| Show gur owr m OUR PLACES OF settlement t THEIR PAST AND PRESENT r IT has been the fortune of the latter day saints in the course of their wanderings de ie rings zings to settle a att aft weir veir points which until they took up their abode there vere looked upon as very unsuitable 10 lo for thrifty settlements kirtland previous to its settlement by them was an insignificant village in ohio but Bu after tafter they moved there it i t became im por tant and if they had been permitted to remain there it would without doubt have become one of the most thrifty and aud flourishing places in the state it is however today to day a very obscure and inconsiderable place the only interest felt in it is in the fact that the temple which the latter day saints built still stands there as a monument if ef their industry and perseverance jackson county missouri is a section of country which for natural advantages is probably not excelled by any MY other portion of the united states our people were not suffered to remain there sufficiently long to make it specially famous but its local importance was greatly enhanced by even their bonef residence they established a printing there the first h in western missouri opened a large mer cantlie cantile establishment and made other substantial improvements which excited the jealousy of the other settlers who banded themselves together and succeeded under circumstances of great cruelty in expelling them from their homes but what has iras jackson county been since A blight is upon the land a karse upon its cowardly boboc batic ii habitants inhabitants with all its ids natural advantages it is so contemptibly obscure that it is only known outside of a very narrow circle by those who read our history so with clay caldwell cal Gal dwell ray bay davis bavis and other counties in which our people settled in missouri far west cal cai caldwell well weil county was a flourishing town when we were expelled from the state of missouri but when the latter day saints settled in that county there were enly only some half dozen bee hunters in it and it was looked upon as possessing fewer facilities for a settlement than any other portion of the state since our expulsion it has maintained its old tation our improvements have fallen into decay and the country that under our ear persevering industry coupled with khe the blessing of god upon our labors kad had such an inviting and prosperous ap dearance bearance le ee arance carance is sparsely settled and presents a most wretched aspect commerce illinois where we next settled was one of the most sickly places in the then western country yet tet in the midst of dee deep poverty deadly sickness and the most disheartening obstacles st a city nauvoo was built the dace place became noted it was the most populous u ous and flourishing city in the state and every visitor lauded the beauty ut of its situation and the well directed and successful energy of E its inhabitants the beautiful temple which we reared there at a vast avast expense was made familiar to the pub be ric in the united states and in eur europe ope by correspondents of papers who visited there but we were compelled to leave nauvoo it ift was too good a place for iatter latter day saints to possess others wanted our houses orchards farms and pleasant places and as the rule with them was that might made right night t y they took them and we took our j journey our oun beyond the confines of civilization but how has it been with nauvoo we saw it last in 1860 and shall not soon forget the impression made upon us in walking through its lonel ionel lonely vand yand and ana deserted streets and contrasting its condition with what it had been when its builders lived there the curse of desolation seemed to rest upon it and of inaction upon its inhabitants some idea can be formed of what these various places would have been now had we continued to reside in any or all ail dl of them by looking lookin gat at what we have ac i ll 11 hed in this territory many su cewol superficial e ial lal thinkers have attributed the success that we have had to the fact that hat we have been persecuted the blood of the martyrs is said to have been the seed of the church but while it is undoubtedly true that god has overruled these persecutions for the good of his people and the accomplishment of his purposes ur poses it is also true that if we had been been permitted to proceed quietly and uninterruptedly with our labors we would by this time have made such buch progress as would have produced the most astonishing results it has often been said respecting us and truly too that if we were let alone we would convert the world but if we were not we would do it anyhow any how bow expelled from illinois we sought a home in the midst of the great american desert to men familiar with the mississippi valley no spot could be more uninviting it possessed one great advantage which in our minds compensated for all its disadvantages it was remote from our enemies and consequently we could have peace hera hero again we have shown to the world what union perseverance and industry can accomplish in the face of the most tremendous obstacles out of a sterile inhospitable wilderness we have created an attractive prosperous and wealthy state our country is universally acknowledged to be valuable utah is desirable everybody who comes here can perceive perceiver its many beauties and now admire the wisdom manifested in its selection as a place of residence but how many are there who recognize the means used to make it what it is kirt land ohio jackson and caldwell and the other counties of missouri where we lived and nauvoo were all lovely attractive and desirable places of residence when we had them in possess possession on but how long after our expulsion from them did they remain so it was the indech exertions of the latter day saints properly directed their union heroic perseverance and unceasing unceasing to toil il that made those spots so valuable e and when these were withdrawn they relapsed into a worse than primitive co condition a so would it be in these mountain valleys withdraw this people from them whose industry an and skill have under the blessing of the lord made them what they are and they would be attractive and desirable no longer the advantages which every visitor now thinks he sees would suddenly disappear and the country would be abandoned and shunned as only fit for indians and wild beasts and its original barbarism would soon reign through its vast solitudes utah is an excellent place of residence for latter day saints we admire and praise the goodness of god in leading us here there is no country within the range of our knowledge better adapted for the growth of a free hard hardy y enterprising people no child born here under such auspices as now prevail breathing this pure air and surrounded by these grand old mountains can grow to manhood and not love liberty we needed the seclusion which these valleys have afforded to enable u us s to grow and to develop our strength and if we as a people are true to our C god od and faithful in keeping his commandments mand ments our habitations will never be removed by violence from these m mountain fastnesses fast nesses and the bitter scenes of the past will never be re enacted |
