Mormon Settlement In Arizona - free ebook by James H. McClintock

MORMON SETTLEMENT IN ARIZONA

BY JAMES H. McCLINTOCK 1921 [Illustration: THOS. E. CAMPBELL Governor of Arizona] [Illustration: COL. JAS. H. McCLINTOCK Arizona Historian] [Illustration: "EL VADO," THE CROSSING OF THE FATHERS Gateway of the Pioneers Into Arizona]...

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FOREWORD

This publication, covering a field of southwestern interest hitherto unworked, has had material assistance from Governor Thos. E. Campbell, himself a student of Arizona history, especially concerned in matters of development. There has been hearty cooperation on the part of the Historian of the Mormon Church, in Salt Lake City, and the immense resources of his office have been offered freely and have been drawn upon often for verification of data, especially covering the earlier periods. There s

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Chapter One

WILDERNESS BREAKERS—Mormon Colonization in the West; Pioneers in Agriculture; First Farmers in Many States; The Wilderness Has Been Kept Broken....

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Chapter Two

THE MORMON BATTALION—Soldiers Who Sought No Strife; California Was the Goal; Organization of the Battalion; Cooke Succeeds to the Command; The March Through the Southwest; Capture of the Pueblo of Tucson; Congratulation on Its Achievement; Mapping the Way Through Arizona; Manufactures of the Arizona Indians; Cooke's Story of the March; Tyler's Record of the Expedition; Henry Standage's Personal Journal; California Towns and Soldier Experiences; Christopher Layton's Soldiering; Western Dash of th

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Chapter Three

THE BATTALION'S MUSTER-OUT—Heading Eastward Toward "Home"; With the Pueblo Detachment; California Comments on the Battalion; Leaders of the Battalion; Passing of the Battalion Membership; A Memorial of Noble Conception; Battalion Men Who Became Arizonans....

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Chapter Four

CALIFORNIA'S MORMON PILGRIMS—The Brooklyn Party at San Francisco; Beginnings of a Great City; Brannan's Hope of Pacific Empire; Present at the Discovery of Gold; Looking Toward Southern California; Forced From the Southland; How Sirrine Saved the Gold....

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Chapter Five

THE STATE OF DESERET—A Vast Intermountain Commonwealth; Boundary Lines Established; Segregation of the Western Territories; Map of State of Deseret....

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Chapter Six

EARLY ROADS AND TRAVELERS—Old Spanish Trail Through Utah; Creation of the Mormon Road; Mormon Settlement at Tubac; A Texan Settlement of the Faith....

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Chapter Seven

MISSIONARY PIONEERING—Hamblin, "Leatherstocking of the Southwest"; Aboriginal Diversions; Encounter with Federal Explorers; The Hopi and the Welsh Legend; Indians Await Their Prophets; Navajo Killing of Geo. A. Smith, Jr.; A Seeking of Baptism for Gain; The First Tour Around the Grand Canyon; A Visit to the Hava-Supai Indians; Experiences with the Redskins; Killing of Whitmore and McIntire....

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Chapter Eight

HAMBLIN AMONG THE INDIANS—Visiting the Paiutes with Powell; A Great Conference with the Navajo; An Official Record of the Council; Navajos to Keep South of the River; Tuba's Visit to the White Men; The Sacred Stone of the Hopi; In the Land of the Navajo; Hamblin's Greatest Experience; The Old Scout's Later Years....

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Chapter Nine

CROSSING THE MIGHTY COLORADO—Early Use of "El Vado de Los Padres"; Ferrying at the Paria Mouth; John D. Lee on the Colorado; Lee's Canyon Residence Was Brief; Crossing the Colorado on the Ice; Crossings Below the Grand Canyon; Settlements North of the Canyon; Arizona's First Telegraph Station; Arizona's Northernmost Village....

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Chapter Ten

ARIZONA'S PIONEER NORTHWEST—History of the Southern Nevada Point; Map of Pah-ute County; Missionaries of the Desert; Diplomatic Dealings with the Redskins; Near Approaches to Indian Warfare; Utilization of the Colorado River; Steamboats on the Shallow Stream; Establishing a River Port....

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Chapter Eleven

IN THE VIRGIN AND MUDDY VALLEYS—First Agriculture in Northern Arizona; Villages of Pioneer Days; Brigham Young Makes Inspection; Nevada Assumes Jurisdiction; The Nevada Point Abandoned; Political Organization Within Arizona; Pah-ute's Political Vicissitudes; Later Settlement in "The Point,"; Salt Mountains of the Virgin; Peaceful Frontier Communities....

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Chapter Twelve

THE UNITED ORDER—Development of a Communal System; Not a General Church Movement; Mormon Cooperative Stores....

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Chapter Thirteen

SPREADING INTO NORTHERN ARIZONA—Failure of the First Expeditions; Missionary Scouts in Northeastern Arizona; Foundation of Four Settlements; Northeastern Arizona Map; Genesis of St. Joseph; Struggling with a Treacherous River; Decline and Fall of Sunset; Village Communal Organization; Hospitality Was of Generous Sort; Brigham City's Varied Industries; Brief Lives of Obed and Taylor....

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Chapter Fourteen

TRAVEL, MISSIONS AND INDUSTRIES—Passing of the Boston Party; At the Naming of Flagstaff; Southern Saints Brought Smallpox; Fort Moroni, at LeRoux Spring; Stockaded Against the Indians; Mormon Dairy and the Mount Trumbull Mill; Where Salt Was Secured; The Mission Post of Moen Copie; Indians Who Knew Whose Ox Was Gored; A Woolen Factory in the Wilds; Lot Smith and His End; Moen Copie Reverts to the Indians; Woodruff and Its Water Troubles; Holbrook Once Was Horsehead Crossing....

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Chapter Fifteen

SETTLEMENT SPREADS SOUTHWARD—Snowflake and Its Naming; Joseph Fish, Historian; Taylor, Second of the Name; Shumway's Historic Founder; Showlow Won in a Game of "Seven-Up"; Mountain Communities; Forest Dale on the Reservation; Tonto Basin's Early Settlement....

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Chapter Sixteen

LITTLE COLORADO SETTLEMENTS—Genesis of St. Johns; Land Purchased by Mormons; Wild Celebration of St. John's Day; Disputes Over Land Titles; Irrigation Difficulties and Disaster; Meager Rations at Concho; Springerville and Eagar; A Land of Beaver and Bear; Altitudinous Agriculture at Alpine; In Western New Mexico; New Mexican Locations....

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Chapter Seventeen

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS—Nature and Man Both Were Difficult; Railroad Work Brought Bread; Burden of a Railroad Land Grant; Little Trouble with Indians; Church Administrative Features....

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Chapter Eighteen

EXTENSION TOWARD MEXICO—Dan W. Jones' Great Exploring Trip; The Pratt-Stewart-Trejo Expedition; Start of the Lehi Community; Plat of Lehi; Transformation Wrought at Camp Utah; Departure of the Merrill Party; Lehi's Later Development....

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Chapter Nineteen

THE PLANTING OF MESA—Transformation of a Desert Plain; Use of a Prehistoric Canal; Moving Upon the Mesa Townsite; An Irrigation Clash That Did Not Come; Mesa's Civic Administration; Foundation of Alma; Highways Into the Mountains; Hayden's Ferry, Latterly Tempe; Organization of the Maricopa Stake; A Great Temple to Rise in Mesa....

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Chapter Twenty

FIRST FAMILIES OF ARIZONA—Pueblo Dwellers of Ancient Times; Map of Prehistoric Canals; Evidences of Well-Developed Culture; Northward Trend of the Ancient People; The Great Reavis Land Grant Fraud....

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Chapter Twenty-one

NEAR THE MEXICAN BORDER—Location on the San Pedro River; Malaria Overcomes a Community; On the Route of the Mormon Battalion; Chronicles of a Quiet Neighborhood; Looking Toward Homes in Mexico; Arizona's First Artesian Well; Development of a Market at Tombstone....

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Chapter Twenty-two

ON THE UPPER GILA—Ancient Dwellers and Military Travelers; Early Days Around Safford; Map of Southeastern Arizona; Mormon Location at Smithville; A Second Party Locates at Graham; Vicissitudes of Pioneering; Gila Community of the Faith; Considering the Lamanites; The Hostile Chiricahuas; Murders by Indian Raiders; Outlawry Along the Gila; A Gray Highway of Danger....

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Chapter Twenty-three

CIVIC AND CHURCH FEATURES—Troublesome River Conditions; Basic Law in a Mormon Community; Layton, Soldier and Pioneer; A New Leader on the Gila; Church Academies of Learning....

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Chapter Twenty-four

MOVEMENT INTO MEXICO—Looking Over the Land; Colonization in Chihuahua; Prosperity in an Alien Land; Abandonment of the Mountain Colonies; Sad Days for the Sonora Colonists; Congressional Inquiry; Repopulation of the Mexican Colonies....

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Chapter Twenty-five

MODERN DEVELOPMENT—Oases Have Grown in the Desert; Prosperity Has Succeeded Privation....

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SPECIAL MAPS

State of Deseret Pah-ute County, Showing the Muddy Settlements Northeastern Arizona, Showing Little Colorado Settlements Lehi, Plan of Settlement Ancient Canals of Salt River Valley Southeastern Arizona Arizona Mormon Settlement and Early Roads...

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Chapter One

Wilderness Breakers Mormon Colonization In the West The Author would ask earliest appreciation by the reader that this work on "Mormon Settlement in Arizona" has been written by one entirely outside that faith and that, in no way, has it to do with the doctrines of a sect set aside as distinct and peculiar to itself, though it claims fellowship with any denomination that follows the teachings of the Nazarene. The very word "Mormon" in publications of that denomination usually is put within quota

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Chapter Two

The Mormon Battalion Soldiers Who Sought No Strife The march of the Mormon Battalion to the Pacific sea in 1846-7 created one of the most picturesque features of American history and one without parallel in American military annals. There was incidental creation, through Arizona, of the first southwestern wagon road. Fully as remarkable as its travel was the constitution of the Battalion itself. It was assembled hastily for an emergency that had to do with the seizure of California from Mexico.

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Chapter Three

The Battalion's Muster-Out Heading Eastward Toward "Home" Muster-out of the Battalion was at Los Angeles, July 16, 1847, just a year after enlistment, eight days before Brigham Young reached Great Salt Lake. The joyous ceremonial was rather marred by the fact that the muster-out officer was none other than Lieutenant Smith. There was an attempt to keep the entire Battalion in the service, both Kearny and Colonel Mason urging reenlistment. At the same time was an impolitic speech by Colonel Steve

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Chapter Four

California's Mormon Pilgrims The Brooklyn Party at San Francisco The members of the Mormon Battalion were far from being the first of their faith to tread the golden sands of California. Somehow, in the divine ordering of things mundane, the Mormons generally were very near the van of Anglo-Saxon settlement of the States west of the Rockies. Thus it happened that on July 29, 1846, only three weeks after the American naval occupation of the harbor, there anchored inside the Golden Gate the good s

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Chapter Five

The State of Deseret A Vast Intermountain Commonwealth Probably unknown to a majority of Arizonans is the fact that the area of this State once was included within the State of Deseret, the domain the early Mormons laid out for themselves in the western wilds. The State of Deseret was a natural sort of entity, with a governor, with courts, peace officers and a militia. It was a great dream, yet a dream that had being and substance for a material stretch of time. Undoubtedly its conception was wi

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Chapter Six

Early Roads and Travelers Old Spanish Trail Through Utah There can be little more than speculation concerning the extent of the use of the old Spanish Trail, through southern Utah, by the Spaniards. It is known, however, that considerable travel passed over it between Santa Fe and the California missions and settlements. In winter there was the disadvantage of snow in the Rockies and in summer were the aridity and heat of the Mohave desert. In Utah was danger from the Utes and farther westward f

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Chapter Seven

Hamblin, "Leatherstocking of the Southwest" In Southern Arizona the first pioneering was done by devoted Franciscans and Jesuits, their chiefest concern the souls of the gentile Indians. In similar wise, the pioneering of northern Arizona had its initiation in a hope of the Mormon Church for conversion of the Indians of the canyons and plains. In neither case was there the desired degree of success, but each period has brought to us many stories of heroism and self-sacrifice on the part of the m

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Chapter Eight

Hamblin Among the Indians Visiting the Paiutes with Powell It was in the summer of 1870 that Hamblin met Major J.W. Powell, who had descended the Colorado the previous year. Powell's ideas coincided very well with those of Hamblin. He wanted to visit the Indians and prevent repetition of such a calamity as that in which three of his men had been killed near Mount Trumbull, southwest of Kanab. So, in September, 1870, there was a gathering at Mount Trumbull, with about fifteen Indians. What follow

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Chapter Nine

Crossing the Mighty Colorado Early Use of "El Vado de Los Padres" The story of the Colorado is most pertinent in a work such as this, for the river and its Grand Canyon formed a barrier that must be passed if the southward extension of Zion were to become an accomplished fact. Much of detail has been given elsewhere concerning the means of passage used by the exploring, missionary and settlement expeditions that had so much to do with Arizona's development. In this chapter there will be elaborat

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Chapter Ten

Arizona's Pioneer Northwest History of the Southern Nevada Point Assuredly within the purview of this work is the settlement of what now is the southern point of Nevada, a part of the original area of New Mexico and, hence, included within the Territory of Arizona when created in 1863. This embraced the district south of latitude 37, westward to the California line, west and north of the Colorado River. The main stream of the district is the Virgin, with a drainage area of 11,000 square miles, M

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Chapter Eleven

In the Virgin and Muddy Valleys First Agriculture in Northern Arizona There can be no doubt that the first agricultural settlement in northern Arizona was by a Mormon party, led by Henry W. Miller, which made location at Beaver Dams, on the north bank of the Virgin River on the earlier Mormon road to California. On a tract of land lying six miles below the point where the river emerges from a box canyon, land was cleared in the fall of 1864, crops were put in "and then the enterprise was dedicat

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Chapter Twelve

The United Order Development of a Communal System At one stage of Church development there was disposition to favor the establishment in each village of the Saints of communal conditions, wherein work should be done according to the ability of the individual. Crops and the results of all industry were to be gathered at a common center for common benefit. Something of the same sort was known among the Shakers and other religious sects in eastern states. Thus in Utah was founded the United Order,

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Chapter Thirteen

Spreading Into Northern Arizona Failure of the First Expeditions The first attempt from the north of the Mormon Church to colonize within the present limits of Arizona failed. It was by means of an expedition placed in charge of Horton D. Haight. A number of the colonists met March 8, 1873, in the old tabernacle in Salt Lake City, and there were instructed by President Brigham Young. At Winsor Castle they were warned to be friendly to but not too trustful of the Indians and not to sell them ammu

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Chapter Fourteen

Travel, Missions and Industries Passing of the Boston Party Keen interest in the Southwest was excited early in 1876 by a series of lectures delivered at New England points by Judge Samuel W. Cozzens, author of "The Marvellous Country." There was formed the American Colonization Company, with Cozzens as president. Two companies of men, of about fifty individuals each, were dispatched from Boston, each man with equipment weighing about thirty pounds. The destination was a fertile valley in northe

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Chapter Fifteen

Settlement Spreads Southward Snowflake and its Naming Snowflake, one of the most prosperous of towns of Mormon origin, lies 28 miles almost south of Holbrook, with which it was given railroad connection during 1919. The first settler was James Stinson who came in 1873, and who, by 1878, had taken out the waters of Silver Creek for the irrigation of about 300 acres. In July, 1878, Stinson (later a resident of Tempe) sold to Wm. J. Flake for $11,000, paid in livestock. July 21, the first Mormons m

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Chapter Sixteen

Little Colorado Settlements Genesis of St. Johns One of the most remarkable of Arizona settlements is St. Johns, 58 miles southeast of Holbrook, its railroad station. Though its development has been almost entirely Mormon and though it is headquarters for the St. Johns Stake of the Church, its foundation dates back of the Mormon occupation of the valley of the Little Colorado. Very early in the seventies, New Mexican cattle and sheep men spread their ranges over the mountains into the Little Col

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Chapter Seventeen

Economic Conditions Nature and Man Both Were Difficult To the struggle with the elements, to the difficulties that attended the breaking of a stubborn soil and to the agricultural utilization of a widely-varying water supply, to the burdens of drought and flood and disease was added the intermittent hostility of stock interests that would have stopped all farming encroachment upon the open range. Concerning this phase of frontier life in Arizona, the following is from the pen of B.H. Roberts: "T

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Chapter Eighteen

Extension Toward Mexico Dan W. Jones' Great Exploring Trip The honor of leading Mormon pioneering in south-central Arizona lies with Daniel W. Jones, a sturdy character, strong in the faith. He had been in the Mexican war, in 1847, as a Missouri volunteer, and had remained in Mexico till 1850. In the latter year he started for California, from Santa Fe, and, in the Provo country of Utah, embraced Mormonism within a settlement that had treated him kindly after he had accidentally wounded himself.

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Chapter Nineteen

The Planting of Mesa Transformation of a Desert Plain Though by no means with exclusive population of the faith, Mesa, sixteen miles east of Phoenix and in the Salt River Valley, today includes the largest organization of the Saints within Arizona and is the center of one of the most prosperous Stakes of the Church. It is beautifully located on a broad tableland, from which its Spanish name is derived, and is the center of one of the richest of farming communities. In general, the soil is of the

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Chapter Twenty

First Families of Arizona Pueblo Dwellers of Ancient Times In considering the development features of the settlement of central Arizona, the Author feels it might be interesting to note that the immigrants saw in the Salt River Valley many evidences of the truth of the Book of Mormon, covering the passage northward of the Nephites of old. There was found a broad valley that had lain untouched for a thousand years, unoccupied by Indian or Spaniard till Jack Swilling and his miners dug the first c

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Chapter Twenty-one

Near the Mexican Border Location on the San Pedro River Much historical value attaches to the settlement of the Saints upon the San Pedro River, even though prosperity there has not yet come in as large a degree as has been known elsewhere within the State. It is not improbable that within the next few years an advance in material riches will be known in large degree, through water storage, saving both water and the cutting away of lands through flood, and that permanent diversion works will sav

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Chapter Twenty-two

On the Upper Gila Ancient Dwellers and Military Travelers Possibly as representative a region as is known in the settlement area of the Mormon people lies for about 25 miles along the Gila River in eastern Arizona, in Graham County, and within St. Joseph Stake. Over a dozen communities are contained within this section and all are distinctly Mormon in settlement and local operation, save Solomonville, at the upper end, and Safford, the county seat and principal town. Most of the land is owned by

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Chapter Twenty-three

Civic and Church Features Troublesome River Conditions In the memory of Americans still living, the Gila River through the Safford region, was a relatively narrow stream, over which in places a stone could be tossed. There were occasional lagoons, some of them created by beaver dams—picturesque, but breeding places for mosquitoes and sources of malaria. Camp Goodwin was abandoned because of malarial conditions in 1869-70, troops being transferred to the new post of Camp Ord (Apache). The river s

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Chapter Twenty-four

Movement Into Mexico Looking Over the Land The Mormon settlement of Mexico, as elsewhere told, was a cherished plan of Brigham Young, who saw to the southward a land wherein his Church, its doctrines and influence could find room for expansion. He died while the southern migration started by him still was far short of a Mexican destination, though that country had been explored to an extent by several missionary parties. The first Mormons to enter Mexico were the soldiers of the Mormon Battalion

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Chapter Twenty-five

Modern Development Oases Have Grown in the Desert The Mormons of Arizona today are not to be considered in the same manner as have been their forebears. The older generation came in pilgrimages, wholly within the faith, sent to break the wilderness for generations to come. These pioneers must be considered in connection with their faith, for through that faith and its supporting Church were they sent on their southward journeyings. Thus it happens that "Mormon settlement" was something apart and

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bancroft, Hubert Howe, History of Arizona and New Mexico, History of Nevada, History of California: San Francisco, 1889. Bartlett, John R., Personal Narrative: Appleton, 1854. Beadle, S.H., Western Wilds: Jones Bros., Cincinnati, 1878. Church Chronology, Deseret News, Salt Lake. Church Historian's Office, Mss. data of Arizona Stakes and Wards. Cooke, Col. P. St. George, Conquest of New Mexico and California: Putnam's Sons, New York, 1878. Dellenbaugh, F.S., Breaking the Wildern

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MORMON SETTLEMENT PLACE NAMES

(Capital letters indicate present settlement names) See map of Arizona ADAIR, Fools Hollow—2 1/2 m. w. of Showlow ALGODON, Lebanon—7 m. se. of Thatcher ALMA, Stringtown—about 1 m. w. of Mesa Allen City, Allen Camp, Cumorah, ST. JOSEPH—Little Colorado settlement ALPINE, Frisco, Bush Valley—60 m. se. of St. Johns Apache Springs—at Forest Dale Apache Springs—sw. of Pinetop, Cooley's last ranch Amity and Omer, Union, EAGAR—upper Round Valley Arivaipa Canyon—western route Gila Valley to San Pedro ART

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CHRONOLOGY OF LEADING EVENTS

1846—Feb. 4, Chas. Shumway first to cross Mississippi in exodus from Nauvoo; Feb. 4, "Brooklyn" sailed from New York, with 235 L. D. S.; July 29, arr. San Francisco; July 20, Mormon Battalion left Council Bluffs; Aug. 1, arr. Ft. Leavenworth; 12, left Leavenworth; 23. Col. Allen died; Oct. 9, 1st detachment at Santa Fe; 13, Cooke in command; Sept. 16, families sent to Pueblo; Oct. 19, left Sant Fe; Nov. 21, turned to west; 28, at summit Rockies; Dec. 18, at Tucson; 22, arr. Pima villages. 1847—J

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TRAGEDIES OF THE FRONTIER

It is notable that few were the Mormons who have met untimely death by violence in the Southwest. It is believed that the following brief record is, very nearly, complete: George A. Smith, Jr.—Nov. 2, 1860. Killed by Navajos near Tuba City. Dr. J.M. Whitmore and Robert McIntire—Jan. 8, 1866. Killed by Navajos near Pipe Springs. Elijah Averett—Jan. 1866. Killed by Navajos near Paria Creek. Averett had been with the Capt. James Andrus expedition after the Whitmore-McIntire murderers and had been s

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