OCR Text |
Show """"" "jg (Editor's Note' This is another in the "Stories of the States" series.) By EDWARD EMERINE WSU Features. Old Jim Bridger, at his lonely fort on Green river, talked to the leader of the strange band and learned these emigrants were headed for the Great American Desert Des-ert beyond the mountains. He tried to dissuade the leader, a determined sort of man, and pessimistically remarked that he would give a thousand dollars if he ever saw an ear of corn grown in Salt Lake valley. The emigrants moved on, and a hundred years ago, on July 24, 1847, Brigham Young looked out across a seared and desolate land of sagebrush sage-brush and alkali, and said: "This is the place!" One lone tree clung to life In the entire valley. Heat waves danced and hot breaths of air came up the canyon. If there were inward doubts among his followers, none Is recorded. record-ed. Obediently the band moved into the desert. Mormon Convert. Brigham Young was a native of Vermont and of Revolutionary ancestry. an-cestry. He had become a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, the Mormon church. When Joseph Smith, the founder, was killed at Nauvoo, 111., Brigham Young was chosen to take his place. Rocks and hills and desert did not deter him. They were but the materials with whlcb he would build. In this strange land he and other Mormons would be far removed from religious and political differences. Here they would have a land of their own. A dreamer was Brigham Young, but he was a doer as well. Perhaps his eyes saw more than the mirages on the desert that day. He might have envisioned the Territory of Des-eret. Des-eret. the beginning of an American epoch, the birth of a vast and productive pro-ductive region. The valleys and mountains that his people were to colonize later were before him, and there was a temple to be built, cities and towns to be laid out, industries in-dustries to be developed, canals and ditches to be dug, and water to be spread over the thirsty soil. Faith Saves Crops. The Mormon leader likened the roup to a swarm of bees beginning a new hive. The Beehive became their symbol, and all men were workers. The hardships of crossing the plains and mountains were as nothing compared to conquering the desert. There were discouraging days when hunger stalked. Huge locusts lo-custs came to eat their crops. "Have faith! Have faith! Pray!" And they had faith, and they prayed. Out of the skies swarmed seagulls thousands thou-sands and thousands of them and they devoured the locusts! Brigham Young stated his wants and the group's needs, and builders set to work. The famed Mormon tabernacle was built without nails or steel. Monumental Effort. At the ground level of the Salt Lake Mormon temple are huge earth stones, each weighing three tons, and 50 in number. A mountain of ' ' " k n CIAT WHITS (h ZIOH (VcAKfOH TT'- A ?-h1 1 J PROSPECTOR I ST.GfOOt Tc. ' 'Jf rt ONiiKi.Tii.fi.i UAConMMtol A R I ZONA granite 20 miles away furnished the material. Huge granite blocks were quarried in a canyon, slung with chains from heavy carts and drawn by oxen to the site. Over 40 years from the time Brigham Young designated des-ignated the temple site, the construction construc-tion was complete, the angel Moroni set in place and 75,000 people took part in the dedicatory services. But Brigham Young bad been dead for many years. The climate of Utah Is dry, stimulating and wholesome. The sky is so clear that no cloud specks It on 300 days a year. Lacking rain, the Mormons pioneered pio-neered Irrigation In America, bringing water from the mountains moun-tains to Irrigate crops In the desert. Today, Utah's chief cYop Is sugar beets, but vegetables and fruits are grown in profusion. Other crops are wheat, oats, potatoes, hay, alfalfa, alfal-fa, corn, barley and rye. More than two million sheep, 100,-000 100,-000 dairy cattle and a half million beef cattle are grazed In Utah. Wool production amounts to 20 million pounds annually. Manufacturing in Utah began with the Mormon pioneers, who wove woolen clothing, mined coal, quarried quar-ried rock, canned fruit and vegetables, vegeta-bles, made sugar from beets, installed in-stalled grist mills, slaughtered cattle cat-tle for meat, made butter and cheese, and utilized other raw products prod-ucts at hand. The great copper mines came later, with smelting and refining of ores to follow. Bingham, Magna. Tooele, Garfield and Provo became mill towns. The Geneva steel plant at Provo is the largest in the West, with a mountain of ore close beside it. p earn ,j.iu i vvr-srv u ..l p'" . avow immm x ('-. "f MORMON SHRINE . . . Notable among Salt Lake City's attractions Is the Mormon temple. Last of the Latter Day Saints temples la I'tah U be rompteled, the Salt Lake City edifice was begun In 1R53 and not completed until 1893. The temple Is built of granite, many of the larger blocks being carted by ox-teams before a railroad was built In 1873. Seen In silhouette to the left Is the famous Mormon tabernacle, anted for Its acoustics and organ. "We cannot eat gold and silver," warned Brigham Young, but many were lured by those and other metals met-als to explore the desert and mountains. moun-tains. Mineral resources of Utah are varied, including gold, silver, lead, iron, manganese, gypsum, oil, coal, copper, salt, zinc and many others. In southern Utah the climate is semi-tropical, but in the northern . 'J ' " i : , ; j .- ' rf 0 CHIEF EXECUTIVE . . . Herbert B. Maw, native of Ogden, Is serving his second four-year term as Utah's governor. A lawyer, teacher, ex-servicrman ex-servicrman and legislator, he has been prominent In Latter Day Saints church affairs. , and eastern parts there are skiing and winter sports at high altitudes. Utah scenery win compare with any In the world. Here are mountains as grand as the Alps, sunsets that rival those of Italy and Greece. Marvelous canyons, mammoth stone . bridges, weird rock formations and other master works of nature na-ture are found throughout the state. The mountain lakes and streams provide fine fishing and the forests abound in game bear, elk, antelope, grouse, deer, prairie chickens and others. Utah, once a formidable desert now teems with populous cities and thriving villages. Once piffchcd and burned ground has been changed to green fields, gardens and orchards. Paved highways, airlines and scv. eral transcontinental railroads provide pro-vide transportation. What wonders a hundred years have wrought! This year every city and hamlet in Utah Is preparing a celebration. They will celebrate the centennial of the arrival of Mormon pioneers. Less than 75 per cent of the people are now Mormons, but all will Join in that celebration regardless of creed. The building of Utah was the open-ing open-ing of the West. It was an epoch In American history. |