History of Utah, 1540-1886, by Hubert Howe Bancroft, , at sacred-texts.com
The Strangites—the Gatherers—Brannan's Followers—the Gladdenites—the Reorganized Church of Latter-Day Saints—Alexander and David Hyrum Smith—the Utah Magazine—Trial of Godbe and Harrison—Success of the Godbeite Movement—the Struggle for Commercial Control—Persecution of Gentile Merchants—Zion's Coöperative Mercantile Institution—Extent of Its Operations—Disastrorous Effect on Gentile Trade—Reaction in Favor of the Reformers.
During the life-time of Joseph Smith there was but one organized secession from the church, though, as we have seen, apostasies were frequent during his later years. If the words of the prophet were not the living truth, then could no faith be placed in Mormonism, for he and none other was regarded as the fountain-head of inspiration. But with his death the source of infallibility was removed, and thus the way was opened for schism and dissension, few of the diverging sects, however, having sufficient faith in their leaders to preserve them from final dissolution. The saints who followed Sidney Rigdon to Pittsburgh in 1844 became gradually scattered among the gentiles, a few of them, with William Marks at their head, afterward rejoining the church. To J. J. Strang, a prominent elder, were vouchsafed, as he claims, numerous revelations that in Wisconsin was the true Zion, and several thousands accompanied him to that state. Strang afterward settled at Beaver Island, in Lake Michigan, where he retained a small
following until the time of his death. Parties also accompanied William Smith, the only surviving brother of the prophet, to northern Illinois, Elder Brewster to western Iowa, Bishop Heddrick to Missouri, and Bishop Cutler to northern Iowa. All of them were soon afterward dissolved, the remnants of Brewster's and Heddrick's disciples forming themselves into a new sect, under the name of the Gatherers, and settling in Jackson county, where they published a weekly periodical, styled the Truthteller. During the year 1846 a large Mormon settlement was made in Texas; and under the leadership of Apostle Lyman Wight the colony prospered and increased rapidly. Until 1852 they acknowledged allegiance to the first presidency, but when the doctrine of polygamy was proclaimed, they separated from the church. After the death of Wright, which occurred a few years later, his flock was scattered. A small portion of the members of most of these sects found their way to Salt Lake City, while others joined the reorganized church, as will be mentioned later, and the remainder cast in their lot with the gentiles.
Of the party that sailed with Brother Sam. Brannan for California, in the Brooklyn, in 1846, about one fourth apostatized; their leader laying the basis of a fine fortune by investing in real estate funds, to a great extent at least, belonging to the Latter-day Saints. 1 Of the Mormon colony, founded, as we have seen, at San Bernardino, in 1851, a considerable number fell into apostasy, though many joined the parent organization, and a few became members of the reorganized church.
In addition to the various sects already mentioned and to be mentioned, numerous parties and individuals
fell away during the migration from Nauvoo, many of the stakes becoming settlements of recusant Mormons, while numbers of the saints settled at Omaha, Nebraska City, and other towns on the Missouri and its tributaries. Some, as I have said, merely remained in the western states to obtain means for their journey to Zion, but of the twenty thousand persons who followed the apostles from Nauvoo, it is probable that nearly one third were eventually absorbed among gentile communities.
In Utah, between 1852 and 1869, four distinct and organized attempts were made to throw off the yoke of Brigham, and establish what the apostates claimed to be a more perfect faith. These were the Gladdenite secession in 1852, the Josephite schism in 1860, the Morrisite movement in 1861, and the Godbe-Harrison schism in 1869.
When the doctrine of polygamy was openly avowed in 1852, some of the saints were sorely offended, and accusing the hierarchy of having fallen from grace in other respects, formed themselves into a new sect, appointing as their leader Gladden Bishop, whence the name of Gladdenites. Together with other recusants, Gladden, who was several times disfellowshipped and readmitted on profession of repentance, had again rejoined the church, 2 but being now disgusted with this new feature in the policy of the church dignitaries, worked with heart and soul against them. Among his followers was one Alfred Smith from St Louis, a man of great tenacity of purpose, and a bitter foe of Brigham, by whom, as he alleged, he had been stripped of his property. For a time the cause flourished, but on Sunday, the 20th of March, 1853, while Smith was holding services in front of the council-house, the gathering, though orderly and peaceable, was dispersed by the city marshal. Another meeting
called for the following sabbath was dispersed, Smith being taken into custody, and detained until he promised to desist. On the same day Brigham spoke a few words concerning the apostates in the tabernacle. The whole matter was regarded of no great consequence by the church; nevertheless it was deemed best to shun the very appearance of evil, and consequently the president gave the people clearly to understand that there must be no more of it. 3 Such warnings from the president of the church were never uttered in vain, and now the days of the Gladdenites were numbered. A few months later most of them set forth for California, the rest recanted, and after the year 1854 we hear no more of this apostasy.
The most successful of the recusant sects was the one established by Joseph Smith, the prophet's son, who, with his brothers Alexander H. and David Hyrum, remained a Nauvoo after the exodus. 4 A few years later the remnants of the Strangites and Cutlerites, being in search of a leader, organized a new church and requested Joseph to become their head. He at first refused, but in 1860, the number of members being then considerably increased by the breaking-up of other parties, he accepted the call as prophet, and began to preach the faith of his father, as he affirmed, in its original purity, repudiating the claims of Brigham and the doctrine of polygamy. The schism spread rapidly throughout Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa, the apostates being termed Josephites by the followers of Brigham, but styling themselves the Reorganized
[paragraph continues] Church of Latter-day Saints. In Utah it was checked by fear of persecution, and not until the summer of 1863 did the movement become pronounced. In July of that year two Josephite missionaries, named E. C. Briggs and Alexander McCord, arrived in Salt Lake City, having crossed the plains, they said, as heralds of the gospel, and calling on Brigham, told him the object of their mission, and asked permission to preach in the tabernacle. This was, of course, refused; 5 nor were they allowed the use of any other public building, whereupon the missionaries visited from house to house, offering up prayers for the inmates, and exhorting them to join the true faith.
At first singly, then by dozens, and afterward by scores, converts were gathered into this fold, and in the spring of 1864 the Josephites in Zion mustered more than three hundred, the number of proselytes elsewhere being at this date between two and three thousand. 6 Persecution followed, as they claimed; and in early summer about one half of the Josephites in Salt Lake City started eastward, so great being the excitement that General Connor ordered a strong escort to accompany them as far as Green River. To those who remained protection was also afforded by the authorities.
The excitement caused by the evangelism of Briggs and McCord was renewed in the summer of 1869, when Alexander H. and David Hyrum Smith arrived at Salt Lake City as advocates of the reformed faith. Their meetings were held at Independence Hall, then the principal public building belonging to the gentiles, and at the first service a vast audience assembled, among the number being several of the wives of Brigham. At first the followers of Brigham trembled
for the supremacy of their leader, and opposition meetings were organized under the management of Joseph F., the son of Hyrum Smith. 7 But the mantle of the prophet had not fallen on his offspring; they were men almost without force of character, of lamb-like placidity, and of hopelessly mediocre ability; not shrewd enough to contend with their opponents, and not violent enough to arouse the populace. They accomplished little for the cause of the reorganized church.
In 1860 the headquarters of the Josephites were established at Plano, Illinois, where, between 1860 and 1875, was published by this sect The True Latter-day Saint's Herald, and where in 1877 their leader still resided, 8 Joseph being at that date president of the church, and Briggs the president of the twelve. A branch was also established at Malad in Idaho; a few of the sect gathered at Kirtland, 9 and the remainder were scattered throughout the states. They rapidly increased, mustering in 1870 not less than twenty thousand in the United States, while in Europe entire churches joined the reformed faith, the name of the sect, and the more conventional morality of its doctrines, being among the causes of its success. 10
While the controversy between the prophet's sons and the prophet's nephew was at its height, an article appeared in the Utah Magazine, a periodical first issued in 1867, and of which elders W. S. Godbe and E. L. T. Harrison were proprietors, wherein appeared the following passage: "If we know the true feeling of our brethren, it is that they never intend Joseph Smith's nor any other man's son to preside over them simply because of their sonship. The principle of heirship has cursed the world for ages, and with our brethren we expect to fight it till, with every other relic of tyranny, it is trodden under foot." While speaking thus boldly, the magazine essayed the part of umpire between the disputants, and otherwise gave sore offence to the church dignitaries. 11 About the same time an article was published urging the development of the mineral resources of Utah, a measure which found no favor with Brigham, for thus would the flood-gates be opened to the gentiles, while the saints might be tempted to worship at the shrine of Mammon, "I want to make a wall so thick and so high around the territory," he once exclaimed in the tabernacle, "that it would be impossible for the gentiles to get over or through it." 12 Finally the elders were summoned before the school of prophets, by
which offenders are examined before being sent for trial by the high council, and though the most serious charge against them was the publication of the article on mineral developments, both Godbe and Harrison were expelled from the church. 13
That the elders should have openly advocated the development of the rich mineral resources of Utah may appear from a gentile standpoint a slight provocation for so extreme a measure; but it should be remembered that from the earliest occupation of the territory mining for the precious metals had been strongly discountenanced by the priesthood. This was in fact a most essential part of the policy in accordance with which the Mormons had sought for seclusion in the vales of Deseret, in order to preserve their liberty and individuality as a religious community. From the day when news arrived of the gold discovery, their leaders had denounced all emigration to California. Gold-seekers were indiscriminately classed as worldlings and apostates, or at least held to be weak in the faith. Nevertheless, the accounts received from members of the Mormon battalion, who had witnessed the discovery and shared in the excitement which followed it, produced a crisis that threatened their very existence as a people, and one which, perhaps, none but the Mormons could have withstood. When, in later years, mineral prospects were disclosed in Utah, and prospecting largely carried on by gentiles, all such efforts were discouraged; for they could result only in drawing into the territory a class of men dangerous to its institutions, and might even seduce from their allegiance the members of the church. Thus in the light of its full history must the policy of the Mormon hierarchy be considered in excluding from its fold this disturbing element.
No attempt was made, however, by either of the elders to excuse this portion of the charges brought against them. Their defence was confined merely to the question of their alleged apostasy, and to the authority
of the priesthood. When their case was handed to the high council, the recusants, instead of pleading their cause, merely read a series of resolutions touching measures of church reform, Godbe denying Brigham's right to enforce obedience, whether in matters secular or spiritual, and Harrison stating that if it was apostasy to differ conscientiously from the priesthood, then he must be considered an apostate. "We claim," they said, "the right of respectfully but freely discussing all measures upon which we are called to act. And if we are cut off from this church for asserting this right, while our standing is dear to us, we will suffer it to be taken from us sooner than resign the liberties of thought and speech to which the gospel entitles us; and against any such expulsion we present our solemn protest before God and angels." It remained only to pass sentence of excommunication, and in due form the elders were delivered over to the buffetings of Satan for a thousand years.
But a few days later there appeared in the Utah Magazine an account of the trial, together with a protest and appeal to the brethren, afterward copied in the New York Herald and other leading journals. "It had been argued," remarked the recusants, "that we must passively and uninquiringly obey the priesthood, because otherwise we could not build up Zion. A nation built up on such a principle could be no Zion. The only glory or beauty there could be in a Zion must result from its being composed of people all of whom acted intelligently in all their operations." Supported as it was by a portion of the wealth and intelligence of Utah, the Walker brothers, the Tullidge brothers, Stenhouse, Lawrence, and Eli B. Kelsey, 14 the reformation gathered weight. On Sunday, the 19th of December, 1869, services were held for the first time by the reformers, in the chapel of the assembly-rooms in the thirteenth ward, and in the
evening at the Masonic hall. 15 Before a dense audience, was sung by the choir the first hymn in the Mormon hymn-book, composed by Parley P. Pratt:
[paragraph continues] Then followed speeches by Godbe, Harrison, and Lawrence, in which the gentiles, who formed one-third of the audience, were assured that the reformation would be continued with a purpose that would swerve not before Brigham and his apostles.
The so-called Godbeite movement, however, though for a time it excited considerable interest in business circles, was a matter of small moment to the church generally, producing little effect on the masses of the members. The movement in its incipiency was the immediate occasion rather than the real cause of Godbe and his adherents leaving the church. No man can consistently be continued a member of any church if he persists in refusing to submit to the final decisions of the church authorities. His arrival at that point of insubordination is almost always the result of a growth of greater or less rapidity, and occupying more or less time in development. Godbeism at first professed to be an attempt to reform and purify the church, in part by the aid of spiritualism, but the reform pretensions were evanescent, quickly fading away, so that for many years nobody has looked upon the movement as a religious one in any respect. In fact with the fleeting religious pretensions the very name of the movement soon died out, and the prominent persons connected with it early manifested a skeptical spirit toward religion of every kind, and directed their energies more completely into channels of business and money-making. "I have been instrumental," writes Godbe in 1884, "in establishing and conducting enterprises that have required an outlay of
[paragraph continues] $1,000 a day for ten years, and have given employment to many hundreds of people." 16
The struggle for the commercial control of Utah began at an early date in its history. Among the Mormons there were few men of business training, and until the advent of the overland railroad made it certain that Salt Lake City would become a commercial centre, the policy of Brigham was to discourage commerce and commercial intercourse. Nevertheless, gentile merchants, by whom traffic was mainly conducted, as late as 1860 were subject to a running fire of ridicule and condemnation directed against them from the tabernacle. The objection to them was twofold: first, the dislike to the presence of gentiles, in whatever capacity; and second, the fact that they absorbed the small amount of floating capital that the brethren possessed. He who should hold traffic with a gentile was considered weak in the faith, but as goods could be purchased from gentile merchants
to advantage, the saints were tempted sometimes to trade with them, and frequently did so, and that without the severe censure on the part of the church, which has been often alleged.
Among those who had transactions with gentile merchants were the Walker Brothers, who in 1868 were among the prominent merchants of Salt Lake City, and had contributed in no small degree to its commercial prosperity. The firm subscribed liberally for all the purposes to which the church funds were applied, but refused to pay tithes or to recognize the right of the church to collect tithing. 17
During this year, and partly with a view to placing the trade of Utah under church control, so far at least as the brethren were concerned, the Zion's Coöperative Mercantile Institution was organized. 18 Aside from such motives, however, there were good reasons for securing to the country the benefits of the cooperative system, for, as we shall see later, the prices of imported commodities were still extravagantly high. 19 To protect the people from these high prices by importing from first hands and in large quantities was the professed, and perhaps the main, purpose of the promoters. After passing through some financial difficulties, the enterprise seems to have obtained a permanent foothold, and is yet a successful competitor with gentile tradesmen, supplying at wholesale many of the settlements in Utah, in addition to its local and retail trade. In 1883 the total sales exceeded $4,000,000, a half-yearly dividend of five per cent being paid in October of that year. At this date the association had a reserve fund of about $125,000, and
a capital of $1,000,000, divided into $100 shares, and distributed among 700 or 800 stockholders. 20 The head of the church continued president of the institution after it was no longer under control of the church, but managed simply on business principles, representing Mormon as against gentile trading interests. 21 Branches were established at Ogden, Logan, 22 and Soda Springs, and, as we shall see later, the coöperative movement spread rapidly throughout the country, though most of these ventures resulted in failure, many of the stores being compelled to close during the commercial panic of 1873.
The first effect of this movement on the trade of gentile merchants was disastrous, the sales of the Walker Brothers, for instance, decreasing in a brief space from $60,000 to $5,000 per month, 23 while those of the Auerbach Brothers fell off in like ratio, 24 these two firms, among others, offering to dispose of their entire property to the directors of the Zion's Coöperatire Institute for fifty cents on the dollar, and leave the territory. 25 The offer was refused. Hence, perhaps, as will presently appear, the rapid development of the mining resources of the country after 1869, toward which purpose several prominent merchants, among them Godbe and the Walker Brothers, applied the remnants of their fortunes. Soon, however, even the Mormons began to disregard the warnings of their leaders against trading with gentiles or apostates. The spell was broken, and during the conference of 1870 the stores of the latter, and especially of the Walker Brothers, were so crowded with purchasers that it was almost impossible for them to serve their patrons. The reformers preached against and wrote against the president, and the better to support their cause, established a newspaper named the Salt Lake Tribune, at first a weekly and afterward a daily publication,
in which the church dignitaries and their policy were severely criticised. Thus of all the apostasies the Godbeite movement, with its attendant incidents, was the most formidable, and wrought more harm in Zion than any which had preceded it, appealing, as it did, to the common sense and the self-interest of the community.
642:1 Beadle, Life in Utah, 404—5, states that Brannon afterward repaid the money with interest, but it would be difficult to make the early Californians believe it. About 45 adults and 65 children of the Brooklyn party remained in California, a few afterward joining Mormon communities at San Bernardino or in Arizona. Nearly 100 adults and some 40 children reached Utah, most of them in 1848-50. See Hist. Cal., v. 544, this series.
643:2 Ferris states that Gladden was cut off and rebaptized nine times. Utah and the Mormons, 326. See also Olshausen, Mormonen, 182.
644:3 Jour. of Disc., i. 82; Deseret News, Apr. 2, 1853; Waite's The Mormon Prophet, 120-1; Beadle's Life in Utah, 408-9; Ferris, Utah and the Mormons, 328-30. Brigham was followed by Parley Pratt, who said that he had known Gladden for 20 years, and had seldom heard his name mentioned, except in connection with some imposition or falsehood in the name of the Lord.
644:4 Beadle says that the prophet left a considerable fortune, mostly in houses and lands at Nauvoo. Life in Utah, 428. Even if this is true, we well know that the houses and lands of the Mormons in Nauvoo were worth little to them when the expulsion came.
645:5 In Waite's The Mormon Prophet, 129, it is stated that Brigham said he would not be responsible for Briggs’ safety if he remained in the city.
645:6 Bowles, Our New West, 268, his work being published in 1869, incorrectly places the entire number at 1,500. In Waite's The Mormon Prophet, 129 (published in 1866), we read: 'In the states, those who have gone back to their first love are to be numbered by thousands.'
646:7 Stenhouse says that debates between the two parties were held in public. Rocky Mountain Saints, 629 (note).
646:8 S. Lake Herald, June 6, 1877.
646:9 Ibid.; McClure's Three Thousand Miles, 435.
646:10 The Josephite creed will be found in Waite's The Mormon Prophet, 130-1; Utah Scraps, 16. It contains the following: 'We believe that the church in Utah, under the presidency of Brigham Young, have apostatized from the true order of the gospel. We believe that the doctrines of polygamy, human sacrifice, or killing men to save them, Adam being God, Utah being Zion, or the gathering place for the saints, are doctrines of devils.' In other respects their creed was almost identical with the Mormon articles of faith. Codman, who attended their services, remarks: 'They use the same religious books in their worship, and argue from them the prohibition of polygamy with as much earnestness as Orson Pratt displays in its advocacy.' The Round Trip, 210.
The second Joseph Smith, junior, was born at Kirtland Nov. 6, 1832. His early life was spent in Missouri and Illinois, whither he went with his parents. F. G. Mather received a letter from him in 1879, saying: 'I am now pretty widely recognized as the leader of that wing of the Mormon church declaring positive Mormonism, but denying and opposing polygamy and Utah Mormonism.' I give herewith a copy of an inscription on one of the pillars of the temple at Kirtland, as reported by Mather, Lippincott's p. 647 Mag., Aug. 1880. 'The Salt Lake Mormons. When Joseph Smith was killed on June 27, 1844, Brigham Young assumed the leadership of the church, telling the people in the winter of 1846 that all the God they wanted was him, and all the bible they wanted was in his heart. He led or drove about two thousand people to Utah in 1847, starting for upper California and landing at Salt Lake, where in 1852 Brigham Young presented the polygamic revelation to the people. The true church remained disorganized till 1860, when Joseph Smith took the leadership or presidency of the church at Amboy, Illinois. We [thirty thousand] have no affiliation with the Mormons whatever. They are to us an apostate people, working all manner of abomination before God and man. We are no part or parcel of them in any sense whatever. Let this be distinctly understood, we are not Mormons. Truth is truth, wherever it is found.' For further particulars as to apostate sects before the year 1869, see S. F. Alta, May 21, 1857, July 3, Aug. 2, 1867; S. F. Bulletin, May 22, 1857, Aug. 10, Nov. 15, 1867; Sacramento Union, Apr. 22, May 20, June 8, Sept. 3, 18, 1857, Dec. 3, 1859, June 28, Aug. 5, 1867.
647:11 In the Deseret News of Nov. 3, 1869, is a notice signed by the members of the first presidency and three other apostles, cautioning the saints against its teachings, and stating that it is unfit for perusal.
647:12 Godbe's Statement, MS., 2.
648:13 Ibid.; Harrison's Crit. Notes on Utah, MS., 48.
649:14 Kelsey, who voted against their expulsion, was also excommunicated. Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints, 640.
650:15 For account of secret, benefit, and benevolent societies in Utah, see Utah Gazetteer, 1884, 218-26.
651:16 Godbe's Statement, MS., 29. For further mention of the Godbe schism and incidents connected with it, see Tullidge's Mag., i. 14-55; Stenhouse's Exposé of Polygamy, 132-45; Dixon's White Conquest, i. 208-12.
William S. Godbe, an Englishman by birth, began his career as a sailor; but after being twice shipwrecked, tired of seafaring life, and while yet a lad, betook himself to America. Having made the acquaintance of several Mormons, and being charmed with the story of their adventures, he decided to cast in his lot with them, and journeyed nearly the whole distance on foot between New York and Salt Lake City, where he arrived in 1851, and found employment with a merchant named Thomas Williams, in a few years becoming himself a leading merchant. Between 1857 and 1884 Mr Godbe crossed the Atlantic 21 times, and the plains over 50 times. After his excommunication from the church, and the consequent loss of his business, finding himself, as he says, $100,000 in debt, whereas a year before he had been worth $100,000, he followed mining as an occupation, and in 1873 organized in London the Chicago Silver Mining Co., one of the few English companies that have proved successful in Utah. Of his ventures in mining, mention will be made later. Of Mr Harrison, he remarks that he is 'a man of unusual mental qualities, of earnest nature, and has an overruling love of truth, honesty, and straightforwardness.'
The Statement of William Godbe, MS., contains, in addition to matter relating to the Godbeite movement and personal memoirs, some valuable information on mining, together with much adverse comment on the Mormon hierarchy, terse and well put, though hurriedly written. 'They don't make many converts in the United States,' he remarks; 'they don't look for them. They make a few in the south, where the condition of things is analagous, more or less, with that which exists in Europe; but they make most of their converts in the latter country.'
652:17 Walker's Merchants and Miners of Utah, MS., 2.
652:18 On the 16th of October. Business was opened March 1, 1869, and the company was incorporated Dec. l, 1870. Zion's Coöp. Merc. Inst., MS., 1. Brigham Young was the principal stockholder, and Geo. Q. Cannon, Geo. A. Smith, Wm Jennings, H. S. Eldredge, and Wm H. Hooper were among the first directors. For constitution, by-laws, form of certificates of stock, and incorporation, see Utah Religious Pamphlets, 9, 10.
652:19 See cap. 28, notes 29 and 31, this vol.
653:20 Deseret Ev. News, Jan. 2, 1884. The main building, on East Temple street, S. L. City, was 318 by 100 ft, the front being of iron, and the roof fireproof. It was furnished with hydraulic elevators, fire and burglar proof vaults, and all modern appliances. Zion's Coöp. Merc. Inst., MS., 1-2. In connection with the institution was a tannery and shoe-factory, in which about 170 hands were employed in 1883.
653:21 Harrison's Crit. Notes on Utah, MS., 58-9. For further mention of the institution and its origin, see Marshall's Through Amer., 176-7; Stenhouse's Englishwoman, 371-3; Townsend's Mormon Trials, 41-2; Tullidge's Mag., 1. 363-8; for cut of buildings, Id., facing p. 385. In connection with it, it may be mentioned that Horace S. Eldredge, who has been connected with the institute from its inception, was appointed president in 1872, and in 1884 was superintendent. Mr Eldredge, a native of New York, arrived in Utah in 1848, after passing through all the tribulations of Far West, Nauvoo, and Winter Quarters. In 1868, being then in partnership with H. B. Clawson, he sold out his stock of goods to the institute.
Hiram B. Clawson, a native of Oneida co., N.Y., was educated at the Utica academy. In 1841, his father being then deceased, and the rest of the family having joined the Mormon church, he moved with them to Nauvoo, and in 1848 to the valley of Great Salt Lake. Though only 22 years of age, he was looked upon as a man of mark, and was employed in superintending the construction of some of the first buildings erected by the church in Salt Lake City. During the Utah war he figured prominently as adjutant-general of the Nauvoo legion, and just before the departure of the troops from Camp Floyd effected a complete reconciliation between the military and the church authorities. Appointed superintendent of Zion's Coöperative Mercantile Institute, in 1873 he was sent east in company with H. S. Eldredge to ask for an extension of credit, in view of the panic then prevailing in commercial circles. He met everywhere with a favorable response, and within eight months the company redeemed its obligations, amounting to $1,100,000. During his management Mr Clawson states that the losses of the institution by bad debts did not exceed a quarter of one per cent. In 1875 he resigned the superintendency, having purchased from the directors the agricultural department of the Z.C.M.I., to which he added a machinery department, furnishing grist and saw mills and steam-engines complete, together with all the different kinds of machines commonly in use throughout the territory. During the earlier part of his career Mr Clawson took a leading part in theatrical affairs, and to him and John T. Caine are largely due the success and prosperity of the Salt Lake theatre. Tullidge's Mag., i. 678-84.
653:22 For 1883 the sales of the Ogden branch were about $800,000, and of the Logan branch, of which Aaron Farr was manager, about $600,000.
654:23 Walker's Merchants and Miners of Utah, MS., 3. Samuel Sharp, Joseph Robinson, David, Frederick, and Matthew Henry Walker were in 1883 the members of this firm. Englishmen by birth, being the sons of a Yorkshire squire, possessed in 1846 of a considerable landed estate, but who, like thousands of others, suffered financial shipwreck during the railroad panic of the following year, they arrived at S. L. City in 1852, at which date there were only five business houses on Main street. They laid the basis of their fortune during the presence of the army at Camp Floyd, soon making their mark among the commercial community, and being classed a few years later among the leading merchants of Utah. After 1869 their attention was chiefly given to mining, in which connection further mention will be made of the firm. Autobiog. of the Walker Bros., MS.
654:24 The Auerbach Bros., a dry-goods firm, state that at this time ruin stared them in the face, and but for the mining developments which followed almost immediately afterward they could not have remained in the territory. Fred. H. and Sam. H. Auerbach, natives of eastern Prussia, came to S. L. City in 1864, after suffering heavy business reverses in Austin, Nev., where they afterward paid their debts in full in gold coin. Their sales for 1885 amounted to about $500,000. Auerback's Edmunds Bill, MS.; Utah Biogr. Sketches, MS., 9-10.
654:25 Harrison's Crit. Notes on Utah, MS., 52; Walker's Merchants and Miners of Utah, MS., 3.