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Show - THE DESERET NEWS, SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1940 Church Deportment o10 , ley below Elk Mountain, they came upon the lands see that- - the white .man, apprehensive' of 'danger1. cultivated by the Indians,- where they found ten tur n his head occasionally toward the Indian. , acres planted to corn, melons, squashes and pump- - When were about a mile fr om the fort, they CHAPTER XXV' kins. The Indians had cleared the brush and grass Charles shot Hunt it the back, using a gun for off the )and and had made small boles with .sticks THE ELK MOUNTAIN MISSION to put the corn into the soil. They did not work which he had traded a horse with park A...Hunt.....,.. N keeping with the Mormon policy of teaching the the land more than this, but they occasionally irri- - ington that very morning. Charles. Immediately Indians Christianity and the arts of the white it. There were but a few Indians took Hunt's horses as well as the one he had traded of the Saints gated by flooding man, President Young called forty-onbe seen in the valley that day, most of them to to serve as missionaries to the Indians who resided I' the gun for, joined the rest of the red men, and gone to the mountains to hunt , in the vicinity of Elk Mountain, now La Salle Moun the river. crossed . . Alla. careful exploration of the country sur- tains, in Grand County, southern Utah. This call Ephraim Wight and Sheldon B . Cutler were , Elk to the returned Mountain, made of the the conference company rounding at Church, general 'vas - herding the stock nearby when Hunt was shot Cut er -I eating east of the and decided upon April, 1855 The purpose of the Elk Mountain Mis- - Grand ' a tribe of Ute- - str eam near the south side of the valley. Within ler raced to the fort and reported the tragedy.' Some sion was to educate an convert . ' of the men hurried to assist In bringing the stock ,:,jridians who occupied the nvicinity of the little vat- -- th , d ays.they grubbestthejand..91,1411.sh t which I,foah là now.to the fort while four of them went after Hunt. - - :ey on the Colorado River-ia and constructed in dam the creek plowed; they, -- situated. the mortally wounded man in a blan- arid dug a ditch three miles long to their farms. By They wrapped On May 21, under the leadership of Alfred N. - ket and began carrying him toward the fort as care-Billings, w ho had beenappointed president of the June- 23, they had practically completed planting , fully as they could.. mission,-th- e company left Mantle the place of ren- - their- crops, when; toward evening some Utah In -- - a time within arrived rescuers had the the By dezvous.They traveled In military fashion, as was dians came Into camp. The missionaries took ad- fourth of a mile of the fort, the Indians shouting he common practice In the movement of Moffnon vantage of the opportunity and preached to them. war- whoop; recrossed the river and came their, the work Thus their among proselyting they began 'groups An inventory showed that the to rnpany . -- 7' charging toward the whites and the livestock,A. nations with, propitious results tsInsisted of , the around all of whistled shower bullets briskly : Jun i 24,1neeting was called and the Forty-on, men, 15 wagons 65 oxen, 16 cows, , men Four-o- f them served as a rear guard to their Indians Invited, they came and the spirit of 13 horses, 2 bulls, 1 calf, 2 pigs, 4 dogs and 12 companions, holding the Indians back while the ' God was poured out upon all alike.- They were chickens. The company also carried 14,565 wounded man Was carried to the fort where he died 'and f anxious to become as we were, live with us peas, 4 bushels of pounds of flour, 28 bushels-oafterward . President Billings was wounded shortly to seemed work of our do as we die The spirit oats, 1 whipsaw, 32 bushels of wheat, 2 busha ball by passing through one of his fingers on his be already in them. (4) eta of corn, 33 bushels of potatoes, 22 axes, 6 But even under these perilous condi- hand. right These favorable conditions did not last long . tons the scythes, 2 iron bars, 6 trowels, 8 hoes, 11 shovels -most of succeeded in Marmons corraling and 5 plows (1) Soon other Indians returned from hunting In the, t her livestock . . white to hostile were By May 27 the company had crossed a ridge mountains A portion of them was increased of situation the by The gravity oi mnuntqins and come Into Castle Valley where men. July10, a few of the prominent Indians for- . . . .. . , , . tone , , n o Coo and Green missionaries bade in the run the toward to waters ' the began to the set others fire could hay- - reach the fort, while A week. redo rivers After traveling over a very rough and fort which had been begun the previous stacks at the north end of the corral . The stacks wild country, the missionaries arrived at the Green crisis at this time was prevented by the arrival of and corn by fire, but through con.. In River on June 4 and ferried their wagons across one. of the chiefs named Saint John, a friendly men in carrying water, of or five four stant effort come had Mormons on a boat which had been used by President Billings than who "told his men that the - the corral, which contained the cattle, was saved. to not were there showed and that do them to epough great good as a wagon box. These frontiersmen ' to. He wanted The Indians kept up the shooting, however, from Ingenuity and speed in accomplishing the crossing. harin them if we (Mormons) wanted noon buntils after dark. In the interchange of but hia peopletolet the Mormons alone and not steal day- all of their goods, the close of tswere killed, and- threernissionar------ Owith the exception of two wagons, were across the from them; it was good to live all togetheerles Missionaries seriouslywounded. that -- -r- iver.- "At one trial trip, the river was crossed, the The foregoing event convinced the The before Edward Indian this attack, and day efforts complete f)oat unloaded, rowed back and towed back to the they should concentrate their into- - the William had wards and Behunin fingone This occurred. did, one trouble Sort before cross they To the over, wagon in nine minutes. of mountains the midst the In attack, the hunting. and its loading required three trips - (2) ishing the fort on July 19. It was slitylour feet - Indians declared Mormons saw two that the - and at bottom thick feet they four the But they experienced more difficulty when they , square with walls , ' he their Charles at with head, -- Immediately, at the two top. tried to swim the cattle through-triver. The of them left the fort. Shortly afterwards several Indians the a two months the and swim then following nnirnalswould run into, huddle During re e - ' round and tcrteach the report of seven guns was heard, and Charles peaceableand the Mormons were-ablround, run right over the men and then of and his group of savages returned. " A number do. to nish to the shore from whence they came. After them, as they had been sent ' Toward evening the interpreter, Clark A. Hunta day and a half of untiring effort, with the retiult . Indians joined the Church. 'July 28 fifteen of them I of swimming only twenty-fivhead of cattle across were baptized and some of them ordained to offices ington, was able to get into a conversation W t h the He Indians told not was them that it good weeks About six later, eighteen the river, the pioneers were forced to take the re- in the priesthood. to fight, and that the Mormons had not come to mainder over with a boat, towing two at a time more were enlisted in the Church. Soon after the Indians first began to arrive at MIL The Indians answered that three of them had By ten o'clock of June 8, all other equipment was - - over the river and the company was again on its -t- he Mormon camp from hunting, the missionaries - been killed and as many more wounded and that would not be satisfied until they had killed p way toward the Rio Colorado They encountered ' abandoned the Indian policy in regard to trading as - they two more Mormons. They denied killing Edwards re-- , The some of which en were President down laid difficulties Young. journalist route, many by - and Behunin. Finally, the Indians consented to go aside former rules to -acorded in the journal of the secretary of the mis-- states: -''Sunday, July way, talk the matter over and return the follow- B. and chief the one with Of traded and Mon, 12liver day's journey he suit circumstances Huntington . wrote: his mem" (6) This practice soon proved to be folly, ing morning to settle the difficulty, on condition ..- so just one month later a meeting was called to that the Mormons give them some bread. The misSunday, June 10: Road extremely sandy, determine what their policy should be President sio nari es gladly gave the Indians every piece of traveled eight miles; the day most exceedingly bread they had and the natives ceased their firing hut-M-ost of " Early the following morning the red men came when they came to the canyon descent leading prigham's policy of sending the Indians who wished to the , fort and acknowledged that they had killed Mormon-ageauthorized to to trade an officially to Grand River. One 61 John McEwerf s oxen two men 'who were coming from the mountain - gave out and was left near the head of this can among the missionaries, in order that they might the of prices and prevent exorbitant They were glad that three Mormons had been killed Iryon, W hick being of fast descent and extremely' "keep a uniformity - - as three of their men had been also , and the score -- -Indians from the demands Every man was agreedrest to the cattle. They reached Ldifficult--gavwith the president in his remarks and agreed to was even. Their attitude was an thing but condi- . the "Jumping-of- f place' just at sunset which is listen to him. Allen Huntington was appointed by lat11' nearly three miles from the head of the can Conditions were very critical for the small ,,,,,. vote assistant trader." (7) yon. The cattle had not had a drop of water of missionariesThey were without water. group food since morning, and labored hard in a or same missionaries the the Later, (hiring month, -, The Indians had sent runners into received a letter from Brigham Young requiring all heat that was nearly equal to a torrid zone in exterminating the Mormons There was This canyon is narrowtc:ooked, and rough with of them to travel and live with the Indians,except-- ., that-t- he o doubt attack would soon -rcanfortbed to defend At the road the the the timeed---rtfollowing enough ocks, President Alfred N, Billings called-- a council and or- - rock- .- The men seemed pleased with this idea, but circumstanc- 3ron where it is either-sa- nd meeting to decidewhat was best to- be done es did not allow the company to obey Brigham's "jumping-ofplace "As a perpendicular ledge, . under circumstances The tourn- alists of existing 1A'illiam which five down feet . twenty high, quest the mission stated: - "We were all swilling to stay Huntington and Jackson Stewart, the year serious after the middle of September Shortly '''' and fight it out and die together or leave," (8) Indian- troubles began. The natives commenced previous, let five Wa g o n s with their loads by whichever the President counseled them to do. to their The ropes, taking their mischief by digging up nearly all the beets pieces. wagons knowledge of this induced President Billings 'to of the potatoes They respected the authority placed over them to and turnips and about take of twelve horsemen. in the that the ormons had cultivated. On the morning the extent that they were unwilling to desert their even in the face of death, un- of the 23rd the missionaries felt so apprehensive missionary activities, morning and move rapidly to the canyon; all the less they W e r e--o ff Ic I a y released from that mission - 1 o f some greater h arm intended t h at they sent their way down these men worked a road , and at the jump-of- f cattle to a new herding ground. A few moments-- - by their superior officers Herein lies one of the they worked a road over a point of the mountain covered with very large rocks; in later a large group of Indians crossed the river and reasons for the success of Mormon missionary work half a day they completed a very passable road came-u- p to the fort They were very impudent, - and Mormon land settlement of the Great West The president's decision was "that under the -where in the morning it had seemed Impossible asking the missionaries why tiey had taken their - -I iiiislihe circumstances he deemed it present a ever to with teams , wagons cattle in different direction that day. After reBy doubling pass dom leave to fot the present." Without stopping to ,up and all the men that could be spared to tiring a short distance from the fort, the natives steady the wagons downw e got all our W agons" . consulted together, and then three of them start tci prepare breakfast,. the misslonarl s quickly Packet what little they could and left the fort by eleven'- down safely about nine &elf-at night; three , for thi field in the direction of the cattle In miles to Grand River the first moments James W., Hunt with -a lariat in his hand, o'clock on September 24. They had to leave behind and E4! of cattier', water our stock got since morning. (3) started to the pasture .for hiiWhen crossed had the they GrandRiverthe President Alfred BillingsTaccompaniedby five son of Suit or Saint John, followed Hunt. ' Jther missionaries, crossed the Grand River (Colo-- Riding horseback directly behind him, Charles con-- missionaries met an Indian, the brother of Saint. ' . rado River) on june-1- 0 for the purpose of selecting, tinued telltng him to go on ah ea d an d askinghim -John and. an uncle of Charles Mr. Huntington told .. - -- II a site for the mission About the center of the val-- what he was afraid of The men in the fort could (COntin-ueon Page Five)-- -' . , , , Milton R By a - . t e - -- , - ' - - . - Ri-v- -- - , . - -- -- - - . --- - s - -- -- e - - -- .- -- - - - . I - -- were-sonsum- . ) IAt -t- he-seeond -- -- three-Indian- F-le- s- - -- ' '- --, turning. , --we- -- . e . 1:-la- id $ . - Billingainstructed-them-that-theyraustagainado- - ,. -- nt -- - e ' - - ains for-ai- of-t- he - - f - - - . one-fourt- h - - - 11 , s - , -- -- ---- wis----- -- . . , a -- more-took- us. twenly-fouthea- -- d sub-soc-it- - . . d - -- ,, , |