For the following ten or twenty years, it may be said, the eyes of the civilized world were upon California, and men rushed thither from every quarter of the globe. There was an endless procession of emigrant trains across the plains; the ships that fought the storms on their way around Cape Horn were crowded almost to gunwales, while thousands halved the voyage by trudging, across the Isthmus of Panama to the waiting ships on the other side. California became a mining camp and millions upon millions of gold were taken from her soil.
THE MORMONS.
By this time the Mormons engaged much public attention. Joseph Smith, of Sharon, Vermont, and Palmyra, New York, was the founder of the sect. He claimed to have found in a cave a number of engraved plates, containing the Mormon Bible, which was his guide in the formation of a new form of religious belief. Although polygamy was not commended, it was afterward added to their peculiar faith, which is that sins are remitted through baptism, and that the will of God was revealed to his prophet, Smith, as it was to be revealed to his successors.
The most grotesque farce in the name of religion is sure to find believers, and they soon gathered about Smith. The first Mormon conference was held at Fayette, N.Y., in 1830. As their number increased, they saw that the West offered the best opportunity for growth and expansion, and, when there were nearly 2,000 of them, they removed to Jackson, Missouri, where they made a settlement. Their practices angered the people, and, as soon as they could find a good pretext, the militia were called out and they were ordered to "move on."
Crossing the Mississippi into Illinois, they laid out a city which they named Nauvoo. Some of them were wealthy, and, as they held their means in common, they were able to erect a beautiful temple and numerous residences. Converts now flocked to them until they numbered fully 10,000. Their neighbors were displeased with their presence, and the feeling grew into indignation when the Mormons not only refused to obey the State laws, but defied them and passed laws of their own in open opposition. In the excitement that followed, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyram were arrested and lodged in jail at Carthage. Lynch-law was as popular in the West as it is to-day in the South, and a mob broke into the jail and killed the Smith brothers. This took place in June, 1844, and the Illinois Legislature annulled the charter of Nauvoo.
GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.
The experience of the Mormons convinced them that they would never be allowed to maintain their organization in any of the States. They, therefore, gathered up their worldly goods, and, in 1846, set out on the long journey to the far West. Reaching the Basin of Utah, they founded Great Salt Lake City, which is one of the handsomest, best governed, and cleanest (in a physical sense) cities in the world.
While referring to these peculiar people, we may as well complete their history by anticipating events that followed.