Show THE BANNOCK STAKE OF ZION BY JENSON JEMSON feb the bannock ward was of organized into a stake of zion under the name of bannock stake with thonas thomas E ricks bicks as president and william F F rigby bigby and francis C gunnell as his counselors april 26 1884 the first stake quarterly terl conference was held at rexburg Bex Rex burg on which occa occasion siou bex burg F was organized as a ward w with ith thomas h onias E kicks jun as bishop and john L roberts and andrew S An anderson Jerson as his counselors may 13 1884 the first crop report of the stake was taken showing a 8 total of 1682 1582 acres of land planted during that spring april SO 1883 the population of the ae as shown by the statistical report bad increased to souls jy may had 0 1884 apostles wilford woodruff and heber J grant arrived at rexburg Rex burg where they preached to the saints on may aud and june I 1 ast 1st at on the ath of june they met with the bair saints ta at lyman and organized that branch into a ward the second ward of the stake on the ath they visited the saints between the north teton and henrys fork and organized them into a ward called wilford on the they organized the teton ward and on the bilth parker ward meeting with the saints at these places july 31 1884 the second statistical report of the stake showed the total number of saints to be 1420 at the second quarterly COD conference ference held at rexburg Rex burg aug 16 1884 at which presidents john taylor george 4 cannon and apostles F M lyman and george creasdale asdale Fe re were present the following brethren were chosen as members of the high council of the bannock stake of zion austin G green david robison Bo bison alexander N stephens james H mason brigham ricks heber ricks phineus te tempest william troop george H B harris and george D blat blai k alternate members andrew A anderson william J young charles keppner and edmund paul all these brethren were ordain ne ei I 1 and set apart to their respective offices at once except thomas brown and casper 1 asper steiner St elner who being absent were not set apart until oct 18 1884 when a priesthood meeting was held at rexburg Bex Rex burg at the same quarterly conference held at rexburg Rex burg august and the menan cedar buttes anti and louisville wards were partly organized this increased the number of wards in the stake to six on this occasion the following letter of instruction were given to the saints to in the bannock stake to the saints in the stake of zion having been asked some questions by president rieke ricks in regard to the timber and hay land in this valley or among our settlements we we beg leave to present the following in answer thereto you have your city lots surveyed here and public squares laid out you have your lots provided for meeting houses school houses and tithing offices as we well as farm lands for missionary purposes you are operating pe rating together in your general en public arrangements in bail building ng meeting houses school houses and otner other public enterprises in the interest of the whole com community you have also laid out some big fields and in your combinations have fenced them you have made some very excellent water wafer ditches and have in contemplation the he construction of others these them are ILI all of f a public nature and in the interest of all each person is supposed to have contributed his bis portion in the interest of the whole community the same principle should be carried out as far as practicable with regard to other matters you have timber and bay lands and so far as these can be arranged as to make an equitable distribution of the timber and of the grass lands it would be as just as proem r and as strictly in accordance with the principles of equity as any of the he aforementioned douall you all stand on an equal footing in regard to thase matters and all should operate together in the interest of all and tor for the benefit of the whole were you acting singly and individually any of these lauds lands would have been of very little consequence to you and of no special profit and if these settlements had not been organized in the manner they have been they would have been of no special advantage to parties claiming them it is the combination the concentration and the united effort alone that make them valuable and no good latter day saint in possession of correct principles could seek to take advantage of this combination to aggrandize himself at the expense of the public such action is not compa table with the ideas that are entertained and will be carried out in the building build building up of zion where equitable princia principles es must ailand au all ness and individualism must be obliterated serious objections have been raised to the settlements on the timber and low lands in consequence of the pr prevalence evalenee of mosquitoes the thereon reou why not divide those lands up on some equitable principle among the people and only go there when it is necessary to look after the hay and timber and in this way gather to gather on your town sites according to counsel and leave the mosquitoes to their own dominion and why would it not be better to divide up those lands among the settlers on the higher lands so that each one would have a portion of limber and grass land and thus place all on an equal footing this might be done either by purchase or exchange of lands furnishing those on the lowlands with good positions on the highlands while the people on the highlands would then have a proper proportion of the lowlands both for hay bay and and timber and the people of the lowlands have the same privilege and facilities as those on the highlands and an equitable adjustment be made in the interest of all parties under the direction of your presiding authorities by this arrangement all would be placed on equitable footing and those t things lal in be amicably ad busted adjusted as are others b by y t tee e properly constituted authorities this principle might apply just as tar far as aa you oan can agree among yourselves in regard to other matters such as aa the erection of grist mills sawmills coop co op tap stores or anything else that may be considered beneficial to the whole community and thus try as near as possible to got get this stake of zion placed in a proper condition in securing the titles to your land you must of necessity conform to the law in every particular but this being accomplished you can unite together as in all other matters before alluded to in all these matters be very careful that no coercion coer sion of any kind is used but that all men be left to enjoy Athe fullest and most un trammelled tree free agency in all of their actions providing a full and fair compensation to all persons interested in any and all of your secular affairs keeping this in view you avoid all interference with private rights the nearer you can come to union in all of your agricultural mechanical manufacturing commercial political oal social and religious pursuits the nearer you will approach to that harmony that is contemplated by the almighty in the organization of this people thus giving he furest fullest and most complete free agency to men on the one hand and the most perfect union of action on the other by these means a band of union will be formed and these matters be amicably adjusted and then the people should pay their tithes and attend to fo ill their social moral and religious duties and those who thus 0 operate harmoniously in the interest of all and for the benefit of the whole will place themselves in accordance with with the T spirit arit that ought to exist in the land of zion on and will be blessed and prospered in all their enterprises while those who take a contrary course will be deprived of many of the blessings resulting from an observance of the laws of god with sentiments of the highest regard garl we remain your brethren in the gospel JOHW TAYLOR GEORGE Q CANNON of the first presidency sept 6 1884 at a priesthood meet ing held at rexburg the number of wards in the stake were increased to seven by giving the wilford branch a ward organization with thomas S smith as aa bishop he was ordained on that day at the third quarterly conference hold held at rexburg Bex Rex burg nov 23 1884 the salem ward was organized this was the eighth ward in the stake on the same occasion james H was appointed in to fill the vacancy in the high h council u 0 caused used by the calling of geo H B harris to preside over the salem ward at a priesthood meeting held at rexburg Bex Rex burg dec 6 1884 the boundary lines between the eight wards of the bannock stake now organized were established as follows the centre stake on the south line of section 10 township 6 north range 40 east was taken as a starting point and all le the country lying east of that between the teton and henrys fork of snake river kiver was attached to the wilford ward the ilein teton ward was to embrace au all that district of country lying south of the teton river biver and east of the aforementioned point int salem ward was to embrace arthist an that district of country lying west went of said starting point and north north of an east and west line drawn to the south bank of henrys fork rex bex burg ward was to include the country extending six miles south from said starting point lyman laman ward to embrace all that district or of e country lying between the rexburg ward and the south fork of snake river parker wata ward was to include the country lying north of henrys fork cedar butte menan the whole 0 of pooles island and louisville ward all 11 the country lying south and east of th the e south fork of snake river in the summer of 1884 steps were taken by prest thos thoe E rieke ricks and others to build a gristmill grist mill at rexburg Rex burg it was completed december following ibis this was waa th the first gristmill grist mill in the upper snake river valley in n 1884 there were quite a number of saints at beaver canyon and also several families belonging to the church at medicine lodge there was some talk of organizing a ward in that part of the country but this was not done and since then most of the saints have removed from these mining districts to other parts of the country jan 31 81 1885 the fourth stake statistical report showed 1770 souls feb and 1885 the fourth quarterly conference was held at rex bex burg at which apostle john mr taylor was present A stock association was organized may loth 1885 william J pratt of the wilford ward and john L roberts of rexburg Rex burg were arrested by a powe posse of deputy marshals on a charge of unlawful cohabitation and taken to blackfoot both pleaded guilty cuilty and wore were sentenced on may ard 3rd following these were the first arrests made under the edmunds law in the bannock stake since then a number of others have suffered lor for conscience sake in a similar manner may and 1885 apostle john H smith and prest seymour B young byoung attended the fourth quarterly conference at rexburg Rex burg on that occasion the quorum of seventies was organized by the selection of faithful elders in the bannock stake aug and 1885 apostle moses thatcher and W william illiam B preston attended the sixth quarterly conference held at rexburg Rex burg dec 1885 robert L bybee was appointed i pointed first counselor to president wasat thomas homas E EG rieke ricks pro jwo tern ten soon afterwards he be became the acting president of the stake president rieke ricks being an exile because of the religious persecution raging against some of the brethren at that time may 1886 james E fogg was called as an assistant to acting president robert L bybee in may 1886 the stake was visited by apostle john W taylor and elder 0 D fjeldsted they attended the ninth quarterly conference held at rexburg may and 1886 reorganized the lyman ward on the organized the brighton ward on the cleveland labelle ward on the and rigby and lona wards on the this increased the number of wards in the stake to twelve in november 1886 apostle john H smith visited the stake attended the eleventh quarterly conference on the and mud and gave the branch at eagle rock a ward organization en cn the in 1887 the number of acres of land cultivated in the various wards in the bannock stake was as follows brighton acres acree lona iona labelle louisville lyman menan me pa aker rex bex bu burg rg 1 1689 salem aa rigby teton wilford will burton total in august 1887 apostle lorense lort snow visited the stake and attended the fourteenth quarterly quart eily conference 1 beg at rexburg Bex Rex burg august auguet and S 0 on n that occasion 4 sting acting president bresic robert L bybee and james E R fogg P who bad acted during the absence it president ricks were honorably m leased with a vote of thanks for tj services president ricks having m turned again assumed the duties of hk offlie and and was sustained by the peo on the same occasion rexburg was waa do vided aided into three wards and the nor ni end of the lyman aymin ward set off jutas in separate ward organization ballel ca burton the lyman and will wards bishoprick bishoprics Bish 8 were also georgw reora iced and arza E hinckly was oa a patriarch I 1 sept loth 1887 james E fogg wa set apart as a high councilor to fill tw vacancy caused by the ordination at casper steiner to preside as bishop bisho 4 rexburg second ward aug and 1887 the qu erly conference was bield in at which apostle lorenzo Lorens so snow ww present on the second day of con ence william priest was oh bained bishop of the taylor walk wi alfonzo B simmons of the willott wil creek ward and andrew 0 in strom of the basalt ward franl fran stevenson bramwell was ordain bd member of the high C council aba organization of these three now new ww wi increased the number of wards in stake to nineteen nov 1888 the bannock 8 st academy was opened with jacob S sj as principal and axel nielsen i sarah ann barnes as assistants T school opened with sixty seven sch so are it has ever since been kept kep good running order aug 2 1889 the saints in the te T buin basin were organized into a ward twentieth ward in the stake second counselor gunnell gunnel hav removed to cache county E steele was set apart as counselor in liis his stead at a friesth meeting held feb 1 1890 he called some time previous to that the following is a complete list the quarterly conferences held in bannock stake since its first or organ tion 1 april and 1884 reab 2 aug and 1884 3 nov and 1884 4 feb and 1885 it 5 may and 1886 1885 49 6 aug and 1885 46 7 nov and 1885 is 8 feb and 1886 96 9 may and 1886 9 10 aug and 1886 11 nov and 1886 12 feb and 1887 13 may and 1887 49 14 aug and 1887 4 15 nov and 1887 is 16 feb and 1 1888 96 17 may and 1888 is 18 aug and lath 1888 louis 19 NOV and 1888 reab 20 feb and 1889 9 21 may and 1889 is 22 aug and 1889 louisem 23 28 nov and 1889 reab 24 feb and 1890 26 25 may and 1890 to be continued |