| Show IN I NTH THE E BEGINNING BEG INN I I N G By A Alter J. J Iter ecil THE BIG FIELD COMMUNITY FARM he farming land nearest the city was surveyed surveyed sur- sur sun sur in five acre lots to accommodate the mechanics and artisans next beyond were 10 acre lots followed by 40 and 80 acres where farmers could build and reside so we quote from a writer of the time in one of the general general gen gen- eral cral reports All these farms were enclosed in one big common fence constituting what was called the big field The liThe fence will be 17 miles and 53 rods long and eight feet high It had been designed by the high council in in January 1848 that fencing be commenced and that the farm lands be located as s near ear together as possible and immediately south of the city The line of oC the fence began at a steep point in the bluffs just south of the warm springs thence straight straight- to the the northwest northwest corner of the fort Vest and Second South streets then streets then from the southeast south south- ea east corner r of the fort Second West Vest an arid d Fifth South streets east of of south to a point pont some distance south of Mill creek thence east to the bluffs again its entire length including two sid sides s of pf the fort being being- rods The entire remainder outside the fence ence being intended f for i spring and summer c crops crop Almost Treeless less Valley Kansas Kansas' farmers used to brag about the na native native na- na tive jive land being ready for the plow with no rocks forests trees hills sloughs or creeks in inthe the way But in some respects they had no advantage of the Utah pioneers From our cabin in the mouth of City Creek canyon wrote John R. R Yo Young ng 1848 1843 one could see seea a lone cedar tree on oa the plain southeast of ofus ofus ofus us now m marked by canopy and bronze tablet at Third South and Sixth East streets and andon andon andon on the south fork of the creek about where Main and Third South streets street's intersect stood seven wind swept scraggy cottonwood trees No ot other e trees were visible in the valley There were plenty of sagebrush scrub oak willow and other native ve vegetation but most of it was not useful and needed replacing with varieties that mark the confines of oC tion These domestic plants shrubs and trees were to be impo imported ted from the eastern states and from faraway England Thomas Bullock wrote wrote-a a friend in England January 4 1848 Seeds From England I want you to send me by the first company company com corn pany some choice fruit and flower seeds and vegetables to carry to the valley aIley I expect to start by the first of May Send apple pear bilberry gooseberry strawberry raspberry laburnum lilac snowball thyme choice roses lilacs daisies and all kinds of of- f beautiful beautiful beautiful beau beau- seeds also plum cherry apricot and choice fruit stones Another appeal dated April 4 1848 went out Everything good that can grow here is want wanted d a large amount of the Osage orange Cherokee rose tree and English Hawthorne seeds are needed this year for hedges hedges- and the potato or hill onion for lor eating also lo lobelia 10 belia mulberry and black locust seed Any amount of unadulterated or French beet seed would be useful here this season That was the the- first reference to the present great sugar beet industry in Utah Livestock Called For Previously in the winter of 8 1847 the church authorities in a general epistle had urged that the emigrating Saints bring all kinds of choice seeds of grain vegetables fruit shrubbery shrubbery shrubbery shrub shrub- bery trees and vines everything that will please the thc eye gladden the heart or cheer the soul of man that grows upon the whole face of the earth also the best stock of beasts bird and fowl of every kind Henry V. W. Bigler eastbound on the Humboldt Humboldt Humboldt Hum- Hum boldt river Nevada August 15 1848 met 18 emigrant wagons bound for California from Fort Hall way There was one family in the crowd that had wintered at Salt Lake and had moved in March 1848 to Fort Hall by the name of Hazen Kimball He said he did not like the Salt Lake country and had left but the people there had been sowing wheat all last fall and winter vinter and had put in acres cres of grain gram Must have meant BOO or referred to their their plans In the spring of 1848 eaks J. J R. R Murdock Murdock Murdock Mur- Mur dock I 1 took up a piece or property in Millcreek Mill Millcreek Millcreek creek near Neffs Neff's mill Presumably within the big field I built a log house and fathers father's family moved up there I brought a half bushel of wheat from California This I planted and reaped from it about 10 bushels of wheat This with the small quantity of corn which we wc l had d raised constituted the next years year's supply of breadstuff for the family Diligence Reported Everywhere We Vc got t along all right during the winter 8 1847 says John Hess In the spring we moved out on Mill creek and I began to put in what seed grain I had which was very limited This of course c cut t off the bread supply sup sup- ply Hess was absent from the valley from September 1848 to July 1849 In the meantime meantime mean mean- time Daniel A. A Miller came out to Utah and brought my team and wagon with its contents which I left two years before with him when I went into the battalion With this and the outfit which I had brought with me I felt quite well fixed to what I had been As it was the counsel for the people to to- settle down close to together together to to- together gether for mutual prot protection I only get 20 acres of land but bought more afterward as opportunity would afford Most of the Saints were too busy to keep journals for that big field was a seething in in- in We have been busy since our arrival m in building plowing planting sowing and we expect ere you arrive to be engaged in the more pleasant work of reaping wrote John Taylor to the church leaders en route westward in 1848 I III never saw the Saints more diligent than they have hav been in this valley enterprise and industry seem to be written on every mans man's forehead Barley oats rye buckwheat and other grains grams look well flax and especially peas look very promising And he sent a sample of peas a carrot and an ear car of rye gathered May 22 as a specimen of the first fruits of the he valley for the year 1848 Thomas Bullock informs us |
