Peculiarities of American Cities

by Willard W. Glazier

CHAPTER XXXII.

SALT LAKE CITY.

The Mormons.—Pilgrimage Across the Continent.—Site of Salt Lake City.—A People of Workers.—Spread of Mormons through other Territories.—City of the Saints.—Streets.—Fruit and Shade Trees.—Irrigation.—The Tabernacle.—Residences of the late Brigham Young.—Museum.—Public Buildings.—Warm and Hot Springs.—Number and Character of Population.—Barter System before Completion of Railroad.—Mormons and Gentiles.—Present Advantages and Future Prospects of Salt Lake City.

Of all the cities which have sprung into being and grown and prospered, since the discovery of the American continent, there is not one with which is associated so much interest, and which attracts such universal curiosity as Salt Lake City. From the time of the so-called discovery of the Book of Mormon, in 1827, by Joseph Smith, through all the wanderings of the adherents of Mormonism, beginning with the organization of the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," in Manchester, New York, including its removal to Kirtland, Ohio, and the establishment of a branch church in Jackson County, Missouri; its transplanting to Nauvoo, Illinois; the temporary sojourn of its adherents in Iowa; and the final exodus, in 1847, over the then almost unknown and unexplored plains and mountains of the great west, until they reached the Land of Promise, lying between the Wasatch Range and the Sierra Nevadas, and there settled themselves permanently, to build up literally a "Kingdom of Christ upon the earth," the Mormons have been in more senses than one a peculiar people. They have been unpleasantly peculiar in their advocacy and practice of polygamy, and during their early sojourn at Salt Lake, in their defiance of the United States Government. In some other respects they have challenged the admiration of the world, and have set patterns in industry, and in a system of government, which seems to consider the well-being of all, both of which might be imitated to advantage by the "Gentiles" who affect to despise them.

After a weary pilgrimage through a wilderness far greater than that traversed by the Israelites in days of old, the Mormons found their Canaan in an immense valley, from four thousand to six thousand feet above the level of the sea, and walled in by mountain ranges which seemed to furnish natural barriers against the incroachments of an antagonistic civilization. This valley, the geologist said, was the bottom of a great, pre-historic sea, which by some mighty convulsion of nature had been lifted up from its original level, and its outlet cut off, and, like the Caspian Sea and others, was left to shrink by evaporation. In the deepest depression of this valley still remained all that was left of this ancient inland ocean, reduced now to seventy-five miles in length and thirty in breadth, with an average depth of but eight feet. Still holding in solution a large proportion of the salts of the greater sea, its waters form one of the purest and most concentrated brines in the world, containing twenty-two per cent of chloride of sodium, slightly mixed with other salts. All through the valley of the Great Salt Lake there are salt and alkaline deposits, evidencing the former presence of water. The valley seemed barren and uninviting; yet in it, as offering a refuge from the persecutions which they had suffered in the east, the Mormons decided to establish their church and build their homes. They found the soil, barren as it looked, would grow grass, grain and fruits; and though the climate is changeable, the winter cold, with deep snows, and the heat of summer intense, they had faith to believe that they could endure whatever natural disadvantages they could not overcome, and that they should in time receive the reward of their piety and industry.

Their chief town and ecclesiastical capital was located on the eastern bank of the river Jordan, between Lake Utah, a beautiful body of fresh water lying to the southward, and Great Salt Lake, lying twenty miles to the northward. The new settlement was eleven hundred miles west of the Mississippi, and six hundred and fifty miles east-northeast of the then scarcely heard of city of San Francisco. Its site extended close up to the base of the great mountains on the north, while to the southward its view spread over more than a hundred miles of plain, with a range of rugged mountain peaks, snow-capped and bold, lying beyond. A grander outlook could scarcely be imagined.

MORMON TEMPLE AND TABERNACLE, SALT LAKE CITY.

In the laying out of the city the fact was kept in view that it was for a people of workers, each one of whom must be self-sustaining. In truth, the great success of these people is due to the fact that no class of drones has been recognized and provided for. All, from the highest to the lowest, were expected to work, church officials as well as laymen; and prosperity has attended industry, as it always does. The wilderness and solitary place were glad for them, and the desert was made to rejoice and blossom as the rose; and a mighty nation within a nation has been built up in the valley of Utah, protected by its mountain fastnesses. The Mormons have become a strong and prosperous people, and have not only possessed themselves of Utah, but have sent out colonies to Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho and Arizona, which have prospered and increased, until they now practically control those Territories.

It is not my province to speak of the Mormons from either a religious or political standpoint. Their material prosperity one cannot fail to see, and a truthful historian must note it. The "City of the Saints," as Salt Lake City is sometimes called, is doubly interesting, from its history and from its peculiar features, so unlike those of any other city. The streets are one hundred and twenty-eight feet wide, crossing each other at right angles, an eighth of a mile apart, each square thus formed containing ten acres. Each square is divided into eight lots, measuring ten by twenty rods, and containing one-fourth of an acre. Several of the squares in the business quarter of the town have been cut across since the original laying out, forming cross streets. The streets are lined with trees, while streams of running water course down each side of every street, being brought from the neighboring mountains, ten thousand feet high, furnishing a pure water supply, and irrigating the gardens. Almost every lot has an orchard of pear, apple, plum, apricot, and peach trees, and Utah furnishes large quantities of fresh and dried fruit for the eastern markets. Apricots, which in the east are almost unknown, sometimes grow as large as eastern peaches, from six to eight inches in circumference. Locust, maple and box-elder are the favorite shade trees, and these grow luxuriantly. When, however, their roots strike soil from which the alkali has not yet been washed, their leaves turn from a dark green to a sickly yellow. But irrigation washes out this alkali, and the trouble from it grows less every year.