| Show Editors Editor's Note Note- This is another Inthe In Inthe the Stories of the States Slates series By EDWARD EDVARD EMERINE Features Fea Old Jim Bridger at his lonely fort on Green river talked to the leader of the strange b band nd and learned these emigrants were headed for the Great American Desert Desert Des 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 ver saw an 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 lope lone tree clung to life in the entire valley Heat waves danced and hot breaths of air came up the canyon canon If U there were Inward doubts among his followers none is record ed Obediently the band moved Into the desert Mormon Convert Brigham Young was a native of Vermont and of Revolutionary an an- He had become a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of ot the Latter Day Saints the Mormon church When Joseph Smith the founder was killed at Nauvoo Ill Brigham Young was chosen to take his place Rocks and hills and desert did not deter him They were but the materials with which he would build In this strange land he and other Mormons would be befar beCar far Car removed from Crom religious religions and political differences Here they would hive 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 ot Des eret the beginning of an American epoch the birth hirth of a vast and productive pro region The valleys and mountains that his people were to colonize later were before him and I there was a temple to be built cities and towns to be laid out industries in in- to be developed canals and ditches to be dug and water to be spread over the thirsty soil Faith Saves Sa Crops The Mormon lead leader r likened the group to a swarm of bees beginning a new hive The Beehive became their sym symbol bol and all aU 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 lo locusts 10 came to eat their crops Have faith Have faith P Pray YI And they had faith and they prayed Out of the skies swarmed sea thou thousands sands and thousands of them them and and they devoured the locusts Brigham Young stated his wants and the groups 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 A H 0 lO O J Q 0 w 0 R I Z 0 N A 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 the temple site the construction construction tion was complete the angel Moroni set In place and people took part in the dedicatory services But Brigham Young had 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 days a year Lacking rain the Mormon pioneered pioneered pio pio- Irrigation In America bringing water from Crom the mountains moun mOUD- to Irrigate crops In the desert Today Utah's chief chiet crop Is sugar beets but vegetables and fruits are grown in profusion Other crops are arc wheat oats potatoes hay alfalfa fa corn barley and rye More than two million sheep 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 pioneer who wove clothing mined coal quarried quare ried rock canned fruit and vegetables bles made sugar from beets in installed in stalled grist mills slaughtered cattle cat tle for meat made butter and cheese and utilized other raw products prod at hand The great copper mines came later with smelting and refining of ores to follow Bingham Magna Tooele Garfield and Provo Prove became mill towns The Geneva steel plant at Provo is the largest inthe in inthe the West with a mountain of ore close beside it I I I MORMON SHRINE Notable among Salt Lake City's attractions is the Mormon temple Last of the Latter Day Saints temples in Utah to be completed the Salt Lake City edifice was begun in 1853 and not completed until 1893 The Thc temple is built of granite many of oC the larger blocks being carted by teams ox-teams before a railroad was built In 1873 Seen in silhouette to the left leCt is the famous Mormon lormon tabernacle noted 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 moun 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 tropical semitropical but in the northern j I CHIEF EXECUTIVE Herbert Derbert B. B Maw native of Ogden is serving his second four year term as Utah's governor A lawyer teacher ex- ex serviceman and legislator he has been prominent in Latter Day Saints church affairs and eastern parts parts parts' there are skiing kii g and winter sports at high altitudes Utah scenery will compare with any in the thc world Here liere are mountains as grand as the Alps sunsets that rival those of Italy and Greece Marvelous canyons m mammoth a m mot II stone bridges weird rock formations and other master works of nature nature na na- ture are arc found throughout ut the the state The mountain lakes and streams provide fine fishing and the forests abound in game game bear bear elk antelope grouse deer prairie chickens and others Utah once a formidable desert now teems with populous cities and thriving villages Once parched and burned ground has been changed to green fields gardens and orchards Paved highways airlines and several sev 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 a- celebration They will celebrate the centennial of the arrival of Mormon pioneers Less than 75 per cent of the people are arenow arenow now Mormons but all will join in that celebration regardless of ot creed The building of Utah was the opening open ing of the West It was an epoch in American history |
