CHAPTER III.
The Foreign Immigration To Utah 

The Commercial joint Stock Company Scandal--Deceptive Statements made to Foreign Converts--John Taylor's Address to the Saints in Great Britain-- Petition to Queen Victoria--Mormon Duplicity illustrated--Young's Advice to Emigrants--Glowing Pictures of Salt Lake Valley--The Perpetual Emigrating Fund--Details of the Emigration System

    WHEN the Mormons began their departure westward from Nauvoo, the immigration of converts from Europe was suspended because of the uncertainty about the location of the next settlement, and the difficulty of transporting the existing population. But the necessity of constant additions to the community of new-comers, and especially those bringing some capital, was never lost sight of by the heads of the church. An evidence of this was given even before the first company reached the Missouri River.

    While the Saints were marching through Iowa they received intelligence of a big scandal in connection with the emigration business in England, and P. P. Pratt, Orson Hyde, and John Taylor were hurriedly sent to that country to straighten the matter out. The Millennial Star in the early part of 1846 had frequent articles about the British and American Commercial Joint Stock Company, an organization incorporated to assist poor Saints in emigrating. The principal emigration agent in Great Britain at that time was R. Hedlock. He was the originator of the Joint Stock Company, and Thomas Ward was its president. The Mormon investigators found that more than 1644 pounds of the contributions of the stockholders had been squandered, and that Ward had been lending Hedlock money with which to pay his personal debts. Ward and Hedlock were at once disfellowshipped, and contributions to the treasury of the company were stopped. Pratt says that Hedlock fled when the investigators arrived, leav ing many debts, "and finally lived incog. in London with a vile woman." Thus it seems that Mormon business enterprises in England were no freer from scandals than those in America.

    The efforts of the leaders of the church were now exerted to make the prospects of the Saints in Utah attractive to the converts in England whom they wished to add to the population of their valley. Young and his associates seem to have entertained the idea, without reckoning on the rapid settlement of California, the migration of the "Forty-niners," and the connection of the two coasts by rail, that they could constitute a little empire all by itself in Utah, which would be self-supporting as well as independent, the farmer raising food for the mechanic, and the mechanic doing the needed work for the farmer. Accordingly, the church did not stop short of every kind of misrepresentation and deception in belittling to the foreigners the misfortunes of the past, and picturing to them the fruitfulness of their new country, and the ease with which they could become landowners there.

    Naturally, after the expulsion from Illinois, in which so many foreign converts shared, an explanation and palliation of the emigration thence were necessary. In the United States, then and ever since, the Mormons pictured themselves as the victims of an almost unprecedented persecution. But as soon as John Taylor reached England, in 1846, he issued an address to the Saints in Great Britain¹ in which he presented a very different picture. Granting that, on an average, they had not obtained more than one-third the value of their real and personal property when they left Illinois, he explained that, when they settled there, land in Nauvoo was worth only from $3 to $20 per acre, while, when they left, it was worth from $50 to $1500 per acre; in the same period the adjoining farm lands had risen in value from $1.25 and $5 to from $5 to $50 per acre. He assured his hearers, therefore, that the one-third value which they had obtained had paid them well for their labor. Nor was th is all. When they left, they had exchanged their property for horses, cattle, provisions, clothing, etc., which was exactly what was needed by settlers in a new country. As a further bait he went on to explain: "When we arrive in California, according to the provisions of the Mexican government, each family will be entitled to a large tract of land, amounting to several hundred acres," and, if that country passed into American control, he looked for the passage of a law giving 640 acres to each male settler. "Thus," he summed up, "it will be easy to see that we are in a better condition than when we were in Nauvoo!"

    ¹ Millennial Star, Vol. VIII, p. 115.

    The misrepresentation did not cease here, however. After announcing the departure of Brigham Young's pioneer company, Taylor² wound up with this tissue of false statements: "The way is now prepared; the roads, bridges, and ferry-boats made; there are stopping places also on the way where they can rest, obtain vegetables and corn, and, when they arrive at the far end, instead of finding a wild waste, they will meet with friends, provisions and a home, so that all that will be requisite for them to do will be to find sufficient teams to draw their families, and to take along with them a few woollen or cotton goods, or other articles of merchandise which will be light, and which the brethren will require until they can manufacture for themselves." How many a poor Englishman, toiling over the plains in the next succeeding years, and, arriving in arid Utah to find himself in the clutches of an organization from which he could not escape, had reason to curse the man who drew this picture!

    ² John Taylor was born in England in 1808, and emigrated to Canada in 1829, where, after joining the Methodists, he, like Joseph Smith, found existing churches unsatisfactory, and was easily secured as a convert by P. P. Pratt. He was elected to the Quorum, and was sent to Great Britain as a missionary in 1840, writing several pamphlets while there. He arrived in Nauvoo with Brigham Young in 1841, and there edited the Times and Seasons, was a member of the City Council, a regent of the university, and judge advocate of the Legion, and was in the room with the prophet when the latter was shot. He was the Mormon representative in France in 1849, publishing a monthly paper there, translating the Mormon Bible into the French language, and preaching later at Hamburg, Germany. He was superintendent of the Mormon church in the Eastern states in 1857, when Young declared war against the United States, and he succeeded Young as head of the church.

    In 1847, at the suggestion of Taylor, Hyde, and Pratt, who were still in England, a petition bearing nearly 13,000 names was addressed to Queen Victoria, setting forth the misery existing among the working classes in Great Britain, suggesting, as the best means of relief, royal aid to those who wished to emigrate to "the island of Vancouver or to the great territory of Oregon," and asking her "to give them employment in improving the harbors of those countries, or in erecting forts of defence; or, if this be inexpedient, to furnish them provisions and means of subsistence until they can produce them from the soil." These American citizens did not hesitate to point out that the United States government was favoring the settlement of its territory on the Pacific coast, and to add: "While the United States do manifest such a strong inclination, not only to extend and enlarge their possessions in the West, but also to people them, will not your Majesty look well to British interests in those regions, and adopt timely precautionary measures to maintain a balance of power in that quarter which, in the opinion of your memorialists, is destined at no very distant period to participate largely in the China trade?"³

    ³ See Linforth's "Route," pp. 2-5.

    The Oregon boundary treaty was less than a year old when this petition was presented. It was characteristic of Mormon duplicity to find their representatives in Great Britain appealing to Queen Victoria on the ground of self-interest, while their chiefs in the United States were pointing to the organization of the Battalion as a proof of their fidelity to the home government. Practically no notice was taken of this petition. Vancouver Island, was, however, held out to the converts in Great Britain as the one "gathering point of the Saints from the islands and distant portions of the earth," until the selection of Salt Lake Valley as the Saints' abiding place.

    On December 23, 1847, Young, in behalf of the Twelve, issued from Winter Quarters a General Epistle to the church⁴ which gave an account of his trip to the Salt Lake Valley, directed all to gather themselves speedily near Winter Quarters in readiness for the march to Salt Lake Valley, and said to the Saints in Europe: --"Emigrate as speedily as possible to this vicinity. Those who have but little means, and little or no labor, will soon exhaust that means if they remain where they are. Therefore, it is wisdom that they remove without delay; for here is land on which, by their labor, they can speedily better their condition for their further journey." The list of things which Young advised the emigrants to bring with them embraced a wide assortment: grains, trees, and vines; live stock and fowls; agricultural implements and mills; firearms and ammunition; gold and silver and zinc and tin and brass and ivory and precious stones; curiosities, "sweet instruments of music, sweet odors, and beautiful colors." The care of the head of the church, that the immigrants should not neglect to provide themselves with cologne and rouge for use in crossing the prairies, was most thoughtful.

    ⁴ Millennial Star, Vol. X, p. 81.

    The Millennial Star of February 1, 1848, made this announcement to the faithful in the British Isles: --

    "The channel of Saints' emigration to the land of Zion is now opened. The resting place of Israel for the last days has been discovered. In the elevated valley of the Salt and Utah Lakes, with the beautiful river Jordan running through it, is the newly established Stake of Zion. There vegetation flourishes with magic rapidity. And the food of man, or staff of life, leaps into maturity from the bowels of Mother Earth with astonishing celerity. Within one month from planting, potatoes grew from six to eight inches, and corn from two to four feet. There the frequent clouds introduce their fertilizing contents at a modest distance from the fat valley, and send their humid influences from the mountain tops. There the saline atmosphere of Salt Lake mingles in wedlock with the fresh humidity of the same vegetable element which comes over the mountain top, as if the nuptial bonds of rare elements were introduced to exhibit a novel specimen of a perfect vegetable progeny in the shortest possible time," etc.

    Contrast this with Brigham Young's letter to Colonel Alexander in October, 1857, -- "We had hoped that in this barren, desolate country we could have remained unmolested."

    On the 20th of February, 1848, the shipment of Mormon emigrants began again with the sailing of the Cornatic, with 120 passengers, for New Orleans.

    In the following April, Orson Pratt was sent to England to take charge of the affairs of the church there. On his arrival, in August, he issued an "Epistle" which was influential in augmenting the movement. He said that "in the solitary valleys of the great interior" they hoped to hide "while the indignation of the Almighty is poured upon the nations;" and urged the rich to dispose of their property in order to help the poor, commanding all who could do so to pay their tithing. "O ye saints of the Most High," he said, "linger not! Make good your retreat before the avenues are closed up!"

    Many other letters were published in the Millennial Star in 1848-1849, giving glowing accounts of the fertility of Salt Lake Valley. One from the clerk of the camp observed: "Many cases of twins. In a row of seven houses joining each other eight births in one week."

    In order to assist the poor converts in Europe, the General Conference held in Salt Lake City in October, 1849, voted to raise a fund, to be called "The Perpetual Emigrating Fund," and soon $5000 had been secured for this purpose. In September, 1850, the General Assembly of the Provisional State of Deseret incorporated the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company, and Brigham Young was elected its first president. Collections for this fund in Great Britain amounted to 1410 pounds by January, 1852, and the emigrants sent out in that year were assisted from this fund. These expenditures required an additional $5000, which was supplied from Salt Lake City. A letter issued by the First Presidency in October, 1849, urged the utmost economy in the expenditure of this money, and explained that, when the assisted emigrants arrived in Salt Lake City, they would give their obligations to the church to refund as soon as possible what had been expended on them.⁵ In this way, any who were dissatisfied on their arrival in Utah found themselves in the church clutches, from which they could not escape.

    ⁵ Millennial Star, Vol. XII, p. 124.

    There were outbreaks of cholera among the emigrant parties crossing the plains in 1849, and many deaths. In October, 1849, an important company left Salt Lake City to augment the list of missionaries in Europe. It included John Taylor and two others, assigned to France; Lorenzo Snow and one other, to Italy; Erastus Snow and one other, to Denmark;⁶ F. D. Richards and eight others, to England; and J. Fosgreene, to Sweden.

    ⁶ Elder Dykes reported in October, 1851, that, on his arrival in Aalborg, Denmark, he found that a mob had broken in the windows of the Saints' meeting-house and destroyed the furniture, and had also broken the windows of the Saints' houses, and, by the mayor's advice, he left the city by the first steamer. Millennial Star, Vol. XIII, p. 346.

    The system of Mormon emigration from Great Britain at that time seems to have been in the main a good one. The rule of the agent in Liverpool was not to charter a vessel until enough passengers had made their deposits to warrant him in doing so. The rate of fare depended on the price paid for the charter.⁷ As soon as the passengers arrived in Liverpool they could go on board ship, and, when enough came from one district, all sailed on one vessel. Once on board, they were organized with a president and two counsellors, -- men who had crossed the ocean, if possible, -- who allotted the staterooms, appointed watchmen to serve in turn, and looked after the sanitary arrangements. When the first through passengers for Salt Lake City left Liverpool, in 1852, an experienced elder was sent in advance to have teams and supplies in readiness at the point where the land journey would begin, and other men of experience accompanied them to engage river transportation when they reached New Orleans. The statistics of the emigration thus called out were as follows: --

YEAR 1848 1849 1850 1851

VESSELS 5 9 6 4

EMIGRANTS 754 2078 1612 1869

    ⁷ See Linforth's "Route," pp. to, 17-22; Mackay's "History of the Mormons," pp. 298-302; Pratt's letter to the Millennial Star, Vol. XI, p. 277.

    The Frontier Guardian at Kanesville estimated the Mormon movement across the plains in 1850 at about 700 wagons, taking 5000 horses and cattle and 4000 sheep.

    Of the class of emigrants then going out, the manager of the leading shipping agents at Liverpool who furnished the ships said, "They are principally farmers and mechanics, with some few clerks, surgeons, and so forth." He found on the company's books, for the period between October, 1849, and March, 1850, the names of 16 miners, 20 engineers, 19 farmers, 108 laborers, 10 joiners, 25 weavers, 15 shoemakers, 12 smiths, 19 tailors, 8 watchmakers, 25 stone masons, 5 butchers, 4 bakers, 4 potters, 10 painters, 7 shipwrights, and 5 dyers. The statistics of the Mormon emigration given by the British agency for the years named were as follows: --

YEAR 1852 1853 1854 1851 1854 Scand/Ger. via Liverpool 1855

VESSELS 3 7 9   13

EMIGRANTS 732 2312 2456 1053 4425

    In 1853 the experiment was made of engaging to send adults from Liverpool to Utah for 10 pounds each and children for half price; but this did not succeed, and those who embraced the offer had to borrow money or teams to complete the journey.

    In 1853, owing to extortions practised on the emigrants by the merchants and traders at Kanesville, as well as the unhealthfulness of the Missouri bottoms, the principal point of departure from the river was changed to Keokuk, Iowa. The authorities and people there showed the new-comers every kindness, and set apart a plot of ground for their camp. In this camp each company on its arrival was organized and provided with the necessary teams, etc. In 1854 the point of departure was again changed to Kansas, in western Missouri, fourteen miles west of Independence, the route then running to the Big Blue River, and through what are now the states of Kansas and Nebraska.