Show I Brodders and Sisters Being the early life Ufe and times Umes of the Mormon town of Ephraim Sanpete County Utah and Including In Including Including In- In to be sure the famous Ephraim Stories By ByGrace ByGrace ByGrace Grace Johnson Copyrighted Editors Editor's Note This Is one In Ina ina ina a series of stories from the book Brodders and Sisters by author Grace Johnson At the conclusion of the serial publications publications pubU- pubU a limited number of copies of the book will be avail- avail able Copies may be reserved by calling the Messenger- Messenger Enterprise office Installment 5 And Still Another And there was still sUll another who If he had been told that the the young New Englanders Englander's pronouncement pronouncement pronouncement pro pro- would affect his life and times Umes and to what extent would have regarded the Intelligence intelligence intelligence Intel intel- with stunned disbelief i. i This man was another New Englander a glazier and carpenter carpenter carpenter car car- penter by trade who but for forthe forthe the the young prophets prophet's news would never have been known beyond a a few villages and then only as a man good with a house or barn or the setting In of windows But the pronouncement vaulted vaulted vaulted vault vault- ed the Impossible plucked the theman theman theman man up and out of obscurity and turned him Into a Nineteenth Nineteenth Nineteenth Nine Nine- Century Moses who shepherded shepherded shepherded shep shep- herded today's children of Is Israel Is- Is rael not rael not a few hundred miles mUes nf of Biblical 1 wilderness hut but a a u four thousand thousand over good over ocean prairie and the towerIng towering towering tower- tower Ing And who after their own nation had tossed them out In the dead of winter onto a swept blizzard-swept prairie men women aged and babies kept them ali alive ve one day to go on to the Promised Land A man who fought a war with the United States Army Another never Another never won never lost lost and and blast the eyed evil old Monster the climate of the American Great Basin Another er and 1200 miles mUes from the nearest American military fort which wouldn't have helped him anyway against some of the fiercest of American Indian Indianna- Indianna na nations fought and won with wits and diplomacy and only minimal minimal minimal mini mini- mal casualties And while the rest of the early West was building Main Street with dance hall girls er erected temples that still sUll astound the world And who I think to his own and everyone everyone everyone every every- one else's great amazement amazement- DIED IN BED BEDI The mans man's name was Brigham Young To Teach the Ute the White Mans Man's Ways Fastidious bathed clean- clean clothed Brigham Young faced them as they sat legged cross-legged around the camp Before the orange flames the peace pipe passed from hand to hand From War Chief Wal- Wal kara to Brigham Young To Ar- Ar To To To To Ammon To All chief chief- All strapping All magnificently terrifying All stinking Fresh from a raid against the Shoshones their body smell mixed with the rank smell of blood This was the evening of the morning of June 14 1849 when Brigham Young lathered for his morning shave halted his barbers barber's razor to listen to the appalling news Great War Chief of the Ute Indian Nation and his six brother chieftains chieftains chieftains chief chief- had arrived in Salt Lake for a campfire conference with Brigham Young Great White Chief of the Mormons The incredible present must nave have stunned Brigham with wun thunderbolt shock Which was dream and which was reality The impossible irr present must be the dream In reality he was bac back in Vermont safe and comfortable le between two feather feather feather fea fea- ther beds a warm rock to his feet Crops tucked away In a safe barn animals safe and chewing t A carpenter and glazier by trade his Ms days passed uneventfully fully fully m moving fully moving from one neighbors neighbor's neighbors neighbor's neighbors neighbor's neigh neigh- bors bor's farm to mend another's mendIng mend mend- Ing and tightening against the coming Vinter winter Tonight he had had a good supper and so to tobed tobed tobed bed to sleep comfortably until the sounds of morning announced ed a new lay day Would Brigham Young Great White Chief of the Mormon Whites send settlers Valley l land nd of the Utes White men White Squaws Papooses Reality Reali y struck truck like a blow In Inthe Inthe inthe the face was asking for settlers for Vall Valley t t to teach the Ute the White Mans Man's ways How to plow and plant the golden wheat how to 11 live ve in houses how to live like Uke his white brother The brethren The brethren had talked too much True It was Mormon doctrine that the Indian was of ot the House of Israel and like Mormons heir to all of ot Its blessings Community living Houses that was It The brethren had talked too much and Wal Wal- kara was using I It t as a trap to Isolate a colony miles mUes away To slaughter at his leisure Brigham had no illusions about the present or the odds against him Houses yes One day But not tomorrow or the next day or the next year yearl His was a handful of oC people within a sea of Indian nations To the north and east the Crow Cheyenne To the south south and west the Ute Plute Piute Apache and Comanche A merger of any two of these tribes could mean extinction So what do you do The only thing you can do You buy time Ume Tobacco for Beef for Blankets for Bear Hunter You make a mistake and you hasten to repair It My dear friend Blackhawk Here I think you are in the north country winning battles against the Shoshones and now you have returned and I did not know It By special messenger I send you tobacco to smoke In your lodge when you get lonely Flattery Diplomacy Like jugglers juggler's balls you keep all the tribes in the air at once If you drop one you and your people are lost Settlers for tor Since their arrival In the Salt Lake Valley starvation has stalked your people like a grim shadow The 1849 crops must be harvested provisions for the winter For next years year's seed It would be November be before before before be- be fore the settlers could go And can you send your friends miles mUes away Into the bleak Valley VaIley with the cold breath of winter already blowing down the canyons No Notime Notime Notime time to build cabins Only time timeto to burrow into the ground like Uke prarie prarle dogs A bitter prospect for men But can you send women Children And to a trap baited for tor massacre Do you refuse and have fall tall upon your outlying settlements now T If are 0 Bri ha m V Y n 11 you lUU aA A g 4 oung VUU f what do you do You raise six fingers and say In six moons oh great Chief of the Utes I send you settlers San pitch Valley VaIley Those swatches of black hair hairat hairat hairat at waist w were re Shoshone scalps JI my Powers 5 He wa was going goin to besIck be besick sick As the creaking wagons of the caravan passed before him Brigham bade his friends good good- bye with answering wave to men women child child- ren He has done what he can Provisioned Provisioned Provisioned Pro Pro- the wagons Provided the strongest 01 of o the cattle Farewell hand to eyes squinting against the morning sun he stands looking after them Farewell until distance distance distance dis dis- dis- dis tance turns them into miniature oxen and wagons of Americas America's greatest of pioneers And then they are gone To what Into the teeth of one of the West's most terrible winters Human mites boring like Uke ground things Into the south side of Temple Hill November December Snow snow blinding blizzards bUzzards three feet of snow on the level drifts up to 11 and 20 feet February snow snow Sharpening the horns of the cattle the better to break the crust In search of scant forage and to fend off the wolves March cattle starving cattle dying Indians ravenously ravenously ravenously raven raven- falling upon upon the car car- casses April of the cattle cattle- dead people cattle May only two span of oxen strong enough to pull a plow Gone to what Brigham had wondered To many things To the building of a settlement settlement settlement settle settle- ment Brigham called Mantl Manti 1852 to the building of its fort 1853 the arrival of the first shiploads of Scandinavians 1852 53 1852 53 the faring forth and return of Ephraim's first settler accompanied by an escort of Indian arrows To Be Continued |