The Mormon Battalion, Its History and Achievements

by B. H. Roberts

The Discharge and Payment of the Pueblo Detachment.—Captain Brown took with him to California the muster rolls of the Pueblo detachment of the Battalion, and also had a power of attorney from all its members to draw their pay. The Pueblo detachment had drawn its pay per Captain Brown up to May at Santa Fe, at which time he received orders to resume the march to California, via Fort Laramie. The detachment arrived in Salt Lake valley on the 29th of July, where they were disbanded, since the term of their enlistment had expired on the 16th of that month. On the presentation of the claims for the three months' pay still due to this detachment to Governor Mason of California, they were allowed. "Paymaster Rich," says the Governor, "paid to Captain Brown the money due to the (Pueblo) detachment up to that date, according to the rank they bore upon the muster rolls, upon which the Battalion had been mustered out of the service."

The Purchase of Ogden Site with Battalion Money.—Sometime early in 1848 the Goodyear claim to a tract of land at the mouth of Weber Canyon, said to be twenty miles square, was purchased by Captain James Brown out of the Battalion money collected by him, and "by the advice of the Council," meaning the high council at Salt Lake City. The sum paid was $1,950.00, cash down. In this statement I follow the Journal History of Brigham Young, which under date of March 6th, 1848, contains a letter from "Father" John Smith, President of the Salt Lake high council, giving to the Mormon leader,—absent at the time in Winter Quarters—the above information.[62:c]

The Goodyear tract is specifically described as commencing at the mouth of Weber Canyon, thence following the Wasatch Mountains north to the Hot Springs; thence westward to the shores of the Salt Lake; along the shores southward to a point opposite Weber Canyon; thence eastward to the point of beginning.[62:d] Goodyear was supposed to have held this tract of land on which Ogden City now stands by virtue of a Mexican grant. This, however, it was subsequently discovered, was not the case. Goodyear's title amounted to no more than a squatter's claim, as there were evidently no Mexican grants of land in the eastern and northern parts of the territory ceded to the United States by Mexico that rested upon any clearly valid evidence of title from Mexico; and the government of the United States, in subsequent years, refused to recognize the so-called Mexican grant of Goodyear's, and held that title inhered in the government of the United States alone, and that by virtue of the cession of the territory to the United States.

Such title, however, as Goodyear claimed, was purchased, as above related, and by Battalion money. And while the title of Goodyear was not valid, the purchase quit-claimed his title, such as it was, and gave a sense of security to the colonists who first settled upon one of the most desirable tracts of land in the Salt Lake Valley.

The Battalion's Contribution of Seeds to Utah Colonies.—These returning members of the Battalion brought to Utah various kinds of garden and fruit seeds, as well as grain from California, all which were found to be very useful in the new colonies where both variety and quantity of seeds were limited. Lieutenant James Pace introduced the club-head wheat, which proved to be hardy and of thrifty growth in Utah soil. Daniel Tyler brought the California pea which in the early years grew so prolific as the field pea of Utah. The detached members of the Battalion who wintered at Pueblo brought with them to Salt Lake Valley the variety of wheat known as "taos," which, mixed with the club-head, became for many years the staple seed wheat sown in Utah fields.

The Battalion's Part in the Discovery of Gold in California.—As already stated a number of the Mormon Battalion members found employment at Sutter's Fort, with Mr. John Sutter himself, in fact, who was a rather enterprising Swiss; one "who had houses and land, flocks and herds, mills and machinery. He counted his skilled artisans by the score," says the account I am following, "and his savage retainers by the hundred. He was, moreover, a man of progress." Among his pressing needs and the needs of the country at large, was a saw mill. The flour mills he then had in course of construction needed timbers, and there would be large profit in shipping lumber to San Francisco. Accordingly his foreman, a Mr. James W. Marshall, a native of New Jersey, and then about thirty-three years of age, and a carpenter, took in hand the task of building a saw mill. After considerable exploration the requisite combination of water power, timber, and the possibility of easy access to the Fort, was found in the Coloma valley, on the south fork of the American River, and about forty-five miles due east of the Fort.

In the latter part of August, or the first of September, Mr. Marshall with a party of about a dozen white men, nine of whom were discharged members of the Mormon Battalion,[64:e] and about as many Indians, went to Coloma valley and began the construction of the proposed mill. A brush dam was built in the river and a mill race constructed along a dry channel, to economize labor. The largest stones were thrown out of this and during the night the water would be turned in to carry off the dirt and sand. On the 24th of January while sauntering along the tail race inspecting the work, Mr. Marshall noticed yellow particles mingled with the excavated earth, which had been washed by late rains. Sending an Indian to his cabin for a tin plate Marshall washed out some of the soil and obtained a small quantity of yellow metal. During the evening he remarked to his associates of the camp that he believed he had found gold, which was received with some doubts, the expressions being "I reckon not;" and, "no such luck." But Henry W. Bigler, one of the Battalion members, made the following entry in his journal that day:

"Monday 24 (January): This day some kind of metal was found in the tail race that looks like gold."

"Jan. 30th: Clear, and has been all the last week. Our metal has been tried and proves to be gold. It is thought to be rich. We have picked up more than a hundred dollars' worth this week."

The Date of the Discovery of Gold.—Thus it is the journal of a member of the Mormon Battalion which determines the date of the event which startled the world. Usually the 19th of January is given as the date, but in his History of California, Bancroft discusses the subject as follows: