Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1877-09-01
BRIGHAM AND THE MORMONS.

BRIGHAM AND THE MORMONS.
NIormsn Customs aud Leaders-What Brig
ham YsunG Teld y CorrespendeRt..sal
Lake CITY Dssilned 70 Became y Grca,
Watering Place.
A correspondent who recently visited
Salt Lake City, writes as follows con
oerning the Mormons and their chiel
city:
Brigham Young is a venerable, silver
haired man Of seventy.six. He has fl
teen real wives. not counting Ann Eliza,
and is spiritually sealed to several hun
dred. He has seventy.fve children.
forty.fve Of whom are living, and -four
or five hundred grandchildren. He says
he don't pretend to "keep track" Of his
grandchildren at all.
Are the Mormons increasing?
Yes-rapidly. They now extend
from Idaho, through Utah and Arizona
down into New Mexico. The prophet
says his people now number $4,000.
That they double once in six years. He
says there will be 800, 900 Mormons in
1882 and Coz, 900 in 1883.
When I asked the prophet about the
growth Of Utah he said:
eyes, we are fourishing people. We
have now thirty incorporated cities, 265
school-houses, seven cotton and woolen
factories, twelve newspapers, 200 miles
of railroads, many costly temples, among
which is our new 81, 900, 900 temple
down at st. George"
owe are also building" said the
prophet, "a new temple in Salt Lake
which will cost when finished, So, ,OOO,-
000-tle finest religious temple in the
world. 1t is now twelve feet high, and
it will take us ten or fifteen years to
finish it"
The old Mormon temple, capable of
holding II, 900 people, is the one used
by the Mormons now. When I was in
Salt Lake there was a conference going
on. The great temple was packed with
Mormon farmers from all over the coun-
try. Some would come into the temple
with four or five wives. The wives were
generally plainly dressed, and looked as
if they were very poor. Iii the temple
are three pulrits, one above the other.
The largest pulpit is occupied by Brig
ham Young.
The second pulpit in the temple is oc.
cupied by Daniel b. Wells, who, with
Brigham and his son, John W. Young,
makes up what is called the first quorum
of the Mormon church. Wells is also a
sort of Attorney General for Brigham-a
spiritual and temporal adviser. John
W. Young-a handsome young man with
three wives, one of whom he is divorced
from-will undoubtedly succeed his
father in the Mormon presidency.
The second quorum of the church con-
sists of the twelve disciples. They are
John Taylor, who occupies the third pull
pit; Erastus Snow, Orson Hyde, Orson
Pratt, Joseph F. Smith, jr., Brigham
Young, jr., etc. John Taylor is one of
the strong preachers of the Mormon
church. Taylor was with Joseph Smith,
the founder Of Mormonism, when he was
shot by the mob in the Carthage Jail,
Hancock county, No., and Taylor was
wounded in three places by the same
mob. But they failed to kill him, and he
lives to preach almost every Sunday in the
great temple and support four wives,
who live in different houses about Salt
Lake City.
Among Brigham Young's nineteen
wives he has had three favorites. His
first wife, whom he married in the States,
is now called Mother Young. She lives
in beautiful two-story cottage next to
her son, John w. His next favorite was
Emeline, now dead. Emeline's children
are all very bright and beautiful.
Salt Lake will one day be great ma
tional watering-place. It combines the
charms of Interlaken at the foot of the
snow-capped Alps, and Wiesbaden, with
its hot sulphur springs. Over the city
the Wasatch mountains, covered with
perpetual snow, seem to hang as if
great wind would blow them over and
bury the green city in an avalanche.
The street cars almost take you to the
salt water, where is the most charming
surf-bathing in the world, and half
mile walk takes you to scalding hot sui
phur springs, better than Wiesbaden or
the hot springs in Arkansas.
Think of snow-capped mountains,
beautiful fruit-laden valleys, hot sulphur
springs, and the salt sea surf, all in one
city. The like is not in the whole world.
The hot sulphur water comes out at the
foot of the snow-capped Wasatch, hot
enough to boil an egg. It comes in
great stream-enough for fifty bath
it is the same water that
flows in Wiesbaden. Salt Lake, 1 say,
is Interlaken, Wiespaden, Long Branch
and Barbara all in one.
What place to swim is Salt Lake
The water is SO heavy that you cannot
sink. Fold your hands and lie on your
back, and then you can ride with your
shoulders out of water all day. I went
in bathing one morning and found that
by working my feet fast could raise
my body almost to my waist. I almost
had the appearance of walking on the
water. The specific gravity of the lake
makes it fayOrite resort for the Nor
mon boys and girls, who. can swim to
the deepest places with no fear of
drowning.
A Great Field Of Wheat.
MIR. w. r. Shelby of Grand Ranids.