On their return from the south, Elder Woodruff made record of the following: "While on the road from Washington to Harrisburg, we stopped on the edge of a high precipice which presents very interesting scenery of the valley below. While standing there, Brother Eddings wished me to help him lift up a flat stone that he wanted to throw off from the top to the depth below. As I took hold of it. I caught a scorpion between my fingers. The sting gave a shock to my whole system. It was a small scorpion and I mashed it to pieces in lifting the stone. This sting alarmed me somewhat, as the sting of the scorpion is considered very dangerous and some have even lost their lives by it. I soon got some tobacco and bound it on my finger. This seemed to take the poison out, and I received no material injury from the bite." Elder Woodruff, however, felt the blessings of the Lord in his escape from poison and found a parallel in the life of Paul, who, while on the island of Malta, shook from his hand a scorpion whose bite did him no harm.
The October Conference followed their return. It was largely attended and characterized by the interest the people had in those semi-annual gatherings. It is remarkable that so many came together when we note the difficulties under which Salt Lake City was reached in those days.
Immediately after the conference, on October 10th, the survivors of Zion's Camp held a meeting. It was the first gathering of that body since their expedition to Missouri. Elder Woodruff recorded the fact that there were over fifty of the survivors out of the two hundred and five that belonged originally to Zion's Camp. In the evening they enjoyed themselves in a dancing party in the Social Hall. "It was the most interesting party I had ever attended." Bishop Hunter and his counselors provided for those veterans a good dinner and supper, a precedent since observed by President Joseph F. Smith. At this date, 1909, there remains but one survivor of Zion's Camp,—Nathan Tanner.
The harvest season was practically closed, yet the molasses mill was an important adjunct to the farm. Sugar was scarce and the price high. Molasses was a necessity, and one of the common articles of diet of the people. Elder Woodruff had erected a molasses mill, which was kept running not only by the cane that he raised on his own farm, but by the patronage of his neighbors. Almost every fall and winter, therefore, he had large quantities of molasses to sell. Bread, molasses, fruit, milk, and butter were the products of his own farm, and were the chief supply of his table. He raised his own mutton and beef, and his family made clothing from the wool of his sheep. He took a special pride in the fact that he lived by the labors of his own hands and was self-sustaining.
Elder Woodruff's journal of November 9th, that year, contained mentioned of his visit to Kays Ward, where he met a Sister Mary Phillips, the oldest person in Utah. In three weeks she would reach her ninety-first year. She had been baptized by Elder Woodruff in Herefordshire in 1840.
On his return home he encountered one of the old-time east winds which swept down through the canyon and mountains east of Farmington. It was so severe that the party had great difficulty in keeping their carriages from being upset. That night Elder Woodruff enjoyed the hospitality of Ezra Clark, an old-time bosom friend of Elder Woodruff. Here the roof of the house of Ezra Clark was blown off, also that of the Bountiful meeting-house. Hay stacks were torn down and scattered over the country. These winds in early days were so frequent and severe as to give the people in Farmington and vicinity grave apprehension. They were so destructive and so dreaded that President Young rebuked them in the name of the Lord and they immediately became less frequent. In late years these winds have occurred in some of their old-time severity.
The year 1865 bore witness of stirring events that had much to do in shaping the sentiments of the Latter-day Saints in political matters. Petty annoyances and officiousness on the part of federal officers gave the Saints cause for complaint. Between religious and civil opinions there had always existed, and perhaps will always exist, more or less jealousy over the question of influence. In those days there was no real collision in the matter of authority. The influence of President Young and leading men of the Church was so incomparably much greater than that exercised by judges and governors that there would naturally arise feelings of suspicion as well as of jealousy.
The Saints were anxious to avoid disputations and collisions, and yet they felt at times resentful when subjected to what they felt unnecessary indignities. They were loyal to the government, honored the officers of the law in their place; but they were also religious. With them, God had a part in the affairs of this nation, and they foresaw a divine purpose in what was going on among the nations of the earth. Their interpretation of events, even though they were loyal, were often misunderstood and just as often wilfully misconstrued.
In February, 1865, Elder Woodruff records the purchase for the Church of a large tract of land in Oahu on the Sandwich Islands. This purchase was brought about through the instrumentality of Francis A. Hammond.
November, the preceding year, had witnessed the re-election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States. On March 4th he was to be inaugurated. This gave the Saints an opportunity to meet the officers and soldiers of the Fort in a friendly celebration. There was fraternal good will and the celebration did much to mitigate suspicion and illiberal feelings. At the conclusion of the celebration George A. Smith arose, and waving the stars and stripes said: "One country, an undivided country, the old flag forever!" The toast awakened enthusiasm, and it truthfully expressed the unanimous sentiment of the Latter-day Saints.