A VETERAN OF IM 1846 frederick kesler son of fred frederick and mary lindsay Kesler born in pe sylvania on the aoth of janus january k ye li wax was left an orphan at a taw tender a when I 1 was fourteen years old I 1 OL encode to loath learn the art of mw mill bu iv VS slid and worked at it five years at nineteen I 1 went to what was then called the black hawk purchase now called iowa became acquainted with the celebrated war chief black hawk and it was there I 1 built the first known flour mill that was built in iowa in 1839 1 I became acquainted with the prophet joseph smith and heard him expound the principles of the true plan of yf life and salvation I 1 believed it as soon as I 1 heard it and was baptized in the early spring of 1840 and with my family took up our abode with the saints after the massacre of the prophet and patriarch we left nauvoo at the time of the ejaus exodus of the saints and journeyed with them until we arrived at mount pisgah here we found president brigham young with the main body of the church we traveled in pres dent youngs company from pisgah pis gah to council bluffs arriving there on the nth day ot of june 1846 on the leth of june president young called on me to build a ferry boat I 1 selected some of the brethren to hep joeand me and took them into the woods where we vve selected the best trees I 1 could find that would at all suit the purpose and with the poor facilities and improvised tools at our command we commenced the work and finished our boat on the aota of june that night we ferried our cannon nicknamed nick named the old sow and other pieces of artillery with several wagons across the river I 1 kept at work day and night ferrying the hosts of israel with their wagons and all their 11 belongings n ings to a place of safety we it ferried 1 hundreds of wagons across and sa lost last I 1 had to rest I 1 was completely tired dred out I 1 had bad worked for weeks day and ad night without money and without price the majesty and greatness of the spirit that the lord bestowed upon president brigham young has not been thoroughly understood or correctly esti donated nor fully appreciated even by many of our own people especially those who were not participants in the dobbings mob bings and dr ivings and who did not know the distress of the people in thereof his genius and I 1 forethought enabled him to grasp every phase base and prepare for every emergency sl the e tender care and anxiety that he i manifested for every soul under his watchcase watch care and the skillful way he handled bandied the vast body of people and net let every difficulty that transpired makes him a greater hero than any general that has ever lived A general over an army has his men well drilled and disciplined but here was a vast dy of people aleein fleeing from a relentless foe whose leader M had been told by the of this great nation gentle anen en your cause is just but we can do a nothing ath lag for you after this their leaders ders bad been murdered the people bobbed fobbed ed and scattered yet brigham young oung then president of the quorum of the apostles by his own voice under the inspiration of the lord collected the people and directed overy every their benefit and preservation in the midst of our troubles after we I 1 sad bad reached council bluffs captain allen alien came as an agent for the united states tes government and made a demand for five hundred men to fight against mexico aco president young called for 4 volunteers I 1 went to him and gave my mame tsuneto to go but he said no I 1 want you ka tay here s lu in the exodus the people could take with them only very few things for their use some brought hand mills and coffee mills which were poor things to grind corn or flour president Young knowing I 1 was a millwright called on me to build a mill for the accommodation of the people to grind their corn as deiy very few had anything else for food I 1 at once went to work and built the mill as soon as it was possible to accomplish it it had one run of four feet burr stones early in the spring of 1847 very many went into missouri and other places to seek employment whereby they could earn indans means to fit themselves out for crossing the plains I 1 had no supplies except one hundred of flour two sacks ot of corn meal and some whole corn our clothing was scant and needed replenishing I 1 went as did many others to find work to earn a fit out I 1 obtained work in jackson county missouri the lord blessed by labors so that we could come more comfortably I 1 remained there at work until the early spring of 1851 after I 1 had earned sufficient to bring us through although my prospects financially were bright ii if I 1 remained longer no one could induce me to stay one day after the spring we left kansas city and travelled in our wagon on the north side of the missouri river nver until we arrived at winter quarters from winter quarters we journeyed across the plains in elder orson pratts prates company and arrived in the valley on the first day of october 1851 after being here some little time I 1 thought of going north to start business for myself but president brigham young desired me to stay here and ana take charge of the mill building and the machinery for the church the first work I 1 did was to put the water power machinery in place for the public works it was situated on the northeast corner of the temple block in 1854 president young organized a company that was known as the big cottonwood lumber company it was composed of six i persons the names being as follows bri brigham aham young daniel H wells abragam abraham 0 smoot lohn john sharp FeTa feramorz morz little and frederick kesler president Pies ident young gave us instructions to explore the mountains and hills hilis in the big cottonwood district and see if there was suitable timber in sufficient quantity to justify the vast expense that would necessarily be incurred in procuring and conveying the lumber out of the canyon I 1 was also to select locations for mills we were convened conveyed by team as far as team could tra travel up mill creek canyon from there we travelled on foot carrying our blankets and provisions until we reached the top ot the divide where we made our first camp and we were so weary that we were very glad to lie down to rest we could not find water that night we thoroughly explored the district of big cottonwood climbing over the most rugged rocky and rough places laces I 1 had ever traveled over we found found nothing to dispute our progress except some colonies of rattlesnakes which were plentiful and some of them very large but they did not harm us five of our company went on this exploring tour president young remained rt at home memmory Fer amory little was selected to superintend the construction the roads from the mouth to the head of if the canyon I 1 was called to superintend and build the mill the ile first mill built was called mill A we had to transport all our iron and provisions for this mill on mule back I 1 built five mills in big cottonwood which were designated as all A B C 11 D and E we had a wagon road before the second mill was built it was hard work irom from the first I 1 do not think any harder work was ever done by man than we did from the time we started until we had our first saw mill completed the road cost somewhere near forty thousand collars before it was finished we commenced sawing lumber ning the mills day and night and continued manufacturing until we had a vast amount from which we supplied the entire public works we also had bad a great amount of lumber stacked up and no apparent use for it or market where we could sell it was not long however before the superior judgment and matchless wisdom of this mighty leader and undoubted servant of god were displayed before all israel we were very poor no money very little clothing or merchandise the people were very destitute at this time general johnston with the U S army was sent against again us they went to camp floyd and they needed lumber they came to us and bought our lumber and paid us thousands of dollars in gold for fir i it while we needed everything that gold gold could buy this undoubtedly saved our people considerable suffering and helped us to develop the country and provide for the necessities of the whole people in 1858 president young called horace S eldredge and frederick kesler to go east and take the gold we had received for our lumber and make purchases for the benefit of the people brother eldredge was to purchase mercantile goods while I 1 was to select and purchase machinery for manufacturing purposes I 1 bought from the best manu manti factories in the united states and bought the best material in every purchase I 1 made in wareham massachi sets I 1 bought the first nail making machines that were ever brought here machines that would make from four to twelve penny nails making a nail complete at one stroke I 1 purchased two chilled rolls at pittsburg pennsylvania the two rolls alone made one heavy wagon load these rolls were for rolling ane iron for making the different sixes aims of nails I 1 also bought carding machines tor for carding both wool and cotton po power looms mule for spinning wool and a paper mill these were the first that were ever brought to utah the paper mill brother william howard tended putting up with my assistance he also ran it after it was ready for work I 1 purchased at the same time material for building flour mills consisting of irons burr stones bolting doth cloth etc president brigham young cadres called brother D H wells to take charge of and run the nail machine I 1 put up the machinery for him and brother james ti H hart now living in bear lake was his Jo foreman reman I 1 also bought a button machine tor making both pearl and bone buttons this I 1 bought at philadelphia I 1 do not know who operated it I 1 have built mills in ten different states state to wit in pennsylvania ohio illinois i s iowa missouri mississippi texas nebraska kansas and utah fifteen in the last named state there was no general move made in the early days of utah that president brigham young did not suggest ard and the success of this people is entirely due to the revelations and inspiration from the lord through brigham young and his bis obedience thereto although not claiming to be a pioneer of 1847 yet I 1 have been engaged in pioneer work all the way through ever since I 1 was nineteen years old and have crossed those dreary plains four times with teams mom salt lake to the missouri river on church business it if my efforts have resulted in good to my fellowman fel lowman or helped to establish this great commonwealth then I 1 am thankful for the ability that the father of all bei bestowed towed upon me I 1 am still a laborer and well wisher for the cause of zion F KESLER