Co-operative Movement.—Cove Fort.—Pronouncement Against Use of Wine.—Organization of Bear Lake Stake.—Visit of Schuyler Colfax.—The Godbe Movement.—Descendants of Cain.—Utah Central R. R. Completed.—Plural Marriage.—Boston Board of Trade Visits Utah.—Sayings of Brigham Young.—The Newman-Pratt Discussion.—Martin Harris Rebaptized.
January 1st, 1869, Wilford Woodruff accompanied Brigham Young to Ogden, where a meeting was held for the purpose of discussing a grant of land to the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads for the use of their terminal station. On the 2nd they met Governor Stanford of California and Mr. Durant, both railroad men. The former rode with President Young to view the proposed depot site. The authorities had done all in their power to make Salt Lake City the terminal, hoping that the Central Pacific would come by way of the south end of the lake. They accepted their disappointment gracefully and did all they could to expedite the construction of the railroads and terminal facilities at the Junction City.
Much of the month of January was devoted by Elder Woodruff to his legislative work. Under date of the 22nd, however, he recorded the testimony of Joseph B. Nobles to the effect that he officiated in the first plural marriage of this dispensation, by sealing Eliza Beman to the Prophet Joseph Smith, on May 6th, 1841.
On the following 7th of February, a Presbyterian minister, Rev. Mr. Stewart, was accorded the privilege of addressing the Saints in the Tabernacle, and in the evening at the Fourteenth Ward Assembly Room. From the earliest times in Utah there was a manifest willingness on the part of the leaders to grant the use of their places of worship to ministers of the various denominations. The teachings of these ministers afforded the Saints an opportunity of contrasting the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints with those of the various sects.
Elder Woodruff, in his journal, said that the year 1869 was characterized by the great co-operative movement, which made rapid headway throughout the settlements in Utah. The early work of the pioneers had been the redemption of the land. To their mind, however, there was a special virtue in the cultivation of the soil and the manufacturing of those things needed by the pioneers. Trade and speculation were somewhat at variance with the religious spirit and tendencies of those times, but the movement was hastened by the advent into the Territory of large numbers of Gentiles who fed and fattened upon trade and speculation. The wealth acquired by these parvenu merchants was quite naturally a source of considerable power. They had the money to carry on almost any propaganda which they saw fit to inculcate in the minds of the people of the United States; more than that, the great profit to them often became a heavy burden to the people. There were in those days strong antagonisms, and partisan spirit ran high. Many of the merchants used their money in a manner harmful to the best interests of the Latter-day Saints, and in such a way as to engender a hatred towards them by the people of the United States.
To mitigate these unfortunate conditions, and lessen the power of certain ones of their enemies, and for the further purpose of permitting the Latter-day Saints themselves to reap their share of business profits, the co-operative system was inaugurated. The people were encouraged to take stock in these institutions which were organized largely under the direction and control of the religious leaders in the various communities.
In traveling through the settlements of the Saints, the subject of co-operation was one of the chief topics of discourse. Every town, where the Saints had settled, organized its co-operative store. In early days these stores were potent factors, and the control of prices was often regulated by them. The authorities urged the managers of those institutions to practice equity in their business affairs. The first wholesale dry goods store to do a wholesale business, was organized March 1st, 1869.
The non-Mormon merchants of Salt Lake City naturally felt the force of the new movement and made a proposition to President Young to the effect that they would be glad to sell him their establishment and merchandise at cost, he to collect debts and assume their liabilities. Upon his doing so, they promised to quit the Territory. They based their grievance largely upon the instructions given to the people, in which they were admonished not to trade with their enemies. Brigham Young, who was equal to the occasion, called their attention to the fact that any and every man had a perfect right to engage in business within this Territory. He stated, however, that his objection was to a certain class of merchants who took advantage of the wealth which they accumulated from the people to spread misinformation about the Latter-day Saints.
Of course the offer was a bluff. These men might have left the Territory and they might have come back the next day. There was no offer on their part to put themselves under obligations not to take up merchandising any time they saw fit, after disposing of their property; and even if they had entered into such a bond, it would have been illegal in restraint of trade. It was a bluff, and used for outside effect. President Young thought they would make a most excellent bargain if they could sell out on the terms proposed,—terms that any merchant would be glad to accept.
On the 16th of April Elder Woodruff took up another of those preaching tours with President Young to St. George, and settlements lying along the way. He stated in his journal that just before leaving Salt Lake he received word that his nephew by marriage, Franklin B. Woolley, had been killed by the Indians, near the Mohave River in Southern California. Elder Woolley was at the time in charge of a company of men who were engaged in freighting goods from southern California to the St. George co-operative store. He was the son of Bishop Edwin D. Woolley of the Thirteenth Ward of Salt Lake City. When his remains were found, it was discovered that his body had been pierced by several arrows. The mule upon which he rode was tied to a tree with its throat cut.