San Diego-San Bernardino-San Francisco County CA Archives Biographies.....Grant, Heber J. November 22, 1856 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com April 2, 2006, 10:57 pm Author: The Lewis Publishing Company California and Californians, Pages 6-22 HEBER J. GRANT, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is widely loved and admired in California not only as head of a great church but for the many gifts and accomplishments that make up his manhood and personal character. All who have known him most intimately ascribe his rise to greatness in financial and commercial circles to the determination, industry and resolute purpose displayed very early in life. Heber J. Grant was born at Salt Lake City, November 22, 1856, son of Jedediah M. and Rachel Ridgway (Ivins) Grant. His father died December 1, 1856, when Heber J. was nine days old. However, he received the loving care and training of a most devoted mother, who endeared herself not only to her son but to his boy companions. Heber J. Grant had as one of his early inspirations the ambition to provide for comfort of his widowed mother. As a boy he attended private schools, and afterwards attended the University of Deseret, where he distinguished himself among his companions by his ceaseless perseverance and intense application. One of his ambitions at that time was to become an expert penman, and his skill in penmanship enabled him to earn many a dollar to assist his widowed mother. His pertinacity also enabled him to achieve distinction as a first baseman on the ball team. At the age of twenty Mr. Grant went into the insurance business, becoming president of Heber J. Grant & Company. Later he founded and organized the Utah Home Fire Insurance Company, also organized the State Bank of Utah, and was one of the founders of the Consolidated Wagon & Machine Company. These are three of Utah’s most successful institutions and they reflect the enterprise and the business sagacity of Heber J. Grant. It was largely due to his labors that the first sugar company in Utah was organized. He took a leading part in raising the capital for the plant and has been president of the corporation known as the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company. His great zeal and energy were largely responsible for making the old Salt Lake Herald a self sustaining publication during the 1890s, at which time he not infrequently contributed to its columns in an editorial capacity. Among other business institutions with which he has been identified as president or in other executive capacities are the Zion’s Cooperative Mercantile Institution and the Beneficial Life Insurance Company. His old-time friends and business associates ascribe the chief reason for his success to “his observance of the rule of the square deal and his fair and generous treatment of friend and opponent alike. If he has a fault, it is his inordinate generosity to those he loves – a trait that alone has kept him from becoming a man of wealth. His name never was lacking in any good cause, and whether it was saving a financial institution to preserve the good name of his friends, starting a Liberty Loan drive or keeping some poor widow’s roof over her head, the signature of Heber J. Grant, like the name of Abou Ben Adhem ‘led all the rest.’” One of his distinctions is that he is the first native son of Utah to become president of his church. For this position he was chosen November 23, 1918, the day following his sixty-second birthday anniversary. This honor came as the culmination of a long career of religious activity, beginning in boyhood. At the age of twenty-three he was appointed president of the Tooele stake, and at twenty-six was chosen an apostle under President John Taylor. He spent many years in the foreign service, opening a mission to Japan, and presided over the European mission. From 1901 to 1906 he spent most of his time abroad. He served for a number of years as president of the Prohibition and Betterment League. President Grant is a Democrat in his political affiliations. This great business leader and churchman has been under the close observation of friends and fellow citizens for many years, and his character and personal traits have been subject to constant scrutiny. From many opinions there has been collected therefore a summary of his outstanding traits. “A hater of sham and hypocrisy, an uncompromising foe to vice in all its forms, he is fearless and unsparing in the denunciation of wrong-doers. But there is another side of his nature. While abrupt and severe at times, he is always kind and gentle to the aged and ailing and is an affectionate and devoted husband and father. His love for his mother was beautiful, and she was well worthy of his tender filial affections. He is quick to respond to appeals for assistance and seldom waits for the appeal to be made before supplying the needs of the unfortunate. “He does not pose as an orator, yet few public speakers are more incisive or more inspirational. When inspired, his clear-cut sentences have all the swing and flash o a saber stroke. He also wields a trenchant and ready pen. His favorite time for committing his thoughts to papers is anywhere between midnight and daybreak. He is a model of perseverance, a persistant overcomer of obstacles, a dynamo of energy and a gatling gun in execution.” President Grant married, November 1, 1877, Lucy Stringham, of Salt Lake City. On May 26, 1884, he married Augusta Winters, of Pleasant Grove, Utah. On May 27, 1884, he married Emily Wells, of Salt Lake City. Mrs. Augusta (Winters) Grant still survives. President Grant has been blessed with an unusually talented and worthy family. His two sons were claimed by early death, but he is the father of several daughters. THE MORMONS IN CALIFORNIA. The history of the “Mormons” in California is chiefly concerned with the exodus of that people to the far West in the late forties. Within nine years after the founding of the Church – known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints – Joseph Smith and his followers had wandered from New York to Missouri. In 1839 they were compelled by mob violence to seek asylum in the State of Illinois, the then frontier of America civilization. At first the citizens of Illinois treated the Mormons with due consideration. “The State Legislature was most generous, and granted them special charters for Nauvoo, for a university, for a special military force, the ‘Nauvoo Legion’ and other special rights and privileges, not usually enjoyed by a municipality.” The Mormons prospered at Nauvoo. The city became one of the most prosperous on the frontier. It was a commercial centre, for the Mormons had good farms, and were enterprising citizens. The city was well governed, and visitors were impressed with its moral tone. To the Mormons a land of promise had at last been found, and they began the erection of a “House of the Lord.” But opposition soon developed, and in 1844 Joseph Smith, the Mormon founder and prophet, was killed by an armed mob, and the Mormons soon realized that their security “was more apparent than real.” It was not long before they were thoroughly hated in Illinois, and it soon became clear to them that they would be compelled to move farther west. Just where was a burning question. Brigham Young succeeded Joseph Smith as head of the Church, and he realized that nothing but an exodus of all the people to new climes would bring his people peace. Whatever may have been the causes of persecution against the Mormons, there were a number of outstanding ideals that they stood for. They were abolitionists, were peaceful and law-abiding citizens, and thrifty and splendid farmers. Before the assassination of Smith he considered Texas, California, Oregon and the Great Basin as possibly asylums for his people. In February, 1844, he instructed the Twelve Apostles to fit out an exploring expedition for California and Oregon. But difficulties stood in his way. Said Smith to the Quorum of the Twelve: “The most of the settlers in Oregon and Texas are our old enemies, the mobovists of Missouri . . . . and should we attempt to march to Oregon without the Government throwing a protecting shield over us, Missouri’s crimes would lead her first to misinterpret our intentions . . . . to fan a flame too hot for us to encounter.” With this in mind, a delegation was sent to Washington in March, 1844, to influence the President and Congress to aid them in migrating to the West. Smith proposed raising a company of armed volunteers, but it was feared that with such a force in Oregon or California, international complications might arise. Smith was assassinated while these negotiations were going on, and with the advent of Brigham Young as leader of his people, the Mormons considered seriously the Great Basin in the Rocky Mountains. Persecution of the people continued in Illinois, and in the winter of 1846 the Mormons were compelled to abandon their beautiful City of Nauvoo. “The year 1846 brought nothing but gloom to the poor Mormons. They were forced to plunge into the blasting cold and inhospitable wilderness, without knowing what tomorrow had in store for them.” It was at this time, January, 1846, that Brigham Young sent Elder Jesse Little on a mission to Washington to ask for aid in taking the people westward to new lands. He was to embrace “any facilities for emigration to the western coast,” which “our government should offer. On his way to the capital, he met Judge John K. Kane and his son Thomas L. Kane, who became staunch friends of the Mormons.” The outcome of the interview was that the Mormons while in Iowa received an invitation to join the army and to march to California by way of Santa Fe and the Gila River. Little assured the President that the Mormons were “true hearted Americans, true to our native country, true to its laws, true to its glorious institutions.” “If you will assist us,” he said, “I hereby pledge my honor as the representative of this people that the whole body will stand ready at your call, and act as one man in the land to which we are going; and should our territory be invaded, we will hold ourselves ready to enter the field of battle, and then, like our patriotic fathers, make the battle field our grave, or gain our liberty.” Jacob Van der Zee says in his Mormon Trails in Iowa that at the camp on Sugar Creek, which became the first general gathering place, Brigham Young proved himself a general as well as a commander. He directed everything. Thousands were leaving; many destitute and all poor. On March 1 the refugees took up the line of march in five hundred wagons; “without confusion, without hurrying or even discord, their long trains rolled by him, while he comforted, spirited, blessed, and counseled the weeping emigrants.” On the 19th of March the little army resumed its journey, and as the frozen ground of territorial and county roads thawed out and spring rains began to fall, progress became slower and more difficult. After a toilsome journey through prolonged rains and deep mud, the Mormons established Garden Grove. On the 27th of April, at the sound of the horn, the emigrants gathered to organize for labor. “Thus the ‘Camp of Israel’ had become a veritable marching, industrial column; founding settlements as it marched; planting for others to harvest, and leaving behind them, in easy reach, bases of supplies that insured their own safety in case of emergency.” In July, 1846, fifteen thousand Mormons were toiling over the Iowa trails westward with three thousand wagons, thirty thousand head of cattle, horses and mules, and a vast number of sheep. War with Mexico had already broken out, and this was an opportune time for the Mormons to prove the truth of the words of Little. It was almost mid- summer when an officer, Capt. James Allen, appeared in the Mormon camps in Iowa. At Mount Pisgah a circular was issued which stated that “an opportunity is now given to the young men of the Mormon camps to enlist as regular soldiers of the United States.” All able-bodied men from eighteen to forty- five years would be received. From Mount Pisgah, Captain Allen went on to Council Bluffs, where he met Brigham Young, who had established on the Missouri River the main frontier encampment. A Council of the Saints was held on July 1, and it was decided to raise a battalion of five hundred men at once. To the Mormons the raising of the battalion was a sacrifice which saved their people. According to Thomas L. Kane, Young is quoted as saying to Allen, “You shall have the battalion, and if there are not enough young men, we will take the old men, and if not enough of them, we will enlist the women.” The battalion was recruited in two weeks and mustered in at Council Bluffs, and on July 20 and troops started on their journey. The afternoon before their leaving their families and loved ones was devoted to a farewell ball, and, according to Kane, “the people had a merry time, although there were no refreshments, and the ball was the most primitive.” The newly recruited men spoke to the people, and Brigham Young predicted that “not one of those who might enlist would fall by the hand of the nation’s foe; that their only fighting would be with wild beasts.” Some of the men were accompanied by their families, and there were about eighty women and children who started on the journey. On August 1 they arrived at Fort Leavenworth, where they received their arms and accoutrements with forty dollars in money for each man, most of which was sent back to the people on the Missouri Camps. Unfortunately, Captain Allen died before the end of August, which was a sad blow to the battalion, as the Captain was well liked. On the 12th and 14th of August the troops were on the march again toward Santa Fe, over the trail of that name. The journals of Captain Pettegrew and Henry W. Bigler give in detail the feelings and trials of the long march. There was much suffering in the camps. While on the Arkansas River it was decided to send some of the families to Pueblo to spend the winter, which was accordingly done. On the 9th and 10th of October the battalion, in two divisions, reached Santa Fe. From Santa Fe eighty-eight men, deemed unfit for the hardships of the long journey, with the laundresses, were sent to Pueblo under the command of Capt. James Brown. A few days later another detachment of fifty-five men was sent to Pueblo. Most of these found their way to Salt Lake City the following year. General Kearny placed Gen. P. St. George Cooke from this point in command, with orders to open a wagon road by way of the Gila River. Our best information concerning the march from Santa Fe is obtained from the journal of Henry Pettegrew, Henry W. Bigler, Henry Standage, as well as the work of Daniel Tyler, as well as the official reports and journals of the commander. At that season of the year they were in the highlands of the Colorado and New Mexico. They were insufficiently clad to endure the cold with any degree of comfort. They had not long left Santa Fe before it became necessary to send some of their teams back. Those who returned encountered unusual hardships. They were equipped with one wagon and four yoke of oxen and rations sufficient for only five days. The distance to be traveled by them on their return was three hundred miles. This was another parting which the soldiers of the battalion regretted, and the parting scenes were very affecting. John Riggs Murdock was among those who made the march to California. He says: “We passed through a wild, unsettled country whose only inhabitants were hostile Indians. Provisions were scarce at Santa Fe, so we were not well supplied with food at the beginning of this long march. The country was rough, rugged and mountainous. Water was to be found only at long intervals and there was consequently great suffering among the men. We were put on half rations and later on third rations during the journey. The sheep and cattle driven along for fresh meat became so poor that they had to be killed and taken as rations, -- a sorry lot of stuff it was. The rations were weighed out to us, and two or three little Mexican sheep could be hung at once on a pair of hang balances.” The parts of the country through which they passed had large herds of wild cattle, many of which were killed and used for food by the battalion. These cattle, however, in places proved themselves dangerous to the march of the men. Sometimes the bulls would lead in a furious stampede, and it became necessary for the battalion to guard itself by shooting down the cattle when they could, and by using every possible means of keeping out of these great wild cattle rushes. Along the road down the River San Pedro the attacks became quite frequent. At one time there was what the battalion boys termed a “bull fight.” Two men were severely injured, one mule was gored to death while others were knocked down and hurt. “I was engaged in the bull fight and was in all the forced marches across the desert,” says John R. Murdock, in giving an account of that journey. Those familiar with the character of Southern Arizona, especially from Tucson to the coast, will realize something of the hardships to be endured in crossing the deserts at that early period in our history. The battalion reached the San Luis Rey Mission on the 27th of January, 1847, and the San Diego Mission on the 29th. “I do not believe,” says this young battalion boy, “that the parallel to that march to the coast is on record when all circumstances are considered. My usual weight was one hundred and sixty pounds and it was only one hundred and twenty when we reached the coast. During the journey everything, even the hide and parts of the entrails of the animals, were used for food. The teams became so jaded that we undertook to raft a portion of the provisions down the Gila River. The food was all lost in the river, thus greatly lessening the already scant supply. We obtained some wheat, corn and beans from the Pima Indians, a tribe that lived along the Gila River. Upon the southern route there were some deserts from seventy to ninety miles in extent and not a drop of water was to be found on them. We had quite an experience in crossing the Colorado River, over which the men had to carry most of the supplies and wade the river up to their arm pits. From the Colorado to Warner’s, the first settlement in California, it was about two hundred and thirty miles, and there were very few watering places. When we reached that place we obtained plenty of fresh, fat beef, but we had nothing else except coffee. We had no flour for weeks. When we reached the coast we obtained some provisions, but still no flour.” San Diego was reached January 29, when the commander issued a congratulatory order commending the battle for its long march. It reads: “History may be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry. Half of it has been through a wilderness where nothing but savages and wild beasts are found, or deserts where for want of water there is no living creature. There with almost hopeless labor, we have dug wells, which the future traveler will enjoy. Without a single guide who had traversed them, we have ventured into trackless table lands where water was not found for several marches. With crowbar and pick and ax in hand, we have worked our way over mountains which seemed to defy aught save the wild goat, and hewed a passage through a chasm of living rock more narrow than our wagons. To bring these first wagons to the Pacific, we have preserved the strength of our mules by herding them over large tracts, which you have guarded without loss.” The chaplain of the battalion was David Pettegrew, who tells many incidents of the march. One part of his journal reads: “Dec. 18, 1846. This morning we took up our march for the Gila River, but between us and that place was a vast desert without water, or feed for the mules. We traveled forty-five miles and camped without water. “Dec. 19. We started without water and traveled all day and part of the night, and camped without water. We were all weary and fatigued, and we could hardly get along, the weather being very warm. Towards evening, the men might be seen lying down on the road, overpowered by fatigue and thirst. “Dec. 25. It is Christmas day. We are without food or water. We have traveled twenty miles and camped at night without finding water.” Chaplain Pettegrew held services with his men, and daily dedicated the lives of the battalion to God. At one time, when they were almost famished for the want of water, they knelt in the sands on the banks of the Gila River and thanked God that they still had life and hopes to reach their destination. The history of the battalion in California is rather varied. Naturally, most of the members were anxious to return to their families, who were in Salt Lake City; as well as many who had remained at winter quarters on the Missouri River. Captain Pettegrew advised against reenlistment and a return to the main body of Saints under Brigham Young. Peculiar military conditions had thrown a few Americans of California into a state of confusion, often bordering on to open factional war. John C. Fremont had been despatched to California with sixty men, and had taken the stand that he was senior in command upon the arrival of the United States forces. An open rupture between him and General Kearny ended in Fremont’s arrest and later court martial. The Mormons supported Kearny, which engendered hatred against them on the part of Fremont and his men. The war with Mexico was virtually at an end when the battalion arrived, and the garrison duty was the only active work they had to perform. They were glad to be in sunny climes, for their clothing was poor and the food bad. “With a view to the future necessities of themselves and families,” says Bancroft, “they were allowed to hire themselves out as farmers and artisans, and did so to a considerable extent at San Diego, where they burned bricks, dug wells, and made large pumps, to the great advantage of themselves and of the citizens. Part of the garrison was sent to take possession of the old town of San Luis Rey, while others were despatched to the Colorado River to bring wagons on that had been left behind. On July 15 the battalion was mustered out at Los Angeles, although one small company reenlisted to do service for six months. Of those who were mustered out, two hundred and forty in all, organized themselves into a command and proceeded to the American River, not far from Sutter’s Fort, August 26.” A few remained over and found employment with Captain Sutter while the main company crossed the mountains by way of Donner Lake. Here they were met by Samuel Brannan, returning to California, who gave them an account of the arrival of the Mormons under Brigham Young in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Brannan’s impressions of the Valley were not encouraging. An epistle from the Apostles advised those of “small means to remain in California,” while the remainder should come on to Salt Lake. About half of the men remained, among whom was Henry W. Bigler. Sergeant Tyler with the other men pressed on across the deserts of Nevada, and arrived in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake on October 16, 1847. In 1848 others came to Utah by way of the Humboldt River, and during the following year battalion members, with many of those who had gone to California on the ship Brooklyn, went on to join the people at Salt Lake City. Mr. B. H. Roberts has enumerated the important things that the battalion accomplished in his little book entitled Mormon Battalion. He says: “Referring briefly to these four definite achievements; 1st. The conquest of northern Mexico. There can be no question about the part they took in the conflict which made California, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona part of the United States. 2nd. The opening of highways: A chart of the road made by Col. Cooke’s engineer was placed on file at Washington, D.C., and later formed the basis for the construction of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Upon their return march the battalion pioneered the road through Cajon Pass northeasterly in Salt Lake valley, a distance of over 500 miles. Subsequently over this trail the Salt Lake and Los Angeles Railroad was built. 3rd. The discovery of gold in California. While they were not the first to discover gold in California they took a very important part in discovering it. This event not only added millions to the nation’s wealth but resulted in California being admitted into the Union in 1850 as a free state, an event of great political significance. 4th. The battalion was a factor in teaching irrigation.” Samuel Brannan and the Ship Brooklyn. Samuel Brannan, a Mormon, was in charge of the ship Brooklyn, which, with two hundred and forty Mormons who embarked in New York, sailed around Cape Horn and arrived in San Francisco on July 31, 1846. Brannan was remarkable character in many respects. He was anxious that the Mormons should migrate to California, and particularly was this true after he had arrived at the Golden Gate. The Brooklyn was in command of a Captain Richardson, and it came with an organized military company. There can be no doubt that Brannan came with the avowed purpose of hoisting the American flag first on the Pacific Coast on the shores of California. San Francisco was considerable of a village, and was called Yerba Buena. The emigrants pitched their tents in the heart of the city, and as they were an industrious, thrifty, hardworking class of people, they added much to the growing town. Among them were carpenters and house builders, who soon found plenty of lucrative work to do. Brannan had an air of push and energy and at once manifested an interest in the affairs of California, and assisted in laying the corner stone of San Francisco’s commercial greatness. A letter to Brigham Young and the Quorum of Apostles written by Brannan on January 1, 1847, gives a clear idea of the first days of the Mormons on the Pacific Coast. He says in part: “Feeling sensible of the anxiety of your minds to become acquainted with the state of affairs in this country, induces me, at this late hour, to communicate to you this short and feeble epistle. Our passage from New York to this place was made in six months; since our arrival the colony generally have enjoyed good health. In relation to the country and climate we have not been disappointed in our expectations; but, like all other new countries, we found the accounts of it very much exaggerated; so much so, that we could recommend to all emigrants hereafter to provide themselves with thick clothing, instead of thin. There has been no arrival in the country this fall from those coming by land; but we are anxiously waiting for them next season. They will in all probability winter on the headwaters of the Platt, where they can subsist upon Buffalo meat. We are all now busily engaged in putting in crops for them to subsist upon when they arrive: I said all, but I should have said all that love the brethren, for, about twenty males of our feeble number have gone astray after strange gods, serving their bellies and their own lusts, and refuse to assist in providing for the reception of their brethren by land. They will have their reward. We have commenced a settlement on the river San Joaquin, a large and beautiful stream emptying into the Bay of San Francisco; but the families of the company are wintering in this place, where they find plenty of employment, and houses to live in; and about twenty of our number are up at the new settlement, which we call New Hope, ploughing and putting in wheat and other crops, and making preparations to move their families up in the spring, where they hope to meet the main body by land some time during the coming season. Since our departure from New York we have enjoyed the peculiar care of our Heavenly Father, everything in a most miraculous manner has worked together for our good, and we find ourselves happily situated in our new home surrounded with peace and prosperity. The Spaniards or natives of the country are kind and hospitable; but previous to our arrival they felt very much terrified from the reports that had been circulated among them by those who had emigrated from Missouri, which have proved to be false, and they have become our warmest friends. We shall commence publishing a paper next week, which will be the government organ by the sanction of Colonel Fremont, who is now our Governor, and is at the present time on a campaign to Lower California to subdue the Spaniards, who have lately taken up arms. We arrived here about three weeks after the United States’ Flag was hoisted, and the country taken possession of by the Americans, which exempted us from paying a heavy bill of duties, which would have amounted to about twenty thousand dollars. Capt. Montgomery of the sloop of war Portsmouth at the time held the command over this district, and to whose gentlemanly attention we were under many obligations. “Provisions in the country are very high, owing to the arrival of so many emigrants, and provisioning the Army and Navy; and without doubt will be very scarce next season, from the unsettled state of affairs in the country, politically, which has a very bad influence upon the agriculturist. Good mechanics are very much needed in the country, and in great demand. None need go idle for the want of employment, and being well paid. Merchandise and groceries demand a heavy price, and emigrants coming to the country should come well supplied, which can be done only by coming by water. Wheat is now selling for one dollar per bushel and flour for twelve dollars per hundred, owing to the scarcity of mills.” In the spring of 1847 Brannan left for the Missouri River to use his influence with Brigham Young to bring the Saints to California. He carried with him a contract to transfer to A. G. Benson and Company “the odd numbers of all the lands and town lots they may acquire in the country where they might settle.” A number of the leaders with Brannan signed the contract. Brannan’s sincerity has been questioned in this negotiation. Whatever might have been the motive, Brigham Young and the Council of the Twelve declined to approve the contract. San Francisco was center for a Mormon people, and the new emigrants were soon known as a moral and orderly people. Some took up lands while others hired out. Brannan wrote on January 1: “We have begun a settlement on the River San Joaquin, a large and beautiful stream flowing into the Bay of San Francisco; but the families of the company are wintering in this place, where they find plenty of employment and houses to live in; and about twenty of our number are up at the new settlement, which we call New Hope, ploughing and putting in wheat and other crops, and making preparations to move their families up in the spring, where they hope to meet the main body by land some time during the coming season.” While the settlement in the San Joaquin flourished, it was abandoned when Brennan returned from the Green River, where he had met the vanguard of the Saints under Brigham Young. In June, 1847, Brannan, in writing to a Brother Newell, a member of the Church in California, described his journey while on his way to meet Brigham Young and his company. He says, in part: “Once more I take my pen to drop a few lines and let you know my whereabouts. I left Capt. Sutter’s post, in California, on the 26th of April last, and arrived here on the 9th instant. I am on my way to meet our emigration; I am now one thousand miles on my road, and I think I shall meet them in a couple of weeks. I shall start on my journey again in the morning with two of my men and part of my animals, and leave one man here and the rest of the horses to recruit until I return, and then it is my intention to reach California in twenty days from this post. We crossed the Snowy Mountains of California, a distance of forty miles, with eleven head of horses and mules, in one day and two hours, a thing that has never been done before in less than three days. We traveled on foot and drove our animals before us, the snow from twenty to one hundred feet deep. When we arrived through, not one of us could scarcely stand on our feet. The people of California told us we could not cross then under two months, there being more snow on the mountains than had ever been known before, but God knows best, and was kind enough to prepare the way before us. About a week before we entered the mountains it was extremely warm, which made the snow settle and work together, then it turned cool and there fell about eighteen inches more of light snow, which kept the old snow from melting during the heat of the day, and made the travelling for our horses much better; we were enabled to get along much faster. During our journey we have endured many hardships and fatigues in swimming rivers, and climbing mountains, not being able to travel the regular route owing to the high waters. Had I time and paper I might give you quite an interesting account of the country and our travels throughout.” The decision of Young to remain in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake was a disappointment to Brannan, and, returning to California, he expressed his chagrin at the decision of the Mormon leader. Some of Brannan’s company, about one hundred adults and forty women and children, emigrated to Utah. The others remained in California. Brannan went into business on a large scale, and made money. He was kind-hearted and liked by all who knew him. He laid out the City of Sacramento, and projected the first railroad in California. His interest in this was purchased by Messrs. Stanford, Huntington, Hopkins and Crocker, whose project developed into the Central Pacific Railroad. He laid out other towns, and published the first newspaper in San Francisco, known as the California Star. This paper was later united with the Californian, first published in Monterey, and brought to San Francisco in May, 1847. The Settlement of San Bernardino. At the time of the settlement of Salt Lake City many Mormons had located in California. This was due to two principal movements – the “March of the Mormon Battalion,” and the migration to California under Samuel Brannan. As early as 1850 President Young sent Amasa Lyman to California to study conditions of the Saints in California. In a letter written by Mr. Lyman to J. H. Flanigan from San Francisco, April 11, 1850, he gives in some detail the object of his visit, and the conditions of his people in the state at that time. He says: “The presidency concluded, in order to have an eye to the interests and welfare of the church in Western California, that I should, with others, visit the country; consequently about the 11th of April 1849 (one year from the date of this), with a company of twenty men, I left the city and succeeded in fording and ferrying the Weber, and Ogden fork, and Bear river. Performed our journey in safety, having crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains on the snow (the 19th of May) on which we travelled four days without food for our animals. Arrived at Sutter’s fort, May 25th. The party that accompanied me went immediately to the mines. I continued to San Francisco. In the month of July we started a company across to Salt Lake City, with about 4,000 dollars tithing. They arrived at the Lake in safety about the first of October. About this time brother C. C. Rich was appointed by the presidency to visit Western California, and left the Lake with a party of brethren, travelling by the southern route, destined for the mines. They arrived in the lower district of Upper California in the month of December, when brother Rich immediately started for San Francisco. After remaining in the mining district until fall and the commencement of the rainy season, I again returned to San Francisco, and remained during the winter, watching the movements of political affairs – made one visit to Pueblo, where the legislature of the would-be State of California were holding their first session. About the 9th of February I sailed from Francisco in company with brothers Hunter, Crismond and Clift, for Sanpedro, for the purpose of ascertaining the practicability of making a settlement of our people in the lower district. On landing at Sanpedro, we learned that brother Rich was on his way to San Francisco. On the receipt of this intelligence, brothers Hunter, Clift and Crismond continued their journey by land to San Diego, and I immediately returned with some thirty of the brethren whom we met at Pueblo Delos Angelos. I sailed from Sanpedro on the 2nd of March on my return, and arrived in San Francisco on the13th. Found that brother Rich had been there in my absence, and gone to the southern mines. I remained here with the brethren until the first day of April, when we started for Sacramento city. On our route we met brother Rich, who accompanied us to Sacramento. “On the 5th, returned to San Francisco with brother Rich, where we met brother Hunter from the lower district.” In February, 1851, President Brigham Young called a company of saints to go and settle at San Bernardino, California. The company was organized at Payson, Utah, and led by Amasa M. Lyman and Charles C. Rich. There were five hundred souls in all, men, women and children. The purpose of settlement was to establish an outfitting post similar to that of Kanesville, Iowa, in order that Mormon emigration by way of the Panama Canal and the islands of the Pacific might be facilitated. The company left in March and was three months on the journey over the trail through Southern Utah, Nevada and California to their destination. The heat was extreme at times and the women and children were put to a great deal of suffering. Arriving at Sycamore Grove, they pitched camp and remained there for three months. A brief notice in the Los Angeles Star, May 31, 1851, says: “We learn that 150 Mormon families are at Cajon Pass, sixty miles south of this city, on their way here from Deseret. These families, it is said, intend to settle in this valley, and to make it their permanent home. We cannot yet give full credit to these statements, because they do not come to us fully authenticated. But if it be true that the Mormons are coming in such numbers to settle among us, we shall, as good and industrious citizens, extend to them a friendly welcome.” The leaders of the expedition purchased a large tract of land, consisting of 35,000 acres, for $77,500. Within a short time the pioneers moved on to the ranch and established the City of San Bernardino. The city was surveyed and laid out by H. G. Sherwood, and after living in the open for eight months the families were finally lodged in comfortable adobe houses. A stockade was erected enclosing eight acres, which was a protection against the Indians. A stream of water ran through the fort for sanitary and culinary purposes. Among the most noted men of the expedition was Jefferson Hunt, a member of the Mormon Battalion. After it was decided by the people to organize a county government, Hunt was sent to the California Legislature, then meeting in the City of Benicia, and on the 26th of April, 1853, he secured legislation for the organization of San Bernardino County. The City of San Bernardino, incorporated in 1854, was an enterprising town, with a well organized government. Grist mills were built, roads into the mountains were constructed, and one of the first buildings erected was the meeting house, where a school was opened within a short time after the founding of the city. Freighting was carried on with Pacific Coast cities and Salt Lake City. Among the old freighters was Francis M. Lyman, who made eight round trips with mule teams between Salt Lake and San Bernardino before 1857. The colonists put in crops. Every man had a tract of land, which he planted in wheat and potatoes. Wheat was sold at four dollars per bushel and flour at thirty-two dollars per barrel at Los Angeles. The colonists had considerable stock, the cattle having been purchased along the road from Salt Lake City. The land was surveyed and sold in tracts to the colonists. Many immigrants from Australia and even Europe purchased lands and began with marked success in building homes. The colonists suffered a great deal from Indian raids by the Utes, Chemehuevis and other desert tribes. Many cattle were driven away, and as a result the Mormon pioneers decided to build a stockade somewhat after the order of the one built at Great Salt Lake City in 1847. The fort, according to a description of one who took part in its building, was a palisade enclosure, or stockade, constructed by splitting the trunks of cottonwood and large willow trees in halves, roughly facing them on the split side, straightening the edges so that they would fit closely as they stood upright side by side. These stakes were set some three feet into the ground and stood about three feet high, with the split sides facing in. This composed the outside stockade and was in the form of a parallelogram about three hundred feet in width by seven hundred feet in length. Small one-story houses of logs and of adobes were built inside in long rows parallel with the stockade, leaving some sixteen or eighteen feet clear space between each. The west side of the enclosure was made of houses which had been built in various places before the necessity of fortification was realized and which were moved and placed with their outside walls adjoining so as to form a tight wall. Had the water given out it might have been obtained by digging wells from twelve to fifteen feet deep. In a corner of the fort a canvas tent was put up in which to maintain a school. William Stout, a Mormon elder, was the first teacher. More than a hundred families occupied the fort, together with a small number of men without families. Beyond were the fields, some of which were held in common, while others were owned by individual families. The policy of Brigham Young as a colonizer was faithfully carried out. Every head of a family was to be an owner of his home, and was to be economically independent. Wheat fields stretched out and beyond the fort, fruit trees were planted, and cattle and sheep raised. They began the construction of ditches to water their garden spots and grain fields. A large acreage was brought under irrigation. On Lytle Creek the colonists had fifty acres laid out into one-acre tracts, which were used for gardens by the town people. At Old San Bernardino they had a vineyard which was common property, and was irrigated from the old zanja which they at once utilized. Freighting was carried on with Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. In 1852 Captain Hunt secured a mail contract for three years to carry mail from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City by way of San Bernardino. The mail was carried on horseback. One of the old freighters of the trail between Salt Lake City and San Bernardino was Francis M. Lyman, who carried freight with mule teams. Considerable was done in sending supplies from the Mormon center – hay, flour and stock to Arizona and Utah points. Freighting became one of the chief occupations, and a man who engaged in it had to have considerable capital, for the large, heavy wagons were expensive. Eight, ten, twelve and sometimes eighteen or twenty mules were necessary to haul the freight over the deserts and through the mountains. There was always danger from the Indians, and these, together with “heat and cold, the alkali dust, the blinding glare of the sun upon the desert sands, thirst and hunger – all tested to the uttermost the physical and mental powers of the teamsters.” Government of San Bernardino. After the colonists had lived in the old fort for one year they began building their homes and making community improvements for the benefit of the entire colony. In 1853 the town was laid out and the streets, cutting each other at right angles, were patterned after Salt Lake City. The town was one mile square, laid out in blocks containing eight acres. Along the sidewalks were small irrigating ditches and shade trees were planted. The City of San Bernardino was incorporated April 13, 1854. The first public building was erected by Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich, and was for a general office for the interests of the Mormon Church. It was a church or meeting house, and used for gatherings of the people when important subjects were to be considered concerning the general welfare of the colonists. It was also the first courthouse of the county. In 1853 the superintendent of common schools reported an expenditure of $300 for library and apparatus, and almost another three hundred for building and furnishing the schoolhouse. In November, 1855, the school trustees, with the county superintendent, acted by order of the City Council and selected six lots for school purposes. Two schoolhouses were erected and were called the Washington and Jefferson buildings, respectively. A two-story house was erected by Amasa Lyman as a home for his family, which included five wives. Priscilla Lyman was the mother of the first white child born after the colonists reached San Bernardino. Another house was built by Charles C. Rich for his three wives, and, like all the old homes, was made of adobes. When the Mormons purchased the site on which they settled it was a part of Los Angeles County, and its boundaries extended eastward to the Colorado River. The county seat was Los Angeles, which was sixty miles distant. In 1853 Capt. Jefferson Hunt obtained through the Legislature a bill which provided for the dividing of Los Angeles County and the formation of San Bernardino County. The act was passed April 26, 1853. The act, stating the boundaries of the county, provided for proper officials whose duties were clearly defined. The county of San Bernardino was one of the largest ever created in the United States, having an area equal to half of the State of New York. Its position gave it a commercial advantage, as it was on the line of travel to the Pacific Coast from Utah and other points of the West. The first county commissioners, all Mormons, served until the withdrawal of the people to Utah in 1857. They left the county entirely free from debt, and their administration was marked by the building of roads and bridges and the erecting of schools and other public buildings. The San Bernardino colony attracted a great many people, because of the richness of the soil, and the well directed work of the colonists. Within a few months disappointed gold diggers and others came into the county, purchased lands and began farming. The Mormon community became in time extremely exclusive and all the offices of the city and county were held pretty much by members of the Church. The new comers could not adjust themselves to Mormon ideas and the only thing for them to do was to unite and form a local political party, which they did. A natural rivalry between the two factions grew up. The Gentile part came to be known as “Independents,” and until the withdrawal of the Mormons to Utah in 1857, there were many local clashes over public and questions and elections. The Mormons were noted for their industry and thrift, and were always considered good citizens. In Ingersoll’s Century Annals of San Bernardino County he sums up the character of the San Bernardino colonists in these words: “Their methods of cooperation, and their simple, hard-working lives were in strong contrast to the shiftlessness and often ill-directed efforts of many of their gentile neighbors. In the six years from their settlement in 1851-52 to their departure in 1857-58, they had built up a substantial town, with two adobe school houses, the ‘Council House,’ several substantial store buildings, a flour mill, three saw mills, irrigation ditches and good roads. They had bought a large share of the thirty-six thousand acres of land purchased under cultivation; had set out orchards and vineyards. A stage line and post route between Los Angeles and San Bernardino had been established, and a pony line to Salt Lake made regular trips. Besides these community improvements many of the individual members of the colony had acquired well improved homes, with the comforts of life about them, and some of them had accumulated considerable property. They had demonstrated that small farms and agriculture were not only possible but profitable in this land which had hitherto been given over almost entirely to grazing purposes; and they had paved the way for the numerous colonists that have since been so large a factor in the prosperity of our South Land. In 1857 the colonists of San Bernardino were recalled to Salt Lake City by President Brigham Young. Johnson’s army was on its way to Utah, and Young’s policy was to bring to “Zion” all his people as far as possible. The Mormons sold their homes and lands in San Bernardino, most of them realizing little on their investments. The church property was gradually disposed of, but the land titles of San Bernardino have always been unquestioned. In 1927, just seventy years after the people were called back to Salt Lake City by President Brigham Young, a monument was unveiled at Sycamore Grove, fifteen miles north of San Bernardino, in honor of the pioneers who settled there in 1851. It was erected by Mr. Fred Klein and others, who owned conjointly the land on which the Mormons settled in 1851. Mr. Klein is a publisher of Chicago, and is much interested in the history of Southern California. On a bronze tablet on the monument are these words: SYCAMORE VALLEY RANCH formerly called SYCAMORE GROVE first camp of the PIONEERS June, 1851 CAPTAIN JEFFERSON HUNT, AMASA M. LYMAN, CHARLES C. RICH, DAVID SEELEY, ANDREW LITTLE. At the same time the new San Bernardino County courthouse was dedicated, at a cost of $600,000. It was a beautiful structure, classical in design. Upon the bronze tablet, which has been placed on the right of the entrance to this building, are inscribed the names of the county commissioners: C. S. Crain, chairman, Victorville; C. E. Grier, Upland; M. P Cheney, Colton; John Anderson, Jr., San Bernardino. Upon the other tablet on the left of the doorway are inscribed these words: “On this site in 1839 was built the first house in San Bernardino, the home of Jose Del Carmon Lugo, one of the grantees of the Rancho Del San Bernardino. “Also on this site in 1851 a stockade of logs was built as a protection against Indians, and in it more than a hundred pioneer families lived for over a year. “Tablet placed by Arrowhead Parlor Native Sons of the Golden West, 1927.” Wherever the Mormons have settled in the West, they have developed the institutions that make for culture – namely, the home, the state, the church, the printing press, the school and the fine arts. Samuel Brannan took with him a printing press to California, and Young in his History of Journalism in California says that “it is not without significance that the awakening of Yerba Buena did not occur until the advent of the printing press. . . . . But from that time forward changes began to occur indicative of advancement, and it is impossible to dissociate them from the fact that a part of the Brooklyn’s cargo was a press and a font of type, and that the 238 colonists aboard the vessel and others who found their way to the little town brought with them books; more, one careful writer tells us, than could be found at that time in all the rest of the territory put together.” The first newspaper published in California was The Californian, a one- page sheet which made its appearance in Monterey on August 15, 1846. It was issued weekly, on Saturdays, and the subscription was five dollars a year, payable in advance. The type used for printing The Californian was found in the cloisters of one of the missions. In May, 1847, The Californian was moved from Monterey to Yerba Buena. Meanwhile, Samuel Brannan had arrived with his Mormon contingent and the printing press brought by the Mormons was used to publish a weekly paper called the California Star. The first number appeared January 7, 1847. It was a small sheet, twelve by fifteen inches. The paper was later united with The Californian and was issued as The Californian was found in the cloisters of one of the missions. In Alta California. In 1853 Parley P. Pratt was presiding over the California Mission, which included the adjacent countries in and on the Pacific. At a Conference of Elders held at Wailuku, Sandwich Islands, October 6, 1853, a committee was appointed to take measures to obtain a printing press, type and everything necessary to publish the Book of Mormon. The press, type, paper, etc., were brought around Cape Horn from New York. Upon arrival of the press in California, Elder Parley P. Pratt, who was then residing in California, was communicated with, and it was decided to move the press and the printing materials to San Francisco, where Elder Pratt intended to publish a paper. These materials were accordingly shipped to San Francisco. George Q. Cannon was appointed by the Church in 1855 to take a mission to California to labor with Pratt, and to help in the publishing of the Book of Mormon in the Hawaiian language. Cannon went by the southern route to San Francisco, and within a short time two thousand copies of the American scriptures in the native language of the people were sent to Hawaii. On the 23rd of February the first number of the Western Standard was issued. The papers was continued for a period of nineteen months, but during the fall of 1857 the last issue appeared and all the missionaries were called back to Utah, due to the coming of a contingent of the United States Army, which the people interpreted as a move to drive them from their homes. While the Western Standard was of brief duration, it was of high standard in publication in that day of pioneer California. As early as 1850 Mormon missionaries were sent to San Francisco, and from that time to the present the Mormon Church has maintained its congregations, known as “branches,” in many parts of the state. At the present time there are approximately twenty thousand Latter-Day Saints in California. There are three stakes of Zion, each having a population of about 3,500 and in these stakes there are thirty-five ward organizations. There are also about sixty independent organizations scattered throughout the state that are under the jurisdiction of the California Mission. The Mormon Church during the last few years has erected buildings in California that represent a value of about one million dollars. The Hollywood Stake Tabernacle, dedicated in April, 1929, is one of the finest church buildings in Los Angeles. It is typical of the buildings erected by the Mormon Church, and indicates something of the manner in which the Mormons maintain a high standard of social life. Additional Comments: California and Californians, Volume IV, Edited by Rockwell D. Hunt, A.M., Ph.D., Assisted By An Advisory Board, The Spanish Period, By Nellie Van de Grift Sanchez, The American Period, By Rockwell D. Hunt, California Biography, By a Special Staff of Writers, Issued in Four Volumes, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, 1932. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/sandiego/photos/bios/grant356gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sandiego/bios/grant356gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/ File size: 56.6 Kb