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Show SALT FLAT- NEWS, OCTOBER, 1970 9 - Text and Photos By Steve Strong kom Century America was, perhaps, this countrys greatest attempt to generate mass morality. While no culture was immune from the patronizing zeai of America s missionaries, there was one group (living in relaxed joy in a tropical paradise) whose practice of paganism seemed to arouse pity in the souls of even the sternest Christians. By the hundreds, missionaries rose to the challenge of sailing to ?ve unsuspecting natives from the eternal damnation seemingly awaiting their hedonism. 19th - One brand of salvation offered to the Hawaiians was that of the Mormon Church, whose leaders soon found that the situation in Hawaii was ideal for conversion. By the time Mormon missionaries arrived, Hawaiians were no longer afraid of the white men who spoke strangely of burning bushes and men living in whales. Indeed, they were probably somewhat flattered that so many seemed interested in their immortal souls. Under the direction of Joseph F. Smith (sixth president of the Mormon Church and a man who said he always held a paternal love for the Hawaiians) the missionaries were quite successful in gaining converts. Yet the missionaries apparently didnt realize how effective their efforts had been. Shortly after their conversion many of the Hawaiians immediately began makingplans to emigrate to Utah, the geographical center of their religion. At first the Kanakas (as they were to be called in Utah) were not permitted to leave their ancestral islands. Gradually, however, laws were modified and they began to leave as the opportunity presented itself. By 1889 about 75 Hawaiians had migrated and were living in northwest Salt Lake City. DIFFERENT EXISTENCE While the Hawaiians were glad to have arrived in the heartland of their new religion, they soon found that Utah had very little in common with their tropical homeland. The food, work, language, climate, recreation and customs of their white neighbors were completely foreign to the Kanakas. Perhaps inevitably, the racial differences began to raise social barriers between the two d minorgroups. As a ity, the Hawaiians soon found they were at a disadvantage in the land of milk and honey. Unskilled in the trades and professions needed in the area, the Hawaiians could obtain only the most menial, least desirable and lowest paying jobs. When they did work (they were often unemployed) it was at the hardest of manual labor or at such seasonal jobs as crop harvesting. Culturally and socially, the Kanakas were on the outer fringe of dark-skinne- Utah society, yet they still continued to hold to the basic tenets of their new religion. Their problem demanded a solution. Using, its ability to draw on knowledge which transcends the boundaries familiar to most of us, the First Presidency of the Mormon Church deemed it best to find a suitable urea for a Hawaiian colony away from Salt Lake City. TTiey chose Skull Valley an eerie, desolate place which either bakes in summers alkaline dust or lies in stark solitude while the desert winds make winter even mare unbearable. Ever faithful and obedient to the prophetic wisdom of their leaders, the loyal Kanakas drove the 75 miles to their new desert home bordering the salt flats. They arrived and quickly showed their gratitude for the barren land. They named their colony lose pa, the Hawaiian name for Joseph after Joseph F. Smith. UNIQUE COLONIZATION . The decision' that was made on behalf of the - Hawaiians created a totally unique concept in western colonization. lose pa was under the complete supervision and guidance of the First Presidency. Although they visited the colony no more than once a year, no important decision regarding the settlement . Fire hydrants linked to artesian wells stand in eerie solitude against empty desert background. was made without their approval. Iosepa was owned and operated (usually at a profit) by the Mormon Church under the guise of the Iosepa Agriculture and Stock Co., a private corporation (owned by the church) which held title to the land. The Kanakas worked for a fixed wage putting most of their earnings back into the company in the form of mortgage or rent payments. In effect Iosepa, a church ranch, was an experiment in religious sharecropping. As religious migrant laborers, the Hawaiians could take no part in ranch government. They were paid only to work the ranch on a wage basis. If they didnt like it they could leave. Still they kept the faith. Iosepa was an ecclesiastical organization unique in Mormon Church history and remained under the control of the First Presidency throughout its entire twenty-eigh- t year history. The First Presidency appointed a leader to preside over the Hawaiians in the dual responsibility of spiritual counselor and financial manager. As such, the colonial leader was responsible g for the moral of the Kanakas and the financial success of the colony. This dual responsibility was always vested in one man chosen by the First Presidency and never by theHawaiians. Misfortune, mixed with generous doses of discrimination, well-bein- -- seemed to of Iosepa. discovered they were plague the residents The colonists soon that, as Hawaiians, highly vulnerable to white mens diseases. Measles, a disease no Hawaiian had ever seen until American missionaries came to the islands bringing salvation, was a deadly killer. Worse than measles, however, was the dread malady, leprosy. It ran wild among Hawaiians, particularly after the arrival of missionaries. LEPROSY STRIKES AGAIN During the first few years of Iosepas existence leprosy once again strode part of the population. In Utah the Hawaiians were forced to rely on home remedies or the advice of quacks since the nearest reliable physician was over thirty miles away. Mercifully the Hawaiians susceptibility to disease decreased in Utah and, in 1900, after all the quarantined lepers had died, the Hawaiians were never again plagued with disease. This, they believed, stemmed from their firm belief in their religion. The Kanakas of Iosepa worked hard at retaining their cultural identity even though, after twenty-eigh- t years, many had WENDOVER MOTEL . never been to the islands and were unacquainted with their ancestral way of life. Always fond of glorious feasts and needing little reason to celebrate, their favorite day was August 18, the anniversary of their arrival at Iosepa. Nothing could discourage the inherent happiness of the Hawaiians. As excellent musicians, they were often called upon to perform in other Utah settlements mixing Mormon hymns with Hawaiian music. As evidenced throughout their twenty-eigh- t years at Iosepa, the Hawaiians were extremely faithful Mormons. Their main purpose in coming to Utah was to better serve their, religion through the performance of sacred ordinances in the Salt Lake temple. Naturally, when church officials announced that a temple would be built in Laie, Oahu for Polynesian Mormons, most of the Iosepa colonists decided to return. Mormon officials assured . -- IHD the Kanakas that the Hawaiian temple could be used for sacred ordinances and that all genealogical records would be made available. The Mormon Church also provided passage for those Kanakas wanting to leave Utah, but unable to pay themselves. Thus ended the era of this strange desert settlement. How one views Iosepa depends on his own perspective. The Mormon Church calls it a success. Others, more critical, call it a dismal failure resulting from discrimination and disease. As usual, no one asked the Hawaiians how they felt. They just went on being good Mormons. In 1917 the Deseret Livestock Company purchased the land of Iosepa for $150,000. The buildings were torn down and hauled away leaving behind a few foundations, some rockpiles and one or two water hydrants standing like lonely sentinels in the middle of the alkaline desert. UP? We're here 24 hours a day. ALLEN ft GAYLE JONES AT YOUR SERVICE ONLY AUTOMOTIVE PARTS HOUSE WE MAINTAIN A DRUM LATHE AND A PRESS ALSO TRUCK AND TRACTOR PARTS. WENDOVER'S Kfadom WTO PARTS (phono 4) coilact if mad ba Roys AMERICAN Service Now Featuring Lead-Fre-e AMOCO Roy Palmer and Vern Madsen Owners and. Operators Also operating the fabulous Car 27 on the CAMRA circuit. |