This ended the memorable first day.
CHAPTER VI.
THE GENERAL SYSTEM—PROGRESS THE FIRST YEAR—LAND TITLES—LABOR ORDERS.
The city of Co-opolis was established, after the surrounding region was duly explored, upon the site of our first camp in Deer Valley. The Hacket ranch and water rights were acquired by our company at a small expense, the farmers went to work upon it immediately and in a comparatively short time we had many acres of land broken and planted. We sowed very little wheat the first year, but made a specialty of corn, calculating that we could feed it to our cattle and hogs, and believing that we could realize more from our live stock than from the raising and sale of wheat. We also planted vegetables of all kinds in quantities which we believed would not only suffice for our company for the following winter, but would enable us to dispose of a surplus in the mining camps in the mountains.
The ex-surveyor, meanwhile, proceeded to lay out a town. This was a very simple task, as our plan was to construct a public hall and office building in the center of a large square, surround the latter by a wide street, and erect our store, hotel and residences on this street. If the city grew it was considered that we had ample space at our command. Meanwhile the sawmill had arrived and had been conveyed to a place on the banks of the stream and placed in charge of the sawmill men. One of these having great experience in the forests of Wisconsin, took a number of picked commoners and went to the headwaters of the stream in the mountains and was soon able to send a large quantity of pine logs down the current, where they were caught and sawed into lumber of various dimensions. In three weeks after we started our camp our carpenters had built a temporary frame store building, a rather crude hotel and had supplied these with furniture which was rather crude and unfinished but sufficient for our purposes. It was not considered prudent to erect any permanent structures until our lumber should become better seasoned, but carpenters, masons and stonecutters proceeded to excavate for the fifty cottages which we designed to construct for our members and their families. In the latter part of June, such was our industry, we had a very respectable appearing village, with carpenter and blacksmith shops and general store. The last was the feature of the village, containing a stock of hardware, dry goods and groceries and a stock of drugs of various kinds. The hotel furnished board and lodging to all our company.
Shortly after our arrival at Co-opolis, at a series of meetings held for that purpose, we had formed our permanent organization, taken as our name “The Co-opolitan Association” and adopted a constitution and by-laws to regulate our colony.
The constitution dealt only with the system of government and invested the lawmaking body, which it created, with unlimited powers as to all other matters.
The President was to hold office for seven years and was ineligible to re-election.
The Vice-President was elected for the same period.
The first President and Vice-President were elected by all active members, and any member was eligible, but after seven years these officers must be elected from among heads of departments only.
Heads of departments were to be denominated chiefs and were to be chosen by popular vote from among foremen and the latter by the Legislative Council.