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Show Feature SOUTHERN UTAH NEWS WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 1UM7 wart By Barbara Pyles Writers note: One day a monu ment of Levi Stewart will occupy the triangular in front of Kanab Middle School. There has been some controversy surrounding selection of Levi Stewart as the monument subject. Some say the leader and colonizer of Kanab paved the road for tne future. Others ask, why Levi Stewart? Did Levi Stewart make a differ ence? You decide. In 1836, a Luck Creek. Illinois citizen named Levi Stewart heard the preaching of two Mor- mon elders. The following year the young man traveled to Far West, Missouri to learn more the newly organized Mor- mon Church. He joined the church there. Although this path bring him persecution and hardships, Stewart would re- main faithful to his church throughout his lifetime. Stewart and his first wife, Melinda, decided to join the Saints in Missouri. They made their way across the Mississippi River, and into central Missouri, The family settled somewhere near the newly formed city of Far West. But happiness did not embrace them. Along with other Saints, they were often chased by angry and vicious Missouri- ans. The Stewarts left for Fayette County, Illinois where they found fellow Saints camped on the Mississippi River. Stewart settled in his family, then left for a mission in Tennessee. In April of 1840. the family moved to the beautiful city of Nauvoo, Illinois. They lived in a home and for a time found quiet and peace. The breath- Saints had a four-yea- r trouble flared before ing spell up, again. The Stewart family, along with other Mormons, had their homes taken away and their crops burned. Driven out of Nauvoo at gun point, the homeless Saints inched their way westward. The weary fugi-th- e tives spent some hard years at Council Bluffs. By this time Levi and Melinda had five children. In May of 1848, the Stewart family began the long, difficult journey across the plains. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley about four months later. Levi and Melinda built a house at Fourth South and State Street, Levi soon discovered that the best grazing for the milk cows was north of town where the State Capitol now stands. though the pioneers had to work hard, they were free to practice d their religion. A devoted lived the Stewart mon, gospel, Busy days passed. The people Al-abo- ut Mor-woul- were thankful and happy, Stewart purchased acreage south of Salt Lake City near Big Cottonwood Canyon and built a home there. Levi was a hard worker. He owned and operated a general merchandise store across the street and west from the present ZCMI. Somewhere about this time, Melinda passed away. Stewart placed his trust in Him who giveth and taketh away. The husband buried his grief. He invested in range land in Juab Valley, south of Provo, and put his son, John in charge of the business. In December 1852. Stewart married Margery Wilkerson. When the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroad nies were ready to connect the rail lines from the East to the West, Stewart agreed to lay 40 miles of rail through Weber Can- compa-comfortab- le yon. Since he was so busy with be at Scootumpah (Skutumpah), and where there was lots of timber. business church affiliations, in of sons (Later the mill was moved to Big family, he put one his Springs on Buckskin Mountain. ) charge. During these prosperous The men used some of the first times, Church President timber to build two log cabins Brigham Young called Levi for Stewarts family. Bishop Stewart and his married chil- Stewart is also credited with dren and their families to settle bringing the first cattle to Kanab. Under the direction of Stewart, near the Kanab Creek. Their mission was to strengthen the the industrious pioneers worked y settlement and help build up hard. Morale soared as labor made the remote area the area. Stewart knew what livable. Unfortunately He of Kanab had were up against. they traveled to the area several times something happened that not with Young. They were going to only saddened the State of Utah, a desolate area with no water but tested Stewarts faith. It was December 14, 1870. and unfriendly Indians. Yet, he left his Fire. Then, the terrible gathered up his flock and lovely home. Stewart never once screams of children. Bishop doubted the wisdom of Brigham Stewarts cabin was swallowed Young. up by flames. Five of his sons Stewart brought 17 pioneers were sleeping in a room that had to Kanab in June of 1870. It was no windows. With violent blows, their job to create a community Levi and other men grabbed axes out of the ruthless desert. It is and started battering out the almost impossible to imagine logs of the walls. After knocking how these pioneers felt. Maybe out two logs, the men crawled room. It they did not see the same beauty into the smoke-fille- d that we see today. More than was empty. They tried, but it likely, the Saints were too busy was impossible to get through worrying about how to scrape the blazing kitchen. Stored in out a living. The families moved the bedroom were ten gallons of five gallons of turpeninto the partly built Fort, which coal-oi- l, had been built as a protection tine and two kegs of power. Evagainst the hostile behavior of eryone out," ordered Stewart. the Navajo Indians. Living con- He removed two kegs of ditions were darn right primiand dumped them into tive. In those days, nobody was the creek. Then, the unthinkafraid of hard work. After look- able happened, the kerosene and ing at the filthy cabins, the turpentine exploded. women rolled up their sleeves Meanwhile, Margery and Elk and went to work. Margery, an Stout rushed into the flaming expert weaver of fancy bed- kitchen to save the children. spreads, must have left them Only Stout and Alonzo Stewart came out of the cabin. When packed away. Stewart was a man who did the kerosene and turpentine things. He took charge of all the exploded, the roof fell in. This meetings and was appointed prevented anyone else from work director. While the women leaving or entering the cabin. tried to make the Fort livable, Although Stout was badly the men and the Piutes began to burned, he fared better that plow the land and plant pota- the brave mother who tried to toes. save her children. The day after the laying out of History of Kane County . . . the town, President Young ap- They found the six charred bodpointed Levi Stewart as Kanabs ies; the mother and three boys first bishop. He would hold that were found huddled in the imoffice for five years. mense fireplace as if she had When Bishop Stewart re- been trying to lift them up the turned to Big Cottonwood to chimney. One was under the big bring the rest of his family to stove , less burned than the othKanab, he also brought back ers ... Alonzo told afterward of machinery for a steam sawmill. how Levi had tried, when they Stewart arranged for the mill to found themselves trapped, to lift day-to-da- smok-ingpow- Sources: History ofKane Cou nty. Our Pioneer Heritage. A sketch of the life of my parents , by Clarice Stewart Anderson. Swedish immigrants helped build Zion The first Swedish-America- n resident of Utah was John Erik Forsgren, who, as a veteran of the Mormon Battalion, reached Salt Lake City in 1847. Forsgren went back to proselytize in Sweden, a work which eventually brought about 9,000 Swedish Mormons to immigrate to Utah in the nineteenth century. Although religious freedoms in Sweden were few, the Mormon missionary effort brought about . another 2,000 each decade from 1860-8- 0. While most Swedish immi- grants to Utah were Latter-da-y Saints who generally settled in Utah after their arrival in the J MriQHeS er the sod roof off the bedroom, but it had been too firmly packed with grass and willows. Levi was the son of Melinda, who had died sixteen years earlier. It is hard to imagine the funeral. People tried to sing but could not. They tried to speak, but no words came. Levi Stewart was crushed, but he controlled his emotions long enough to pay tribute to his wife, who gave her life for her beloved sons. Later, a school was built on the site of the fire as a memorial to the Stewart family. Stewart served as one of the trustees. As gloom settled over the small settlement, the first leader of Kanab hid his sorrow and held the new community together with his stoic example. Lets give up the settlement, men said. Stewart begged them to stay and complete the mission which Young had sent them to carry out. And when they still hesitated, Well if you must go, God be with you, but for me, I will stay if I have to stay alone. Although Stewart kept working for the good of Kanab, he never really recovered from his loss. He died, seven years after the fire. He is buried in Kanab next to his wife and sons. United States, &-- G END OF SEASON SALE Come in Now! Save on our entire inventory of Antiques, Fenton Art Glass, Boyds Bears, Collectible Dolls, and Handmade Crafts by local artists. 4 East Center 644-S35- 5 non-Mormo- ns also filtered into the state, particularly in the 1880's responding to the employment opportunities in Utahs mines, mills, and smelters. While Utah had no exclusively Swedish settlements, by 1930 a majority of residents of Tooele County were of Swedish descent. |