The Life of John Taylor / Third President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

by B. H. Roberts

CHAPTER XXII.

MISTAKE IN BUILDING—SCARCITY OF PROVISIONS—TAXED—THE CRICKET WAR—CROPS SAVED—HARVEST FEAST—DEPUTATION FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES—ELDER TAYLOR CONFERS WITH IT—CALLED TO FRANCE—FROM SAWPIT TO PULPIT—THE LIFE OF AN APOSTLE.

So the winter passed away, and the spring came, and with it came frequent rain storms. "We made one mistake in building," remarks Elder Taylor; "having been informed there was no rain, or very little, in the valley, we made our roofs too flat, which, when the spring rains commenced, caused considerable trouble." It was with great difficulty that their beds could be kept dry. But this was not their chief difficulty—food was getting scarce, and a number of the improvident ones were without.

At a public meeting, Elder Taylor proposed that a tax be laid upon the people according to their means to pay it, to supply those who were in need; and that the High Council be authorized to levy it, and have discretionary power to determine who should be taxed, and who should be assisted. The motion was carried unanimously.

Elder Taylor and his family, in common with the whole people, made every effort to get in extensive crops of grain and large gardens. In this they were quite successful; but when early summer brought flattering promises of a bountiful harvest, then from the mountains came myriads of black crickets into their grain fields and threatened to destroy them. The people, even to the women and children, turned out, to stay, if possible, the ravages of the destroyer. They devised various ways to rid themselves of the terrible insect, but in vain they labored; the crickets were rapidly making green fields bare. When it is remembered that the colonists were dependent on that crop for food for the ensuing year, it is not surprising that hope sank within them, or that they became alarmed and talked of sending an express to President Young, begging him not to bring in any more people, as there was a famine in prospect. But in the midst of their calamity a wonderful deliverance was at hand; untold thousands of snow-white sea-gulls came in clouds from the direction of the lake, and settling down upon the fields of grain, began devouring the crickets. Day after day did these white-winged messengers of mercy continue the work of devouring crickets, until the pests were destroyed and the fields of growing grain saved.

In August an abundant harvest was gathered, and a public harvest feast proclaimed. In the midst of the feasting and dancing, singing and rejoicing, the Saints did not forget to thank and praise the Power which had given them the rich fruits of the earth; and expressions of gratitude—soul-felt and universal—in prayer and speech, occurred as frequently as song or dance.

In all these anxieties, labors, fears, hopes and rejoicings, Elder Taylor took part. Many leaned on his strength in those days. When despair settled over the colony he infused it with hope; when the weak faltered, he strengthened them; when the fearful trembled, he encouraged them; those cast down with sorrow, he comforted and cheered. His faith and trust in God, and in His power to preserve and deliver His people were as unshaken in the midst of the difficulties they encountered in settling the desert valleys of Utah, as it had been in the midst of mob violence in Missouri and Illinois; as unmoved as it was amid the confused shouts and curses, groans and shriekings, and murderous bullets which, all mingled together, made up that scene of hell and death in Carthage jail.

Though much of his time was occupied in teaching and encouraging others, he was also active in farming, gardening, fencing fields, etc.; and during the summer of 1849, constructed a bridge over the Jordan River, the first that ever spanned that stream. With Parley P. Pratt and others he went on several exploring expeditions. In one of these he visited Utah Valley and Lake. He built the first boat that was launched on that beautiful sheet of water, and ascertaining that there was an abundance of fish in the lake he manufactured a sein a hundred feet long, for which his wives spun the material. The fish caught in this manner materially assisted in eking out the scant supplies of the colonists.

In August, 1849, General John Wilson, with a small military escort, visited the colonists. He was on a private mission from the President of the United States, Zachary Taylor, to the Saints. The object of that mission was this:

There was trouble anticipated in the then approaching congress, about the territorial question, involving as it did, at that time, the extension of slavery. General Wilson, therefore, was sent to request the settlers in Salt Lake Valley to unite with California and form a state, which it was proposed to admit into the Union, and thus, for the time being, remove the slavery question from congress. The pro-slavery party had been gaining ground rapidly for a few years previous to this time. Texas had been annexed, and was a slave state. So extensive was its territory, that it was capable of being divided into several states, all of which, of course, would tolerate slavery.