The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-09-22
LETTER FROM REV. DIR
G.. HI. READ. ....--
INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF SALT LAKE
CITY AND ITS CUSTOMS ... -

xfx EhEO IZ-ft +iCCpt4I UF DALI lin
CITY AND ITS CUSTOMS. ..r IT,
Dear Major Stiles: Our arrival at the
hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory,
the pencil talk in which we had
been engaged from Chicago to that point.
Shall we resume our observations as if at
that remarkable place, emitting the date
and place of this writing? In our ap-
proach to the city we are told that there
are three good hotels, two Of them kept by
Mormon proprietors and one by Gentiles.
we Gentiles came out of our way to see the
self-styled Saints, and SO we choose (other
things being about equal as affecting bodily
CONT tort), to "interview the Mormon
establishment-th " Salt Lake Hotel" If
there is any special saintliness in its plan or
details, we do not discover it. 1t seems to
be conducted upon the policy of simple and
cheap accommodations for a good price, So
per day. There is a "bar-rOom adJoin-
ing the Office of registration, bill-paying,
&c., &C., accessible from within and with
out, just like any other hotel not labelled
Us sanity. The odors indicate that the
spirituousness is alcoholic. If the custom
ers are Gentiles (as it is said), the profits go
into Mormon purses, and Brigham Young
gets his tariff from the system of licenses.
These may be small matters, but straws
show the course of the wind.
a striking feature Of Salt Lake City, I'M
mediately noticeable, is the flowing of beau
tiful, clear water through all the Streets in
considerable volume. This water is sup
piled from three canyons" or gorges, in
the Wahsatch range of mountaius-the pro-
duct of melting snoeo and cold springs. The
snow is visible at the time of our visit
(July 1st) in various directions from the
city. The water courses are about two feet
wide, and the water flowing briskly in
them is from three to six inches deep. The
street crossings and cutters are wei paved,
and the municipal regulations stringently
protect the channels from unnecessary i'm
purities, 50 that there is hardly any discolo-
ration of these beautiful streams, whose
bright, cheerful flow, flashing in the sum
light and moonlight, and giving out liquid
music IN the darkness, is a constant charm.
We could not resist the prompting to fol-
ciable streams to its source in the L" "city
canyon"-a pleasant walk Of some two
miles.
Advantage is taken of the rapid descent
of the main stream from the mountain
gorge, and at different elevations dams are
made, and several canals or sluices are cut
to convey the water in diyerging lines upon
the widening banks on both sides of the
gorge, the divided streams spreading like
the frame of fan and entering the main
streets at the foot OF the mountain. In
this way the ever-fowlng, limpid waters of
these canyons, converging toward the east
ern side OF the city, are utilized not only
for cleanliness, health, and beauty in every
-fynn <,ff fln l,,f hnl IL
gardens also receive their contributions for
irrigation of grass, fruit, and flowers. Here
is realized Il description OF Melbourne, in
Australia (Which we had read with in
in which the Yan-Ycan river is
made ubiquitous, percolating and flowing
everywhere for cleanliness and ornamental
ton.
The general character Of the buildings
throughout the city is plain and comforta-
bly, neat. The material most used for ordi-
nary building purposes is stone and sum
dried brick, or "udobes." The city is
beautifully located on a sloping plain
ut the base of spur Of the WahSatch
lofty range, whose rugged
peaks, despite the heat on the plain at this
time of writing, are crowned with SNOW.
The wide streets are laid out at right
angles, bordered with shade trees, kept
neat and clean, and the external appear
ance is that Of quietneSs and comfort. The
population of the city is said to be twenty
i've thousand. l have found the disposi-
ton to eXaggerate numbers always to be
great; and here, as generally, L should de-
duct about thirty per cent. from the num-
Der given. Prominent among the public
buildings is the Tabernacle. 1t is a struc-
ture of great simplicity and size, whose
bell-shaped roof attracts attention rs you
enter the city. 1t is two hundred feet long,
by one hundred and fifty feet in width the
coeiling of the roof siXty-tive feet from the
floor. 1t is said to seat 5000 persons
The audience-room is "egg
shaped, in the gallery of one end of which,
lnd behind the pulpit, is very large organ,
of good quality, itself I" the work of Nor
mon." Spending Sabbath there, in the
we attended the meeting of the
"Godbeyites "-who meet
in hall and hold a service by themselves.
My impressions were, upon the whole,
painful. ! could join in the singing, for
the text of the hymns Was familiar and
spiritual, and in the opening prayer; but the
preaching, or, rather, the two addresses,
lacked essentially in the spirit of humble in
quiry after Truth at the mouth of God. The
first address was gentle and kind, sort
of humaDitarianlsm, Oyershadowed with
of reverence, and instinct with
of piety but the second, by a
young man, was an offensive
mixture of Swedenborgianism, spiritual
ism, egoism, and profanity, which was as
absurd as it was painful to hear. 1t was
significant to see an organized movement in
Salt Lake City against the spiritual and
temporal claims of the Mormon hierarchy
Church and State), but this. movement,
under its present leadership, does not seem
70 me to promise much, either for truth,
or religion.
In the afternoon we attended the public
service at the Tabernacle. Brigham Young
was there, with his prominent men, pro-
phets, bishops, &c, &c. large consrega-
ion Of "the Saints" and a considerable
number Of GENTLE strangers, like our
selves. The music, by large and tolerably
choir, managed by q leader IN
ront of the organ and facing the singers,
,cating time with his rod, was quite good
II artistic quality and effect. There was the
of what purp orted to be
acrament-brcad, broken by twelve ''apos-
les" and distributed through all the house,
olTowed by the distribution of water In tin
ups, instead Of wine. During this service,
which was quite protracted, a missionary,
ust returned from England and the contl-
lent of Europe, gave an account of his Ia
,ors in "gatheIing the saints" in foreign
ands. 1t was a loose, illiterate,. nasal, te--
lious harangue, in which incense was offered
O Brigham's vanity, and an offer of proof
hat he (Brigham) was indeed a prophet.
: ran thus ~" the missionary, be-
ore leaving home to cross the Atlantic, ex-
,ressed fears as to my reception and safety
n the other side, to which Brigham Young
eplied by assuring me chat I should have
o trouble, but would find friends to receive
ne and help me on my way" and upon this
ssuranee, which the speaker said he had
ound to be true, he, with an air OF triumph,