The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1849-11-10
Correspondence of the Tribune. ]
From the Great Salt Lake.


THE COUNTRY AND THE ROUT
THE PEOPLE MANNERS AN
CUSTOMS--INDUSTRIAL PRO
GRESS-PUBLIC WORSHIP-Al
ADDRESS BY BRIGHAM YOUNG
HIS VIEWS ON AMERICAN AT
FAIRS-DESIRE OF TERR[TORl
AL OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
TRANSACTED IN CHURCH, &c.
GREAT SALT LAKE Cry, July 8, ! 849
Perhaps few lines from a stranger il
this strange land, and among still NOR
strange people, will be judged sufficient,
interesting to find aplace inyour columns
The company of gold-diggers which
have the honor to command. arrived herr
on the Sd inst, and judge our feelings
when, after some twelve hundred miles o
travel through an uncultivated desert, and
the last one hundred miles of the distance
through and among lofty mountains and
narrow and difficult ravines, we found
ourselves suddenly and almost unexpect-
edly in a comparative paradise.
We descended the last mountain by a
passage excessively steep and abrupt, and
continued our gradual descent through a
narrow canon for five or six miles, when,
suddenly emerging from the pass, an ex-
tensive and cultivated valley opened be-
fore us, at the same instant that we caught
a glimpse of the distant bosom of the
Great Salt Lake, which lay expanded be-
fore us to the westward, at the distance of
some twenty miles.
Descending the table-iand which bor-
dered the valley, extensive herds of cattle,
horses, and sheep were grazing in every
direction, reminding us of that home and
civilization from which we had so widely
departed-for as yet the fields and houses
were in the distance. Passing over some
miles of pasture-land, we at length found
ourselves in broad and fenced street,
extending westward in a straight line for
several miles! Houses of wood or sun.
dried brick were thickly clustered in the
vale before us, some thousands in number,
and occupying spot about as large as
the City Of New York. They were most
ly small, one story high, and perhaps not
more than one occupying an acre of land.
The whole space for miles, excepting the
streets and houses, was in high state CT
cultivation. Fields ofyellow wheat stood
waiting for the harvest and Indian corn,
potatoes. oats, flax, and all kinds of gar
den vegetables, were growingin prolusion,
and seemed about in the same state of for
wardness as in the same latitude in the
States,
At first sight of all these signs of cul-
tivation in the wilderness, we were trans
ported with wonder and pleasure. Some
wept, some gave three cheers, and some
ran and fairly danced for ioy-while all
felt inexpressibly happy to find themselves
once more amid scenes which mark the
progress of advancing civilization. We
passed on amid scenes like these, expect
ing every moment to come to some COM
mercial centre, to some business point in
this Great Metropolis of the mountains,
but we were disappointed No hotel,
sgn-post, cake and beer shop, barber pole,
market-house, grocery, provision. dry
goods or hardware store, distinguished
one part Of the town from another-not
even a bakery or mechanics sign was
anywhere descernible.
Here, then, was something new. An
entire people reduced to level, and all
living by their labor-all cultivating the
earth, or following some branch Of physi-
cal industry. At first thought it was an
experimental order of things establish
ed purposely to carry out the principles of
Socialism" or 'Mormonism.' In short,
thought it very much like Owensm per-
sonifed. However, on enquiry, | found
that a combination Of seemingly unavoid-
able circumstances had produced this sin
gular state of affairs. There were no no.
tells, because there had been no travel; no
BARRIERS shops, because every one chose
to shave himself, and no one had time to
shave his neighbor; no stores, because they
had no goods to sell nor time to traffic; no
centre of business, because all were too
1usy to make centre.
There was abundance of mechanics
shops, dress makers, milliners, tailors. &C.,
,ut they needed no sign, nor had they
ime to paint or erect one, for they were
crowded with business Beside their sew
raj trades, all must cultivate the land or
lie; for the country was new, and no cul-
walton but their own within a thousand
niles. Every one had his lot, and built
lpon it, every one cultivated it, and per-
laps small farm in the distance.
And the strangest of all was that this
,reat city, extending over several square
niles, had been erected, and every house
md fence made, within nine or ten months
IF the time Of our arrival-while at the
same time good bridges were erected over
hc principal streams, and the country
settlements extended nearly one hundred
miles up and down the Valley.
This Territory, State, or as some term
it, Mormon Empire" may Justly be con-
sidered one ofthe greatest prodigics of the
age, and, in comparison with its age, the