Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1905-07-24

God columbia was the etar.cyod
god1cps. the Angel Of the wilderness,
lowering above that historic march
Altogether flttlng, Is II, therefore,
that this patriotic gathering should be
general even cosmopolitan IN charac'
ter that there should be no politics aud
no religion On n narrow partisan secs
tartan spnsrl, In these nevertheless SAGE
rcd proceedings, that church and state
should unite Tor oncc--s should stand
upon common platform, and join IN
d0ing homage lo this day, I'm paying
tributes OF praise Co the memory of our
heroic pioneers, the nrst settlers Of
Utah, the original founders Of the COM
monwoelth,
n details are wanted can give them,
The Utah pioneers were n little UOmpds
ny OF cmIgronW led By Brigham Young
from the Missouri river o. the Rocky
mountains IN the spring and summer
of lSli They woro the advance guard
of the oXpatrntcd Mormon" communl-
iy, who after their wlntry exodus
from Illinois, ana thoIr heavy toisomc
march across gnuW.coycrod, rniu.nood-
I'D Iowa, were resting upon the potin-
wAtumie Indian lands and M other
scattered camps along the nations
frontier the oNtrcmo western fringe of
civilization
WHAT Lay BEYOND,
Beyond lay the broAd plains where
the savage rcd man ronmcd, tho im'
monsc stretch ~ unoccupIod country
out Of which Nebraska, Kansas, the
DakotHs, Colorado, Wyoming and other
states Of the Union have Nmcc been
formed tho western and greater part
" the wide tract known AS the "louisl.
ana Purchase" coded 10 the federal
government by France IN 1903, Farther
ON Welc tho snow.cappcd mountains
and sun-pnrchcd nlateaus OF the "Nroat
American Desert" owned ~ that time
by Mexico, but soon to pass, along with
some fertile sections, into tho posses
sion Of our grCnt and growing republic,
which had oNpn then started upon the
nnal stage ~ lta triumphant march TO
the ven, \ few thousand Americans
had found lhoir way across these droa-
~ plains ana Yot more droaly platoaus,
ana had settled Nmong the Spaninrds
and Indians along the Pacific coast
Most Of these omigrants Norc IN Ore
gon which included the present state OF
MHAhMRtoN, and was cuimod by Great
Britain, while the remainder were I'm
California, then Mexican province,
comprising not only our sister state OF
that uamp, hut also Utah, Nevada, and
other barren ports New Mexico nn-
other province az our noiRhbor nation,
took IN Arizona,
TIP to the year lSti, no white man
had made n permanent homo IN the
dcsolHle region reaching for hundreds
of miles, leagues upon leagues In oyes
ny direction from the sterile shores OF
the Great Salt Lake, the Dead sea Of
America, 4 few wandering mountain.
GERS living IN lonely log forts with In
dian wives, batting the bear trapping
the beaver and fur.tradng between the
Rocky mountains and the military
posts on the far away frontier were the
only civilized dWollors IN the midst Of
those silent soliludos Just how civil
lied they Woro, some of my hearers viii
bo able 10 remember The last COM
pnny Of calllornla.bound omlgronte
Tor the season NJ lSl6 tho Inflated
bonner pOrty-0ftcr passing the Was.
Otch mountains ana crossing the desert
south and west Of the lake, had per.
Ishod mlscrNbly IN the early SHOWS at
the eastern base ~ the slcrIas,
THE CALL or COUNTRY,
The Utah pioneers, who began their
Journey from the Missouri river about
the middle OF APRIL lsiI would have
begun II n year earlier but for the
enlistment VI the Mormon" Battalion,
which, IN the summer OF lSi6 took from
those prairie camps all the able bodied
men TINT could be spared 20 assist the
United Stotos In It's war with Mexico,
The battalion, over five hundred strong,
mustered IN at Council Bluffs, and
equipped AT Fort LeaNonworth, had
marched by way ~ the Mexican town
OF Santa re, across the desert into
southern California, and wRa now do.
Ing garrison service IN the conquered
country Colonel Cooke, the United
states army officer IN command Of the
battalion, declared their nrduous march
10 bo nm unparalleled achievement for
infantry, Some OF these Mormon"
soldiers, after an honorable discharge
nj Los Angeles IN July, lsii were next
heard from IN connection with the
world-ronoNnod gold discovery In CALI
fornIa N IL an established fact that
the picks and phovels Of Mormon"
battalion boys, working at suffers
mills, IN January, 1913, brought to light
the nurlteroua wealth OF the fnr-famcd
Golden state, an event that virtually
created California, and rovolutloniscd
the commerce Of the nation,
The ploncors--for our story has main.