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Show I PIONEERS WILL PAY IR1TET0 GULLS Monument Commemorating Salvation of Crops by Birds Will Be Unveiled Today. I HISTORY TELLS STORY When Settlers Faced Hunger Winged Saviors From Lake Came in Hour of Need. Tardy tribute to the sea gulls which came providentially to save the llrat crops of the ploneera in Salt .Lake valley sixty-five years ago will bo paid this morning at .the unveiling of the sea gull monument lit the Temple block. The memorial of the services of the gulls to the pioneers?, though somewhat belated, Is of a character that will cause the beautiful story of the winged saviors I to Jive forever. The monument is surmounted sur-mounted by two great gulls done In bronze by Mahonrl Young, one of Utah's great sculptors. On the sides of the pedestal supporting the gulls are tablets of bronze, telling of the gulls and the crickets. The memorial Is in the center of a pretty fountain in the temple grounds. Veterans Will Attend. Thousands of visitors, in addition to the people of Salt Lake, will be present today to-day at the unveiling of the monument. On the programme in connection with the unveiling ceremonies are four persons per-sons who, as children, watched the gulls come down and save the crops of their parents by destroying the crickets Unit would otherwise have devoured the crops. They are' Mrs. Bmmellne B. Wells, the beloved president of the Relief societies of the .Mormon church, who will arise from a sick bed to unveil the monument to tlie gulls, the story of which she has so often told; President Joseph F. Smith and W. W. Rltcr, who will deliver addresses, ad-dresses, and President Francis M. Lyman, Ly-man, who will pronounce the benediction. Though all four were children at the time of the visit of the gulls to the valley, val-ley, the Incident produced such a vivid Impression on their young minds that the details have always remained with them. Music for the unveiling ceremony will be rendered by Mold's band and the tabernacle tab-ernacle choir. The choir will sing several I selections, Including a hymn composed by Director Evan Stephens especially for the occasion. John T. Hand will sing a tenor solo. Romantic, Yet True. The story of the sea gulls and their visit to the pioneers of this valley forms a beautiful page In the romantic history of Utah. The authenticity of the story has been frequently vouched for by a lai-ge number, of eye-witnesses whose testimony tes-timony is corroborated by the records kept at the time. A letter dated June 9. ISIS, and signed by John Smith, then president of the Salt Lake stake, will be read today by President Joseph F. Smith. .John Smith, an unele of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon church, and a great uncle of President Joseph F. S-mlth, wrote the letter to President Brlgham Young, who was then In the cast, telling in graphic detail the story of the devastating de-vastating visit of the crickets and the almost miraculous Intervention of the gulls. Other evidence of the gulls preserved in writing is contained In the dally diaries of Mrs. Eliza R. Snow and Mrs. Patty Sessions. Mrs. Sessions was In the second sec-ond company of pioneers to arrive in the valley. She was a busy woman, acting as nurse to the sick and caring for the children h.very clay she kept a. faithful record of what transpired, recording all births and deaths and other happenings of interest In the little colony. Records Are Preserved. Andrew Jenson, historian of the Mor-moil Mor-moil church, has carefully "preserved all the manuscripts bearing on the story of the gulls and has recorded the stories of a large number of eye-witnesses. The visit of the gulls to the valley will ul-ways ul-ways be regarded by the Mormon people as a miraculous intervention of Provi-deuce Provi-deuce and the pretty gulls as the winged messengers of heaven, who came to save, the pioneers from starvation. Mr. Jcn-son Jcn-son last night outlined the story of the gulls. He said: The pioneers arrived in Salt Lake valley too late in 1S47 to put In crops that year. Brlgham Young and his 117 other pioneers established the col-ony col-ony here and then President Young and a party of pioneers hastened back eastward to meet the second " company of pioneers. When they met the second company of 1500 oloneers President Young organized Sa'lt Lake j stake. John Smith was madP the first president of the stake, with Charles G. Rich, afterwards an apos-tie, apos-tie, and John Young, an uncle to President Young. as councillors. President Young and his partv ro-turned ro-turned to "Winter Quarters while John Smith and his party came on to Salt Lake valley and established them-selves them-selves for the winter. Many Face Starvation. B In the spring of 1S4S there were 2000 bouIs m Great Salt Lake valley. They were composed of nine com-panics com-panics of pioneers, some Saints from Mississippi and the famous Mormon battalion. The spring of 1848 save promise of a beautiful and prosper-ous prosper-ous season. Farms were allotted to the pioneers where the business sec-tion sec-tion of Salt Lake now stands and to the south near Mill creek. With the eamo zeal that prompted them to come to tills promlsod land across the V plains the pioneers set to work plow- ing the ground and planting their Early In May the crops were all well up. Never have the crops given promise of more bounteous returns V than they did that year. Suddenly, without warning, came the terrible S plague. .Down from Ensign peak and the surrounding hills came dense clouds of crickets. This insect horde began devouring every vestige of vegetation in the valley. The crops B I31. yesterday so promising were rap- dly being devastated, and behind the insects was left a desert waste. It was no wonder that the religious plo-nenrs plo-nenrs thought they were being vis-Hed vis-Hed y a terrible plague for their B , pevoutly the pioneers prayed for ilcliverance and vigorously, but In vain, they fought the terrible pest. Sud-denly Sud-denly as If In answer to the prayers of the pioneers, as suddenly as came H Hie devastating insect horde, came a !?ud of bIrls that obscured the sun. j The gulls came for miles, from the western borders of Great Salt lake, to devour the insects. At first the pioneers thought the gulls ware a ( second pest and tried to drive them J away. Birds Were Deliverers. Hj Soon, however, It uppeared that the . gulls were not a plague but a bleas-Ing, bleas-Ing, and great was the joy of the j)eople. The pioneers fell on their I knees in the streets and in the fields fervently gave thanks for their 1 deliverance ThosaI?d of h(i cu,l mattered over the Melds. They did not harm the grain, but ate only the crickets. As spon as they had filled their crops with the devastating Insects they flew to w" with water and disgorged the MRS EMMELINE B. WELLS, who will unveil the monument to the sea gulls. crickets, flying back to the fields to attack the crickets again. Time after af-ter time did the gulls fly back and forth from the fields to the creek. They seemed possessed of an inspiration inspira-tion to kill off all the crickets In the fields and they naver rested until ahey had accomplished this end. In a few days the cricket pest was wiped out. No longer was there the grim fate of starvation staring the pioneers In the face. The gulls flew back to their Island homo In Great Salt Lake and never again were the settlers of Salt Lake valley visited by an insect pest. Gulls Held as Sacred. With an almost sacred veneration the gulls have always been regarded by the people of Utah. For a long time it -was the unwritten law of the colony that the gulls should never be molested. And they never have been. The legislative assembly of the old state of Deseret made It a felony to kill a sea gull. This law was re-enacted by the territorial assembly of Utah territory and afterwards Incorporated Incor-porated Into the state laws of Utah where It now stands. Only a very few gulls have ever been killed and those only, by those igorant of the beautiful story of the service of the gulls to the pioneers. Visitors to the eighty-fourth semi-annual conference of the Mormon church which opens Saturday are coming to Salt Lake, early In order to be present at today's to-day's unveiling. All trains yesterday were crowded with conference visitors. Preceding the conference will be a number num-ber of meetings and reunions of missionary mission-ary societies. The principals and presidents presi-dents of church schools with the church board of oducatlon will meet In the BlBh-op's BlBh-op's building Friday morning and afternoon. after-noon. A reunion of the New Zealand mission will be held at the Twenty-fifth ward assembly hall at 7:30 o'clock Saturday Satur-day evening. |
