| Show before territorial days MORMON PIONEERS N SETTLED IN UTAH ormi W HUN THE TERRITORY BELONGED TO lil established A k FORM OF government EXT HERE heits BEFORE CONGRESS TOOK kny ANY ACTION THE FREE A AND ND N D independent PEN STATE 0 OF r DI DESERET S H it EM r the early history of utah is is intimately associated with the early history if the mormon church and its people for the territory now making n the state or of utah was settled by tile the merman people who driven from 1111 missouri ai assou 11 fled fled to illinois and established the city of nauvoo and iriven from there sought refuge in the unknown and unexplored regions beyond tile he rocky mountains the story of the persecutions led up lip to tile the murder of the file prophet joseph smith and alid tile the patriarch hyrum smith sinith in the oarth carth ago age jail on oil june 27 1844 and of the hardships endured by the people pe ople in ill their journey from council il bluffs across the prairies and through the mountain fastness C to to tile valloy valley of granle salt lake is more C or less fail familar lilar to all who have lived in ill the s tate state 1 for any ally length sf of time the pioneers landed tit at the mouth 0 of f the blie Emid emigration ration canyon july 21 24 2 1 i 1847 7 and july lias bas been bee ll 11 generally one rally kept it a holiday in ill all the 0 sta state to ever since in ill honor or of the I 1 the legislature of 1882 enacted a law making i it t t a legal holiday in tile the state and tile the whole population delights deigh ts i in loing honor to tile the hardy men who opened the wilderness and laid the foundation for the settlement of this great inter I 1 mountain region once known as tile the great american desert 55 Ivl when lell the pioneers landed in ill V t i i salt luke lake valley tile territory belonged to tile the le republic public of mexico exico texas had secured her independence from mexico tind and had been annexed to tile the territory of ali the united States but it was not until the close of tile the war with mexico that eliat the territory of which utah i is a part became the property of oatlie the united states tile treaty with mexico was concluded on oil february 2 1848 1818 and the proclamation of pe peace ice was issued by president polk on july 4 1348 tile oregon boondry line had been settled by a treaty with great britain on oll june julle 15 1840 1846 tit at the parallel notwithstanding the cry of the whig t party of forty fout four forty or figlia I 1 thus it was that the boondry of tho western part of alie united states was i v it s fixed except for that small strip of la land lid south orthe of the gila river which was annexed to the united states territory in 1853 1850 and is known as the gadsen purchase but thou though ai tho territory was blie property of the united states tile federal gohei government ament made no provision for the civil govern mentor tor military control of its new possessions the question of slavery wa was s agitating 11 the con congress ress of tale united states ill in considering the addiss admission on of new states into the 1111 union ion california formed hew her territorial government in ill the fall of 1849 and adopted a constitution oil prohibiting slavery in ill that state I 1 at tl the ie sani same 0 tinie time tile territory made application to congress for admission as a state tile question of admission a a non slave state caused a long oil debate ill in congress and was not settled until the following year a and j id then only with avit n 1 I compromise which provided among adiong otiler other things that thai california 1 should 1 he be I 1 a tree free state and tile the organization IZ aaion of butali lit all as ag a terr territory atory should be without conditions on oil tile the slavery question the organic ga n iq act f for or the terri territory toy y of utah was approved september 9 1850 tile the discovery of gold in california ornia in ja 19 caused tile the wildest excitement not only throughout els country but throughout ghou t the civilized world naturally there was it a great 1 rush to tile the new eldorado 55 and many of the gold seekers crossed the alie plains making snaking salt lake city and the settle settlements thereabouts stopp stopping ilig plo places aces they could rest and reou recuperate for alie final rush to the land of gold etwas it was or of coin course so necessary that some more staple government should be established than that eliat which had been in ill effect since since the Ool pioneers leers landed to take care of this transient population TI then leli le li too the population aaion of tile the territory almost doubled annually for a in i n umber number of years and a gi great cat many of those coming into the new country were not allied with the mormon pioneers if indeed they were not at clin enmity lity with the church I 1 it was nearly two years af after ter the pioneers landed before the movement to establish a form ol 01 of civil government resulted in ill a ille meeting eting of citizens to establish that 0 government the convention met in ill great salt lake city on march lo 10 1849 and a committee was appointed to draft a constitution ution for the adoption of tile people in the territory this commit leo consisted of albert barrington ington joseph L haywood aywood II william IV phelps david fillmer jolin john S fulmer charles 0 rich john taylor parley P pratt john al bernhisel and Ei erastus rastus snow this committee drafted a constitution and reported to tile the convention on oil march 18 1849 alie constitution was u unanimously adopted and the free and in inde dependant government by tile name of tile 1 state ite of deseret Deser etl 1 was vas labuch ed cd continued next week |
