Show DID JESUIT PRIEST TELL MORMONS OF THE CREAT SALT LAKE VALLEY e john in city star may 17 lath ii tho rev father de smet whom father fattier dalton saoko interesting Inte interestingly gly of in his tits talk to the old settlers on last thursday Thu evening visited kansas city probably the last timo time in january 1862 he had walked the entire distance from st louis to kausas olty city As transportation had closed on tho the missouri alner and eta staging ging was attended with too many binau y ties owing to the tile disturbed conditions condition 3 incident to tho the civil war he ile was on sits is way back to tho tile plains nod and new mexico where ho lie had sp jut many veara ears among tho indian tribes and was probably the best known and most popular jesuit missionary that had over ever attempted christianizing tho tile indiana 1 I or ou our r extreme n f frontier father dalmet D smet on this had stopped in konias city ciry to sc seo hit bin brother priest and old friend the rev fattier donnelly don nelly but gentleman was out of town and tills th Is fact greatly disappointed him several regiments of troops were camped in and about the city and the tile streets wye were lined with soldiers many of them drunk and disorderly who had something io to eay say ti t all whom they mot met ilie picturesque appearance of r 11 thor ther de desmet duiet who was mas dressed as us a f an with h his Is hair hal r of rather unusual length and carrying two large packs on his back mado mada the tile rea reverend fattier father a target for the sol diers on the street ho ile was tormented mooted tor almost belond endurance by drunken soldiers who wanted to examine his packs and search him for something that might show his disloyalty to the union Ilo however woNer he ran run the gauntlet of them all without any harm baing only subject to taunt taun and insult father de smet had in former years many friends and acquaintances ances in kansas city but diligent inquiry convinced him that search for them would be useless the turbulence of war had either driven the them m away or they had found more co congenial n places somewhere else tho tile weather was very cold and the priest via wit almost worn out by his long tramp from st louia louts and the annoyance the soldiers had subjected him to when he determined to some vacant building and camp for tho the night A vacant building was net not hard to find at that particular time j i us its almost all the business buildings I 1 of the city had been deserted 1 directed him where to go from my recollection of what father de do smet said to me at that timo time about the mormon immigration to salt lake valley in utah father Dal tonti rf statement Is true that fathel do smet bad met brigham young on the bankson banks of the missouri rieland ri river erand and ad 1 him to go to utah with his followers where they would bo be undisturbed by the tread of immigration tor for many years to come and that rather de do smet did ditt furnish tho the mormon mornion prophet with a vivid description of the beautiful ind and fertile valley of salt lake and also a map and chart of tho the route across the plains to that promised land and father de smet must ha e been the archangel which the mormons generally credit with appearing unto brigham young and directing his course across the western wilderness into a hitherto almost unknown part of the tile country that brigham had no definite nite knowledge know lidge of just v hero here ho he would sett settle lewit with h hia colony Is a well nell known fact and that after meeting with father fattier de smet lie determined to seek the land described to him by the jesuit priest and kept the matter a secret unto himself until ho lie had discovered the exact location presen presented tedon on the map furnished him mandof many of brighams Brig hame followers fol lowera became auspicious suspicious of ta their belr destination and tired out with hardships were about to revolt just as they tile ant emerged from the mountain pass and saw the beautiful fertile plain spread out before them thom father do smet was of short stature and slim shin build he ile would not weigh moio than pounds but was entirely mado of bone bona and muscle that was iron itself mude made so by the many hardships he lie had endured I 1 do to not remember what his abt was at that time although I 1 thought him much younger than he said he was his mis missionary siona ry work Is part of the history of the plains and all taj various art ou tribes of I 1 indians deans that roamed over eve r them |