources of the country,
and construct the financial power of the
State, must per force tend to the public
prosperity as well as conserving and pre-
serving society. And if this is the case
with those influential men of commerce
and great enterprises who have gone out-
side the pale of the Church, yet are still
identified with the community in all their
essential interests, how much more,
specially speaking, is it the case with those
men who have remained inside the pale
of the Church and built up her commer-
cial and financial power? The Church
owes to her apostles of commerce and fin-
ance more than many would like to con-
fess; and yet in this point of their extra-
ordinary service to the Church is at once
the significance and potency of "Zion's
Co-operative Mercantile Institution."
This will be strikingly illustrated in the
circumstantial history of "Z. C. M. I.,"
towards which we are traveling in these
preparatory commercial views.
Often has it been told what the com-
munity has done for the merchants, and
as often have those same merchants—who
built up the commercial and financial
power of the Church—been ungraciously
twitted that they have made their money
out of "this people." Let us look at
the other side now, and ask something
of what the merchants have done for the
community, and what "this people"
have made out of the merchants? And
this line of review of our commercial
history is very necessary to be under-
stood, insomuch as it will be suggestive
of what the community already owe to
the existence of "Z. C. M. I." And,
furthermore, the remarkably successful
example of that unique Institution dur-
ing the last twelve years, under the
united incorporation of these apostles
temporal with the apostles spiritual, will
foreshadow the vast results which the
community will derive in the future in
the growth and augmentation of the pow-
er and resources of said Institution.
A cursory view has been given of the
destitute condition of the Mormon peo-
ple during the first period of the settle-
ment of these Valleys. As late as 1856,
there was famine in Utah, and the
community was barely preserved by the
leaders wisely rationing the whole and
dividing among the people their own
substance. But it was neither the econ-
omy and wisdom of the leaders, nor the
plentiful harvests that followed, that re-
deemed Utah from the depths of her
poverty, and the anomalous isolation of
a people reared in lands of civilization
and plenty. She was redeemed from her
social destitution by a train of Providen-
tial circumstances on the one hand, and
the extraordinary activities of her mer-
chants on the other. As we have seen,
the Providence came in a United States
Army; the temporary existence of Camp
Floyd; the departure of the troops,
leaving their substance to the community;
the needs of the Overland Mail line; the
construction of the telegraph lines; and
then again the arrival of another U. S.
army under Colonel Connor, and the es-
tablishment of Camp Douglas with sev-
eral thousand soldiers to disburse their
money in Salt Lake City after their pay
days, besides the constant supplies which
the camp needed from our country, and
often labor from our citizens. It was
then, under these changed and propi-
tious circumstances, that our Utah mer-
God reasted upon the congregation
At the Conference
there were 275 ordained to
the office ^under the hands^ of Elders Brigham
Young, Heber C Kimball,
Orson Pratt, Lyman Wight,
Willard Richards, George A
Smith and Wilford Woodruff.
off While these ordinations were
going on Elder John Taylor was
in the stand delivering a
discourse to the multitude,
while others ofthe Elders were
baptizing and confirming
at the font and elsewhere.
356 TULLIDGE'S QUARTERLY MAGAZINE.
said that he was a man of excellent busi-
ness qualities.
CHAPTER III.
UTAH OBTAINS AN HISTORICAL IMPOR-
TANCE THROUGH HER COMMERCIAL
MEN.
IT was the merchants of Utah who first
brought the Mormon community
fairly into socialistic importance. And
this affirmation is true of them, both in
their results at home and in the influence
which they exercised abroad for the good
of the people and the glory of Utah.
Moreover, in the general sense of the pub-
lic weal, this affirmation is as true of the
Walker Brothers and Godbe and Law-
rence, as it is of Jennings and Hooper or
Eldredge and Clawson. The very con-
struction of society and the necessities
and aims of commerce convert the enter-
prises and life work of this class of men
into the public good. Over a quarter of
a century, for instance, the Walker Broth-
ers and Godbe and Lawrence have been
identified with the material prosperity and
destiny of this Territory. The welfare
of the country is their own good as a
class;—the glory of the commonwealth
glorifies their houses and augments their
own fortunes. Of all men, the life-work
and enterprise of the class who establish
commerce, build railroads, develop the
native mineral resources of the country,
and construct the financial power of the
State, must per force tend to the public
prosperity as well as conserving and pre-
serving society. And if this is the case
with those influential men of commerce
and great enterprises who have gone out-
side the pale of the Church, yet are still
identified with the community in all their
essential interests, how much more,
specially speaking, is it the case with those
men who have remained inside the pale
of the Church and built up her commer-
cial and financial power? The Church
owes to her apostles of commerce and fin-
ance more than many would like to con-
fess; and yet in this point of their extra-
ordinary service to the Church is at once
the significance and potency of "Zion's
Co-operative Mercantile Institution."
This will be strikingly illustrated in the
circumstantial history of "Z. C. M. I.,"
towards which we are traveling in these
preparatory commercial views.
Often has it been told what the com-
munity has done for the merchants, and
as often have those same merchants—who
built up the commercial and financial
power of the Church—been ungraciously
twitted that they have made their money
out of "this people." Let us look at
the other side now, and ask something
of what the merchants have done for the
community, and what "this people"
have made out of the merchants? And
this line of review of our commercial
history is very necessary to be under-
stood, insomuch as it will be suggestive
of what the community already owe to
the existence of "Z. C. M. I." And,
furthermore, the remarkably successful
example of that unique Institution dur-
ing the last twelve years, under the
united incorporation of these apostles
temporal with the apostles spiritual, will
foreshadow the vast results which the
community will derive in the future in
the growth and augmentation of the pow-
er and resources of said Institution.
A cursory view has been given of the
destitute condition of the Mormon peo-
ple during the first period of the settle-
ment of these Valleys. As late as 1856,
there was famine in Utah, and the
community was barely preserved by the
leaders wisely rationing the whole and
dividing among the people their own
substance. But it was neither the econ-
omy and wisdom of the leaders, nor the
plentiful harvests that followed, that re-
deemed Utah from the depths of her
poverty, and the anomalous isolation of
a people reared in lands of civilization
and plenty. She was redeemed from her
social destitution by a train of Providen-
tial circumstances on the one hand, and
the extraordinary activities of her mer-
chants on the other. As we have seen,
the Providence came in a United States
Army; the temporary existence of Camp
Floyd; the departure of the troops,
leaving their substance to the community;
the needs of the Overland Mail line; the
construction of the telegraph lines; and
then again the arrival of another U. S.
army under Colonel Connor, and the es-
tablishment of Camp Douglas with sev-
eral thousand soldiers to disburse their
money in Salt Lake City after their pay
days, besides the constant supplies which
the camp needed from our country, and
often labor from our citizens. It was
then, under these changed and propi-
tious circumstances, that our Utah mer-
On the I started
for St Louis to purchase a stock
of paper for the "Times & Seasons"
and arrived at St Louis. on
the after a very
uncomfortable voyage during
which I took a very severe
cold which settled into bilious
fever.
See book marks 3
TULLIDGE'S
QUARTERLY MAGAZINE.
No. III.—APRIL, 1881.—Vol. I.
UTAH'S COMMERCE AND CO-OPERATION.
CHAPTER I.
THE INITIAL VIEW OF OUR COMMERCE.
THE history of Utah commerce is
very unique. In some respects,
there is not a State or Territory in
America whose commercial history will
compare with that of our Territory. Its
character has been as peculiar as its com-
monwealth, and that has given to it a
typing quite uncommon in its genius;
yet the typing in accord with the co-op-
erative policies which the age has de-
vised in solving the problem between
capital and labor. There is also much
stirring romance in its history. Its
story and incidents are almost as roman-
tic as the commerce of Arabia whose
mammoth caravans, in their journeys
across the deserts, have given subject and
narrative to the most gorgeous romances
in the whole range of literature. The
journeys of the trains of these merchants
of the West over the Rocky Mountains
and the vast arid plains between Salt
Lake City and the Eastern States, and
their arduous task and adventurous ex-
periences will fitly compare with the his-
tory of the merchants of the East in old-
en times when civilization herself was
fostered by commerce; and, moreover,
in the early days of Utah, it took as
much commercial courage, perseverance
and ability to establish the commerce of
this Territory as it did that of any na-
tion known in history. On the very
face of the record, we may discern that
the men who did this work were no or-
dinary men. They were capable of mak-
ing their mark in any land; and if Utah,
in the early days, afforded them great op-
portunities, it was their boundless ener-
gies and commercial ambitions that first
created those opportunities and made a
people comparatively affluent who had
been buried in isolation and in the
depths of poverty. Thus considered,
the biographies of our commercial men
have a peculiar charm of interest which
gives a dignity to the personal record of
their lives far above that of the ordinary
history of self-made men and successful
financiers. Indeed, the history of our
commercial men is substantially the his-
tory of Utah commerce.
But the initial exposition of Utah com-
merce is undoubtedly that derived from
her peculiar commonwealth, and the ex-
traordinary history of the Mormon peo-
ple who settled these valleys; and this
will lead us directly through various
phases of development to the commercial
culmination to be illustrated in "Zion's
Co-operative Mercantile Institution."
To type our commercial history for the
popular understanding, it may be de-
scribed as Israelitish; and so its char-
acteristic inscription of "Holiness to the
Lord" is neither fanciful nor presumptu-
ous, but fundamental and typical. It
may be confessed that the inscription has
been often burlesqued by the "Gentile;"
but the sociologist would quickly read in
it a volume concerning the genius and
commonwealth of a people expressed in
a gigantic commercial institution which,
in its vast activities, influence and special
methods, may become famous as the
greatest marvel in the history of modern
commerce.
And, just in this initial view, we must
keep in sight the men who founded the
Institution and especially those who are
the proper representatives of the com-
merce of the Mormon people. It would
be a very false-sighted view to consider
"Z. C. M. I." as a colossal commer-
cial monument of the Church apart from
those commercial founders. That insti-
tution, in fine, is the organic embodi-
ment of the life-activities of such men as
William Jennings, William H. Hooper,
Horace S. Eldredge, Hyrum B. Clawson,
William C. Staines, Godbe and Mitchell