| Show AN OAKLEY LETTER oakley cassia co idaho june 29 1898 I 1 left lef t my home in cache county on friday the dinst f for or a trip to cassia stake coming to the snake river a four horse stage with passengers was lowered on to a terry ferry boat and crossed this large and turbulent stream this frail crat craft t with guy ropes and pulley seems to me to be a very slim affair the fare for each team and wagon is 1 a pretty rich thing for the owner he propelled it by a wheel till we struck the swift current and the stream after this furnished the motive power we left the river and continued our journey over this barren waste nineteen miles to albion the county seat of cassia county the later day saints live about two and one half miles from the town here I 1 learned that the 1 cassia a asla stake quarterly conference would be held at elba and not oakley Oal cley we had a splendid two days conference there was waa much valuable instruction given but I 1 shall leave the full report to the stake clerk on monday at 5 pm brother hyrum wells wella took me in his carriage eighteen miles through a canyon to little attle basin it was a ten mile steep incline to the summit and a perilous eight mile incline road winding among hollows and gorges to the settlement I 1 only wish the readers of the deseret Des erst news could have witnessed the grand and sublime panorama I 1 did from the top of this mountain it was near sunset and the lord lard of day was waa yet in full power the towns of oakley marion and basin were in full view with snake river twenty five miles away the wood river mountains miles distant were visible to the northeast also the 0 gose creek mountains in the southwest as well as 10 the raft river valley with the settlement of sublet no pen is equal to the task of doing anything like justice to this fairy scene tuesday brother wells drove me through the basin valley calling cailing first on the presiding elder to ask for a meeting in the evening ile he gladly oon con dented and we then went to every ranch in the valley placing the news in nearly every home at we held a meeting a good audience patriarch dorr P curtis and your humble servant talked to the people and they all asked us to come again soon among the people of this little glen in the mountain tops I 1 found three old veterans who were with the prophet joseph smith and they are yet hale and hearty they described to me their close association with the prophet and said they knew that he not only taught but practiced every principle of the gospel revealed in this dispensation one was john W cooley aged 87 baptized in another was james dayley aged 87 who was at the cawns mill massacre his father in law was cut down by the mob with a corn cutter the old gentleman had been digging up the grass in hla his large orchard and quietly remarked i cant work as much now as I 1 could wish the other was solomon mcintosh aged 85 who was baptized iri in josephs time on wednesday brother wells drove me through a small canyon to oakley apostle lyman first settled cassia county about seventeen years ago when the land and water were all held by outsiders and although they bought the water as well as the land paying pay ing about for the wat er they have been put to several thousand dollars expense in law suits ta to maintain these rights in the basi basin a villey valley the ranchers have constructed many small where they husband their water during the night time thus making the best use of it the people of this stake of zion are largely from tooele thoele county and are engaged in the sheep industry their herds number many thousands the grain and lucern fields are looking better this year than for many years pasta past there is a terrible pest here the jak rabbit they are here by hund hundreds reft of thousands thouis ands and destroy both grain ID and lucern fields the people form rath mh bit hunts build a corral and then suf surround EL a large tract of country and drive them in by this means they havar killed as many as three thousand in on day and feed them to the hogs cassia county could sustain a large population were there more water an I 1 am of the opinion that the present supply could be made to go 90 much further it if the people would build reser doirs fencing is a very expensive affair especially against the rabbits there is ig a marble quarry here of very fine ity but as transportation to the rall rail r road is sixty miles by team the ohl ri cago company who are working it will have to leave it here or build a 0 railroad oakley ward to is made up principally j of ranches miles apart and the wari to is five miles by six and this makes iff it interesting visiting ir from house to house the people of oakley are bund ing a new tabernacle of lava rock aad when dressed and the sun shines abines upon it resembles marble the stake should help in this work the structure is aft by 37 feet with 20 foot belling annd and a 1 basement of 10 feet it is now up to the water table and is s to cost eleven thouc sand dollars and it tt it dont cost awen S ty thousand before being finished anaas ad furnished then I 1 shall be mistaken LLA j joseph beek beck to is master mason ig 31 lee carpenter cat penter and bishop john aff smith superintendent the log cab cabana i which axe are of the best beat are fast be boeing toeing replaced by new rock and brick r dences from plans by skilled architects A few young or middle aged m arlee would find a fine field here in nex winter the long journeys and th weather make tt it necessary that should be robust men full of the fire of the fhe gospel this people are J rc rouis a and 44 happy SAl JOBi |
