The High Council met on Saturday and listened to a report from a timber
committee, reporting on the number of logs and poles available. The minutes
included: "It was decided that every person be entitled to 600 feet of
plank for each room he builds; Moses Wade privileged to build a room on the
north side of the north wall of the Old Fort. It was decided that every one who
farms out and wishes it be permitted to build cabins out of such logs and poles
as are not fit for timber or other good buildings, may." A committee was
appointed to find a site for "Jordan Bridge" and to determine what
lumber would be needed. Fancis Pullin was given permission to set up a brick
yard outside the city limits.
On Sunday, Wilford Woodruff preached at Phineas Richard's ward. They
met at a school house. After wards he went home with the Richards. Mary
Richards wrote: "We had a very interesting visit with him. He told us a
good deal about what he had seen in London and other parts of England. Before
he left us I [asked] him if he would pray for me. I felt ague would leave me.
This he did and gave me a good blessing, said the angels watched over me and
that I should soon recover and enjoy health."
On Monday Elder Woodruff spent most of the
day reading the words and teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, contained in
pamphlets and letters. Elder Woodruff commented: "Those letters &
writings are of much interest & show the spirit of the times & the
mighty rebuke of wicked men by that great, good, & wise Prophet Joseph. I
was much edifyed in reading it." During the week Elder Woodruff suffered from
a bad headache, so spent the rest of the week reading. He read an account of
the terrible potato famine in Ireland. He learned that 130,000 had died and
there was no end in sight of the misery.
Hyrum Gates started to teach dancing to
nearly three hundred students. Brigham Young remarked the these lessons
"contributed much to the cheerfulness of the community, amid the hardships
and privations to which they were exposed."
Henry W. Bigler wrote on Sunday: "I and one of the men, a Mr.
Barger, went to the creek opposite the sawmill to look for gold where we found
a few dollars worth. We found it in the seams and cracks of the granite rock,
cropping out of the bank near the creek." The men only worked about three
and a half days on the mill because they were distracted by gold fever. Mr.
Marshall let them hunt for it if they gave him half the gold they found. On
Saturday, Henry Bigler told the men that he was going out to hunt ducks. In
reality, he went to hunt for gold in a different place along the creek. Sure
enough, he found about $1.50 worth lying on the bare rocks and seams. He kept
his discovery a secret.
There were still many Saints scattered across Iowa. Noah Packard wrote
to Brigham Young, "There is a number of people in this region of country
that are or have been Latter‑day Saints, but as the saying is, they most
of them lie low and keep dark, some for the sake of popularity join other denominations."
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 17, p.102‑03;
Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 3:316‑17; Harwell, Manuscript History of
Brigham Young, 1847‑1850, 86; Bennett, We'll Find the Place, 316; Ward,
Winter Quarters, 191; Carter, The Mormon Battalion, 48; Bigler, The Gold
Discovery Journal of Azariah Smith, 110
On Tuesday the High Council reviewed reports from the four wards in the
city. There were 188 log buildings, 159 brick buildings, three schoolhouses,
six shops, and 1,349 people. A total of 5,173 acres had been surveyed for
farming. The Council approved a plan for a personal and property tax to be
collected on all those from the age of 18 to 50 years old. The tax would go
toward public works. Reports were heard from the bridge committee regarding
plans for a bridge over Mill Creek.
On Friday, David and Patty Sessions had
dinner at Patriarch John Smith's home. Afterwards he gave patriarch blessings
to the Sessions and to Eliza R. Snow.
On Sunday Wilford Woodruff wrote, "It is the most beautiful &
warm weather that I ever saw in the winter time." Hosea Stout wrote that
it was a "clear, fine, and warm morning." He added that a ferry boat
was seen on the river, as the ice has finally broken.
An outdoor meeting was held at the Winter Quarters
stand for the first time since fall. Elder Heber C. Kimball warned the Saints
that many were leaning on others for their salvation rather than working on it
themselves. Elder Wilford Woodruff warned those who were planning to move
across the river to make sure they did not settle on the banks because of flood
danger.
In the evening a meeting of the Seventies was
held. President Joseph Young reproved the brethren for the excessive fiddling
and dancing that had been taking place lately. Elder Wilford Woodruff followed
him by saying:
I have taken more real enjoyment this evening
in hearing the teaching giving by your presidency than I would in hearing a
million of dollars worth of fiddle‑strings worn out. . . . It is far
better for you to spend your time getting instruction & council than in
fiddling & dancing." Elder Woodruff asked the brethren to think how
they would feel if the Lord appeared to them and asked them to report on their
duties while in Winter Quarters during the winter of 1847‑48. He asked
them to consider their feelings if he heard a report of many days of their time
spent in fiddling and dancing. "I say would we be satisfied with such
record? No we would not. Then let us turn from such scenes of folly & spend
more time in meetings for preaching, exhortation, & prayer before the Lord.
On Friday a meeting was held at the log
tabernacle for the former Mormon Battalion soldiers who had returned. Elder
Orson Pratt presided. Also that day, Elder Orson Hyde returned from the east
with mail that arrived from Europe. The brethren enjoyed reading about Elder
Dan Jones' missionary efforts in Wales. There were 2,000 Saints in Wales.
During the previous six months, 600 people had been baptized there.
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 17, p.103; Wilford
Woodruff's Journal, 3:317‑22; Smart, Mormon Midwife, 108; Brooks, On the
Mormon Frontier, 302;
On Sunday no public meeting was held because of snow and mud. The High
Council decided to have the bishops go around and collect donations of
breadstuff, beef, and money to help the destitute Saints in the valley. The
donations would be credited toward their public works tax. In return, the poor,
who could not pay the tax, would provide labor on the Jordan Bridge and other
public works.
On Monday Lorenzo Dow Young recorded: "A
neighboring child came to the door to get some medicine for Brother Cheny. He
was poisoned by eating roots. In about one hour after he had called to the
door, Brother Cheny was in a fit. We ran to him as soon as possible and he
spoke twice. We carried him to the house and did all we could for him. He lived
about half an hour then died. It was one of the most melancholy scenes I ever
passed through."
On Tuesday Patty Sessions went to the Willard
Snow home. Franklin H. Shedd, age twenty‑three, who had been living with
the family was very sick. He too had eaten some poison roots and later died in
the afternoon. On Wednesday Jedediah M. Grant preached at the funeral. Eliza R.
Snow penned a poem which included:
The angel of death with a sudden blow
In the season of youth has laid him low
In a time when the heart's warm springs were
rife
With the hopes & the prospects of future
life
With the saints of God he was truly blest
And with them he had found a place of rest;
And then from the hand of oppression free
He sung the sweet echo of Liberty
Now his form is laid in the grave to rest;
While his spirit returns to the home of the
blest
And from thence to the spirits in prison sent
With salvation's tidings as Jesus went.
Therefore dry your tears & weep no more
For with him the toils of this life are o'er
In the regeneration he will come
Cloth'd with glory, pow'r & immortal
bloom.
On Wednesday, the weather turned bitter cold ‑‑
the coldest yet experienced in the valley by the Saints. On Saturday William
Hickenlooper was ordained a bishop in place of the late Jacob Foutz. The city
marshal was instructed by the High Council to send eight or ten men to Utah
Valley. They were to visit with the Indians and investigate reports that the
Indians had been driving off cattle and horses.
On Wednesday, as the Twelve were conducting business at Willard
Richards' office, Brother Brown came in and requested that one of them preach
at his daughter's funeral service. Brigham Young and Wilford Woodruff went to
the home. Brigham Young spoke at the service and said that it was better to go
to a house of mourning than a house of feasting because it turned one's mind to
the plan of salvation. He said, "We mourn for the loss of our friends when
they die but if they die in the Lord they are better off than the living for
they have gained one victory which the living have not. They are beyond the
reach of pain, sorrow, wicked men, devils, and devilish spirits." He
commented that more than four hundred Saints had been buried in Winter Quarters
thus far.
He spoke of the Savior, who redeemed man from
eternal death, and whose resurrection made it possible for all to receive an
immortal body. He said that the Saints had suffered much because of poverty,
persecution, and mobbing. If it was in his power, he would have stopped it, but
he said: "It is for our good & will finally prove for our exaltation
& glory in the eternal world & gives us experience in this life which
we otherwise should not have had."
He said: "No person can have power to
raise the dead [in resurrection] except he holds the keys of the resurrection
& no man can hold the keys of the resurrection or be ordained unto that
power until he has died & been raised from the dead himself." He taught
that Adam held these keys. After men were raised from the dead, they would be
ordained by Adam or others holding authority with they keys of resurrection.
"When we consider how little time we
have to spend in this life in comparison to eternity we ought not to consider
it a hard matter to be faithful to God & keep his commandments for when we
obtain Celestial glory we shall have to exclaim that it is through the grace of
God after all, for the glory far exceeds our suffering in this life."
The ship "Carnatie" sailed from Liverpool with 120 Saints.
This was the first emigration ship to sail since the exodus began from Nauvoo.
Franklin D. Richards presided over the Saints. His brother, Samuel W. Richards
was also on board.
Henry Bigler wrote on Tuesday: "All hands came very near leaving
off work to turn our attention to hunting gold, but on thinking it over we
thought it a pity to do so before the mill was completed and another thing we
thought of was the uncertainty of doing any better than we were doing, for we
were getting fair wages and we believed our pay was sure while if we let off
work we might lose more in the long run than we would make."
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 17, p.104; Smart,
Mormon Midwife, 108‑09; Beecher, The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy
Snow, 217‑18; Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 3:322‑26; Harwell,
Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 1847‑1850, 88; Bennett, We'll Find
the Place, 344‑45; Carter, The Mormon Battalion, 48
On Sunday, tragedy struck at one of the saw mills. A log was put in
motion by some Indians. It rolled over and killed a little five‑year‑old
boy by the name of John Oakey.
Several of the brethren desired to return to
Winter Quarters for their families. The season still was very early but the
High Council granted permission to Levi Hancock and others to "start at
their discretion." Andrew Russell was granted permission to build a frame
for a cording machine on Mill Creek.
During the week, Wilford Woodruff crossed the river into Iowa, and then
traveled about fifty miles south to Fort Kearny. [This was not the fort that
would later also be called Kearny, which was about 200 miles to the west, in
Nebraska. That fort would be established later in the spring. This fort,
"Old Fort Kearny" was located at the mouth of Table Creek, near
present‑day Nebraska City, Nebraska.]
Elder Woodruff traveled to the fort with
Brother Robert Petty. He was introduced to the officers at the fort and then
dined with Brother Albert Petty, who was the fort's blacksmith. On Thursday,
Elder Woodruff wrote: "This is the most tedious stormy day we have had
this winter. The air was filled with snow through the day. I spent the day
reading the life of Benjamin Franklin." He returned to Winter Quarters
ferry on Saturday. The river had frozen over but was not thick enough to drive
his team across. He left his team in Iowa and crossed over the ice on foot.
When he returned home, his family celebrated the birthday of his six‑year‑old
daughter, Phebe Amelia.
On Sunday, Oliver Cowdery, one of the Three Witnesses, wrote a letter
to Brigham Young. Oliver Cowdery corresponded regularly with Brigham's brother,
Phineas, who was also Oliver's brother‑in‑law. Oliver wrote:
"I have thought that if circumstances would permit I would visit you in
the early part of the spring say as soon as the 6th of April, if possible. This
will give me an opportunity of seeing my valuable old friends, and time too of
conversing upon interesting subjects. . . . Brother Phineas informs me that you
talk of going into the [Salt Lake] valley this summer." Oliver Cowdery
mentioned that he had invited David Whitmer (another witness) to also travel to
Winter Quarters for the anticipated Church conference. [Oliver Cowdery soon
became ill and was unable to travel to Winter Quarters at that time. He did
make the journey in the fall as was rebaptized in November, 1848.]
Oliver Cowdery understood that the First
Presidency had been reorganized and that there were vacancies in the Quorum of
the Twelve. He encouraged Brigham Young to call Phinehas to serve in the
quorum. He mentioned that when the Three Witnesses chose the original Twelve,
that they had wanted to appoint Phineas to the quorum, but that Joseph Smith
urged them to instead select his brother, William Smith. "The time has now
come when Brother Phineas can occupy the place where he ought to have been from
the first." [The vacancies were later filled in February, 1849, but
Phinehas was not called into the quorum. He later did serve as a bishop.]
Sutter's Mill, California:
On Sunday evening, three former Mormon
Battalion soldiers arrived at Sutter's Mill. They were Sidney Willis, Wilford
Hudson, and Levi Fifield. Henry Bigler had written a confidential letter to his
former mess‑mates, sharing with them the exciting news of the discovery
of gold. He cautioned them to keep the news a secret. These brethren had
decided to travel to the mill and see for themselves. Mr. Marshall granted
permission for these men to do a little prospecting. On the following morning,
they found a nugget worth about six dollars. After visiting for a couple days,
the men left. On their travels, they discovered gold at a place that later
became known as Mormon Island.
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 17, p.104;
Beecher, The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow, 220; Smart, Mormon Midwife,
109; Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 3:327; Stanley R. Gunn, Oliver Cowdery: Second
Elder and Scribe, 268; Carter, The Mormon Battalion, 48‑9