Corff Crist, neu yr Eglwys (The Body or Church of Christ), 1d.
Ffordd y Bywyd Tragywyddol (The Way of Eternal Life), 1d.
Yr Achos Mawr Cyntaf, gan O. Pratt (Great First Cause, by O. Pratt), 2d.
Profwch Bob Peth, etc. (Prove all things, etc.), 1⁄2d.
Athrawiaeth Iachus (Sound Doctrine), 1⁄2d.
Ymddyddanion yn Gymraeg a Saesonaeg (Dialogues in Welsh and English), 1⁄2d.
Llythyron Capt. Jones o Ddyffryn y li. H. Mawr, yn desgrifio arderchawgrwydd Seion (Beauties of Zion described by Captain Jones, in a Series of Letters from Great Salt Lake Valley), 2d.
On the evening of our arrival Lieutenant Dana and I proceeded to the store of Messrs. Livingston, Bell, and Co.—formerly Livingston and Kinkhead—the sutlers of Camp Floyd, and the most considerable Gentile merchants in Great Salt Lake City; he to learn the readiest way of reaching head-quarters, I to make inquiries about the San Francisco road.SAN FRANCISCO ROAD. We were cordially received by both these gentlemen, who, during the whole period of my stay, did all in their power to make the place pleasant. Governor Bell, as he is generally called, presently introduced me to his wife, a very charming person, of English descent, whose lively manners contrasted strongly and agreeably with the almost monastic gloom which the régime of the “lady-saints” casts over society. Lieutenant Dana was offered seats in Mr. Livingston’s trotting-wagon on the ensuing Monday. I was less fortunate. Captain Miller, of Millersville, the principal agent and director at this end of the road, informed me that he had lately ceased to run the wagon, which had cost the company $15,000 a month, returning but $30,000 per annum, and was sending the mails on mule-back. However, my informants agreed that a party would probably be starting soon, and that, all things failing, I could ride the road, though with some little risk of scalp. We ended with a bottle of Heidseck, and with cigars which were not unpleasant even after the excellent “gold-leaf tobacco” of the States.
On the next day, Sunday, we walked up the main street northward, and doubling three corners of Temple Block, reached the large adobe house, with its neat garden, the abode of the then governor, Hon. Alfred Cumming.GOVERNOR CUMMING. This gentleman, a Georgian by birth, after a long public service as Indian agent in the northern country, was, after several refusals, persuaded by the then president, who knew his high honor and tried intrepidity, to assume the supreme executive authority at Great Salt Lake City. The conditions were that polygamy should not be interfered with, nor forcible measures resorted to except in extremest need. Governor Cumming, accompanied by his wife, and an escort of 600 dragoons, left the Mississippi in the autumn of 1857, at a time when the Mormons were in arms against the federal authority, and ended his journey only in April of the ensuing year. By firmness, prudence, and conciliation, he not only prevented any collision between the local militia and the United States army, which was burning to revenge itself for the terrible hardships of the campaign, but succeeded in restoring order and obedience throughout the Territory. He had been told before entering that his life was in danger; he was not, however, a man to be deterred from a settled purpose, and experiment showed that, so far from being molested, he was received with a salute and all the honors. Having been warned that he might share the fate of Governor Boggs, who in 1843 was shot through the mouth when standing at the window, he enlarged the casements of his house in order to give the shooter a fair chance. His determination enabled him to issue, a few days after his arrival, a proclamation offering protection to all persons illegally restrained of their liberty in Utah. The scrupulous and conscientious impartiality which he has brought to the discharge of his difficult and delicate duties, and, more still, his resolution to treat the Saints like Gentiles and citizens, not as Digger Indians or felons, have won him scant favor from either party. The anti-Mormons use very hard language, and declare him to be a Mormon in Christian disguise. The Mormons, though more moderate, can never, by their very organization, rest contented without the combination of the temporal with the spiritual power. The governor does not meet his predecessor, the ex-governor, Mr. Brigham Young, from prudential motives, except on public duty. Mrs. Cumming visits Mrs. Young, and at the houses of the principal dignitaries, this being nearly the only society in the place. As, among Moslems, a Lady M. W. Montague can learn more of domestic life in a week than a man can in a year, so it is among the Mormons. I can not but express a hope that the amiable Mrs. Cumming will favor us with the results of her observation and experience, and that she will be as disinterested and unprejudiced as she is talented and accomplished. The kindness and hospitality which I found at the governor’s, and, indeed, at every place in New Zion, is “ungrateful to omit,” and would be “tedious to repeat.”
We dined with his excellency at the usual hour, 2 P.M. On the way I could dwell more observantly upon the main features of the city, which, after the free use of the pocket-compass, were becoming familiar to me. The first remark was, that every meridional street is traversed on both sides by a streamlet of limpid water, verdure-fringed, and gurgling with a murmur which would make a Persian Moollah long for improper drinks. The supplies are brought in raised and hollowed water-courses from City Creek, Red Buttes, and other kanyons lying north and east of the settlement. The few wells are never less than forty-five feet deep; artesians have been proposed for the benches, but the expense has hitherto proved an obstacle. Citizens can now draw with scanty trouble their drinking water in the morning, when it is purest, from the clear and sparkling streams that flow over the pebbly beds before their doors. The surplus is reserved for the purposes of irrigation, without which, as the “distillation from above” will not suffice, Deserét would still be a desert, and what is not wanted swells the City Creek, and eventually the waves of the Jordan. The element, which flows at about the rate of four miles an hour, is under a chief water-master or commissioner, assisted by a water-master in each ward, and by a deputy in each block, all sworn to see the fertilizing fluid fairly distributed. At the corners of every ward there is a water-gate which controls the supplies that branch off to the several blocks, and each lot of one and a quarter acres is allowed about three hours’ irrigation during the week. For repairs and other expenses a property tax of one mill per dollar is raised, and the total of the impost in 1860 was $1163 25. The system works like clock-work. “The Act to Incorporate the Great Salt Lake City Water-works” was approved January 21, 1853.