Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-08-30

Sl3, 600 ...:...Seventeen million yards of
standard domestic cotton goods were sold at
auction in New York last Thursday. The
receipts footed up 81 900, 900, the prices being
from 5 to 25 per cent. below what had been
the ruling market rates for similar goods
previous to the sale. .''''Ihe PRESIDENTIAL
party were on the Yellowstone River last
Saturday, all represented to be well.
Correspondence of the Yorkville Enquirer.
FROM THE PACIFIC COAST.
SAN Francisco, August 10.-After a
pleasant trip of lust three weeks from the
time your rcorrespondentleftS South Carolina,
he arrived at the Golden City of the West
on the night of the 7th instant.
AS locations or even incidents of travel
east of the Mississippi River-the Father of
Waters-would be Of little interest to your
readers in this day of steam and electricity,
/ will begin my narrative at Salt Lake City,
Utah, first promising that 1 am not a recent
York county convert to Mormonism, nor
even votary of the peculiar doctrines Of
these people. But trip to San Francisco
would lose much of it's SAVIOR without stop
ping over at Salt Lake City long enough to
at least learn something of sect which has
formed prominent topic throughout the
entire land since 1874, and whose teachings
and practices in open defiance of United
States laws constitute national problem ap-
parently no nearer solution than when Joe
Smith first promulgated the creed, which,
strange to say, has at this day so many fol-
lowers.
We reached Salt Lake City on the 3rd,
after thirty-two hours travel from Denver,
a distance of $50 miles. Much of the way
say 425 miles-is over desert waste which
can never be made of any value except for
valuable deposits Of coal which are found in
several places. The land is hilly and bro
ken, and the bare hills and mountains are
picture of desolation. Water has been Oh
tanned along this portion of the railroad on
! ly by boring artesian wells, which was ac-
complished by the railroad company at
great expense.
All of Utah that I saw was originally
desert, but the land is free from alkali, and
when it is irrigated it produces fine crops,
but not SO good as the prairie lands further
east. The Mormon settlers have reclaimed
a large extent of country, and actually built
city in desert but it has cost an immense
amount of labor to dig canals and bitches
for the purpose of conveying water from the
mountains and distributing it all over the
country. Salt Lake City has an abundant
supply Of good water which is conveyed by
bitches and pipes along every street.
llc have
wonderful work, which no people could ev-
er have done who were not controlled and
moved by fanaticism. The city is well laid
off and contains many fine public and pri-
vate buildings.
The Tabernacle, which seats 10000 peo-
pie, is not a fine building, but it is a re-
markable piece of architectural skill. The
Temple, when completed, will be an ele-
CANT structure of solid granite.
The MormOns are in large majority and
control the city, county and territorial gov
ernments, and openly defy the United
States laws against pol ygamy. Only stern
sooner it is enforced the better It will be for
the whole country and the people of this
territory.
On the second day Of our stay in Salt Lake
City we visited the Tabernacle and heard
| two Mormon sermons, defending their faith
and urging their people to live moral and
Cody lives. The sermons contained mix
ture of good and bad.
Towards Gentiles, the Mormons are reti-
cent. A stranger" knocking at their gates
can learn but little except what may come
| from close observation, and to learn much
of their peculiar doctrine, habits and prac-
ing man has at his disposal. Only gov
ernment official on large salary can afford
| to probe the secrecy Of the latter day saints,
and as the work is easy and the pay good,
naturally enough it progresses slowly.
While, OF course, every man has not
brigade of wives-for even Mormon would
| find things lively for him in this state of af-
| fairs-there is no denying that p0lygamyis
practiced to considerable extent. And
while the men thus much married, and ire
trievably wound in the meshes of Hymens
a I'm, c,,hI
| rior, what may be more surprising to the
women Of the east, the wives all having
common interest in the same husband ap-
pear to live amicably and harmoniously.
If there is any cat-claWing and hair-pulling
such disagreements are kept from the knOwl-
edge of the Gentiles.
AS an instance of Woman's fidelity it may
be stated that at this time Belle Harris is
undergoing imprisonment for contempt of
court, the offence consisting in her refusal
to answer the question whether or not she
is married or ''sealed" to a man who is
known to have at least one wife besides the
alleged wife in the person of Belle Harris.
This affair arose in test case of trying
Mormon for adultery before Judge Twiss.
When one of the Mormon's alleged wives
was brought upon the witness stand, she
blocked the trial by refusing to answer the
question of the prosecuting attorney as to
whether or not she was married the Judge
sent her to Jail for contempt, and there the
case rests. In prison she is known as Mss
Harris, and the Mormons claim that she has
the sympathy of every woman-Mormon
and Gentile-in the territory, the ground of
this sympathy being that as no woman is
bound to tell the truth respecting her age
neither is she required to say, in court of
justice whether she is married or single!
Great Salt Lake is one of the natural curl
osities of this locality. L visited the lake
and enjoyed a bath in it's turbid waters
The water is so dense and strongly impreg-
mated with salt that person floats on its
surface without the power even to swim.
The air is pure and bracing, and here it sell
dom rains.
San Francisco is distant from Salt Lake
City 935 miles, and to make the journey by
rail requires two days and two nights. In
that brief time we passed over more differ
ent geological formations than had thought
could be found in the United States. This
teaches us at least that everything in this
world is made for some wise and useful pur-
pose but it requires a considerable exercise
of faith to believe that the vast barren hills
and plains over which we paSsed-sOme-
times for fifty miles at stretch, without a
sprig Of grass or a drop of water-were made
to serve a useful purpose in the grand sys-
tenn of creation.
Without beholding for himself the reader
cannot realize the desolation of about 500
miles of the route through Wyoming Terri
tory and the State of Nevada, while some
portions of Utah and California are no bet
ter. After leaving Salt Lake City, we pass
ed through five different ranges of noun