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Show Messenger-Enterpris- Manti Co-o- p the sheriff. By way of P.O. Hansen, the contretemps translator of the Book of Mormon into Danish, likely entered it on business. Ellen Jakeman traded there, Ellen, who argued radically for fair treatment even for convicted criminals, and made herself a recognizable nuisance with her opinions about womens rights! Idlers at the door may have glared at her, but they made way. The communitys patriarch, Isaac Morley, may have sauntered by in his old age, greeting each and every one handing out in front of the store in his Massachusetts accent. the Joel Shomaker, of the curmudgeon editor n t n Messenger probably stopped to argue the politics of the day with somebody, some Democrat, perhaps, to whom he referred to in his paper as the unwashed. John Patten may have greeted the Reverend George Martin cordially within the walls of the store, but only some of the philosophers outside the door would have had much to say to the Reverend Mr. Martin, who was a Presbyterian. The people who made it in 1863 had many memories of their own, for they all came from somewhere else. They were themselves makers of history more than consumers of it. They did not build for the future as much as they were restoring their immediate past. They y remembered well .and what they had left behind in flight Without their memories of things past, wickiups, wild The old Manti Co-o- p Store, now rice, and saleratur would have sufficed to sustain them. But in itself is a dubious goal; all it does is excite) One hundred they had memories, so they and thirty years ago they had picked things up where they had left off east of the Missouri. something in mind over and above common excitement: a They carried ideas with them from other places and other place to live in as good as what times, for ideas are light baggage they had left behind, a thousand and do not overload wagonbeds. miles to the east. There was nothing for them to The Utes and Piutes did not demolish to rebuild in the make all the excitement. With wilderness. They had no options. them, that many years ago, it These were demanding, was just that they did not acute problems right under their understand the white mans noses right from the very start, concept of an economy. Much not even counting Walker and ofthe excitement came from the Black Hawk. A lack of cash to white man himself, for by the boost their economy was one of 1860s they began to become them. In addition, many of the aware of a greater peril. A railroad was being built across early settlers were probably the plains in their direction, disappointed (even a little the because grass destined to meet another one disgruntled) in Deseret was not as green or being constructed eastward from as lush as they remembered it Sacramento. The two ends were was where they had come from. to meet at Promontory, joining the North American continent They really did not understand from sea to sea." This iron rails exactly where they were, either, other than that perhaps they threatened to speed up may have known their latitude emigration into and through and longitude. What they knew Deseret (or Utah"), putting an for certain was that they had to end to the slower, plodding build something, and the shape g and and size of the things they handcarts. They felt strongly planned had all originated in that this railroad would end previous homes and workshops. splendid isolation too soon for They did not wait long. all. the struggling village T1 y began with log cabins, communities in Deseret to cope found but they building rock, with. They needed years yet, and before you could say they felt, to develop in their strength. Holiness to the Lord they put their hands to it George Pectols They could not afford a luxurious mantel says May 1851 even laissez-fair- e economy in the of In in absence 1991. the competition with aggressive yet, better knowledge, we have to gentile" money. bitter-sweetl- ox-trai- ns foot-draggin- ce believe it Their Brother Brigham was not so concerned about the heathen Chinese, who were laying track across basins and of Nevada. He was very taste. It make Walker a little ranges much concerned about the edgy, and he made a small war section pushed westward by over it. gangs of immigrant Irishmen Their sedentary way of life and others, whom he considered with houses and fences disturbed unruly, rowdy, and bearing with Black Hawk, too, but despite them some seeds of discontent some difficulties with him they and immorality to plant among got around to building this stone the Saints of Zion. He was also building in (maybe) in 1862, deeply concerned about the which was only a dozen years or effects on his frontier economy so after they erected their first of lots of money unleashed in log cabin. It is possible that in the midst of his new society, and his lighter moods Black Hawk nothing to spend it on. He himself may have watched the considered what happens to stones being laid, one upon the prices of the essential goods of other, perhaps in wonderment. man when the demand is high It rose out of the sagebrush under and the supply is low. Brother his very eyes, and it is not Brigham was a worry-warimpossible that he traded there Mormon isolation from its himself, for it was the only place enemies was too short. God had for trading then established not revealed everything. Maybe south of the Provo area: what even God was surprised at how fast Manifest Destiny was he had for what they had. No, sir, Manti was not a moving. But Brother Brigham tried quiet little town" in the 1860s. not to be surprised too long. if was and hard it It was building, in excitement you want life, you When he worried about should have lived in Manti 130 something, he usually did years ago. Everybody was something about it. This was excited. Some even died from it, why he was the leader of his from an excess. (Excitement" people. His government was a They intentionally put an end to Walkers economy and made something for themselves more to their horse-and-slav- Page 4 Store part of significant history BY ALBERT ANTREI The old stone building that in pioneer times housed the Manti Cooperative Mercantile Institution has become nostalgic for many who grew up in its presence and took it for granted. Whatever may happen to it henceforth, it has attained venerability, circa 1991. The Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., tells us that The Past is Prologue. So whats wrong with a little historical recollection? What is often wrong with it is that much of history takes place silently, gliding past us unnoticed. Human memory in itself tends to be short, tending thoughtlessly to brush off in is new for and what prologue shiny. History teachers lament this, and politicians depend on it. what-has-bee- 1991 Thursday, August 15, e, e t. The old store was a place of business and a place of social the Manti Grocery Store. Time and characters not identified. theocracy, and he was a very efficient theocrat. Without Brother Brigham, there might never have been a place called Utah Brigham knew how happy Washington would be to Zion socially, religiously, and economically with its subsidized Union Pacific Railroad. Their contempt for him beat drums in his ears: Mormonism was synonymous with polygamy, and up-en- d polygamy and slavery were twin evils; this was what they were saying about Brigham and his people. Brigham thought about and hands and businesses several times. Few residents with origins in Manti would not experience a few pangs of remorse should the old building be demolished for modern and its age inconvenience in this year or any year. It has been and still is an historic landmark to many, an indicator of the pioneer will to survive in the wilderness economically. The buildingmay be only 130 years old, a fact which in general history may not seem very ancient to people from New England or from Europe, but as an architectural model its own ancestry in the British Islands is many hundreds of years older. g In its day, at prices it sold saddles and horseshoes and hardware and clothes . and pots n pans and ribbons n bows . . In idle moments old men gathered at the buildings stoop to eye the town and air their ailments. In the 80s and 90s herders loaded sheep camp wagons there with vittles" and gear. Once in a while somebody dropped in from across the mountain, out of Robbers Roost, to visit an old friend or to plague the church, and they all complied, giving the ZCMI a monopoly of business endeavors in the community, especially in the business of what was called general merchandise." The old stone building rented by the church was probably constructed in 1862, allowing a year for its construction. The only name associated clearly with its construction is that of Richard Hall, Sr. This does not mean it venture, but his is the only name that has come , to light so far in 1991. (Perhaps mentioning this will draw other ; names out of closets, drawers, and attics.) Mr. Hall also did work on the walls of the Big Fort, the Council House (where the Public Library is in 1991), and on many private stone houses in pioneer Manti, both inside and outside the fort area. Eventually, he was called by the Church to labor on the temples in both St George and Manti. Richard Hall, Sr., learned g his in England, most likely during the 1840s. A concert to Mormonism, he emigrated to the new world in 1854. He lived to be a very old man, and died in Manti well over 80 years of age. Not all of the settlers seem to have sold out to the church happily. One of these was Oscar R. Coolidge, whose ideas about being in private business did not die with the sale. He may or may not have been completely sold on the ZCMI idea, for as soon as he saw the first signs of supply overtaking demand and that the ZCMI was becoming obsolete as a means of economic he engaged a stone mason to construct a store for him on the northwest corner of the intersection of Main and Union Streets. The stone-cuttcould very well have been Richard Hall, Sr., because even was a one-ma- n butter-and-eg- stone-cuttin- self-defenc- (sometimes) unsocial comments. It was also a place of meaningful silences. One greeted friends here, or scowled at or ignored enemies. It was a place to tell stories, to gossip, to talk crops. It was embryo Sanpete, Manti in swaddling clothes. It became a part of the Manti Grocery in 1973. Let us be thoughtful about this old building. Touch its stones, literally or figuratively. Feel the story of Manti. Feel the art and craft ofRichard Hall, Sr. Realize the entrepreneurship of Tuttle and Fox in the midst of a local stone-ag- e culture. Make contact with the wide-eye- d wonder of Black Hawk and his people themselves deprived both culturally and physically of meaning by this building, so important in what the white man called his economy." To Black Hawk the building was an intruder. Should anything replace the old building, one can hope it may be by something worthwhile, something more d or concrete than a black-toppe- parking place. This, at least, the hope of one who sees through eyes now also approaching an octogenarian age. The past is prologue. To. what? is Editor's note: The old Manti Cooperative Mercantile Institution building will soon be razed to make way for a grocery parking lot. Emergency Phone Numbers MantiSterling: 911 Ephraim: 45 e, er in the 1860s expert in Manti did not grow in the sagebrush. I am not certain who stone-cutte- rs Yard Prices built Coolidges stone building across the street from the ZCMI, but we know Coolidges store today as Simmons, which was erected in 1873. Later, Mr. Coolidge was joined in the venture by Edward W. Fox, and when Mr. Coolidge dropped out in 1878 to enter the liquor Oiled Slack Lump $35ton $42ton Call for Delivery Prices Nelson Sunbeam Coal business, Mr. Fox was the most prominent merchant in the whole area, known for many years as Foxs Corner." The ZCMI just about ran its course before 1880, but the store in Manti held to its purpose until 1916, a period of 48 years. By that time its losses were obvious enough to discourage its remaining stockholders. After 1916 the building exchanged 655 W. 1st S. Salina, Utah 529-715- 1 815-2- L 9 |