Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-11-23

Whole villages were converted, ana
within nine months two thousand sous
were baptized Another mission III
1SiC-Al, broadenod and strengthened the
foundation thus laid, brought seven OF
eight thousand more into the Church
In different parts Of the British lsles,
established a permanent publishing ana
shipping agency. and set IN fnotlon the
tide OF Mormon emigration from that
land
In the winter Of 1889 the main body
Of the Mormon people numbering To-
MOO men. women and children, then set
tied IN Caldwell county Missouri, and
adjacent parts, were expelled tfom thelr
homes. under an eXtermlnatlng order Is
sued by The governor and forced to
take refuge IN the neighbOrlng state
Of Illinois, There within the next seven
years they increased 20 10000 and re-
ceived their first immigrants from
abroli THE Gathering preached by
the Elders had now Nbegun In earnest
and yeal after year converts from Eu-
rope Canada and all parts OF the
Union came pouring into Nauvoo Han
cock county, and the vicinity which
had become the chief gathering place.
There the Prophet met his death, at
the hands Of an armed mob, while a
prisoner In Carthage jail which event,
While a violent shock to the Church,
gave Ii a great impetus and brought
Brigham Young 20 the front as It's
leader
What is generally recognized as
Mormonlsms one great service to
cyilizaton-the redemption OF the
arid West, the peopllrg and dottiug
with cities and towns, orchards and
vineyards. OF the sun-baked. alkaline
valleys OF the Rocky Mountains began
In the summer Il lS47, with the advent
Of Brigham Young and his pioneer
band into Salt Lake Valley. The main
body OF the Church, in It's exodus from
Illinois. was then resting upon the ma
tons frontier, the Missouri river. from
which point, the summer previous, had
gone forth, at The call Of their country,
the Mormon battalion 500 strong, to
assist III the war against Mexico. At
that time this whole western region was
almost an unknown oountry--abgolute
~ unknown 20 the people Of the East,
practically unknown 70 the few scatter
ed Waite inhabitants on the coast Of
California and Oregon, and only partly
known TO the occasional trapper, or
mountdineer, who roamed over its soli-
tudes, II was denounced by Daniel
Webster. ON the floor Of the United
States Senate, as "a vast, worthless
area" and the region Of the Great Saly
Lake wac Indicated upon the maps md
referred 10 Ia the school books as 'The
Great American Desert" And desert II
was, whatever may nc said now Of lat
ent fertllity, In thl light OF what has
since been accomplished by earth cul-
ture and irrigation. Colonel Bridger,
the famous mOuntaneer who met the
Mormon Pioneers on Che Fix sandy,
said % their leadeG Nh Young, |
would give thousand dollars II knew
that an ear Of corn could ripen I'm the
Great Basin" Yet here In his region
Of salt, akui ana sagebrush, all bun
treeless and Wateress, region con-
denneG by Webster, derried by Briig-
CT, and Stunned by the overland emil
giant as valley OF desolation and
DEATH Mormonlsm set W It's stand
ard and proceeded to work out It's des-
tiny Beneath its touch the touch OF
untring Industry diylneY blessed and
directed--the desert biuss1med the
wilderness became a fruiiul field and
cities and towns sprang 40 by hum
dreds IN the midst Of the once barren
waste.
Mormonism In founding Utah, bla2ed
the way for the westward march of CIV
llzation; for In California and Greg n,
her only possible competitors at that
time, there was no such community Of
interests, no such organized effort no
such systematic plan Of co'oniza ton
and state building As were witnessed
here from the beginning While Cali
fornia was digging gold, Utah was de-
veloping her agricultural resources;
while on the fertile slopes Of the Pacific
the husbandman was reaping with little
or no toll harvests sown and water
by nature, the Mormon settler was