--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Horner, John M. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 8 number: 1 published: 1904-11 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'John M. Horner, "Looking Back," *Improvement Era* 8, no. 1 (November 1904): 29–34.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0801unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0801unse start_page: 29 end_page: 34 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1904-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0801unse publication_year: 1904 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1904, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Looking Back — LOOKING BACK. BY HON. JOHN M. HORNER. [Hon. John M. Horner, of Hawaii, who gave an interesting sketch of his career in the last volume of the Era, has supplied the editors with two papers, under the above heading. The advice given in them differs from the usual "success" advice in that the author speaks from personal knowledge. What he says, therefore, is of special significance, both in the way of inspiration and history, and will be read by the present generation with deep interest. Editors.] I. Every message sent from the Great Father to earth, for the good of man, since the days of Enoch, has at first been rejected, and its bearer persecuted and perhaps slain. It is so with all truth. The gospel message, sent through Joseph Smith to the children of men in these last days, is no exception. As soon as the Prophet delivered the message, persecution commenced, his life was sought, and they finally closed his mission on earth by murdering him. Many of his followers have shared the same fate, and whole communities of Saints were driven from pillar to post, from Ohio to Missouri, and there, from county to county,and from that state, into Illinois, from there, to the Mountains. Go they must; hundreds fell by the way, through exposure during inclement seasons, in fact, were indirectly murdered by the mob. Never until they arrived at Salt Lake were they permitted to remain long enough in one place to show what a blessing Heaven intended them to be to man. When they were forced out upon the plains, their enemies 30 IMPROVEMENT ERA. hoped that they had bidden them goodby forever, and one wise Congressman was reported to have suggested that the govern- ment enlist five hundred or six hundred of their ablest men and send them overland to California. But this would-be-wise man did not know the mind and purposes of the Almighty, who was on the eve of waking up the world in a manner he dreamed not of, and who was about to use the despised "Mormons" as his honored agents to perform the work. He has made, and will make the Latter-day Saints great in performing his work, which will attract t he wonder, amazement, and even admiration of the world. God is rapidly bringing- it about. You don't see it? Listen. He surely awoke the world when he caused the discovery of gold in California, and used the "Mormons" as his principal agents in discovering it. How was that? Brigham Young was the leader of the "Mormon" people — the mouthpiece of God to them. He counseled the eastern Saints to charter a ship and go to California, there make a settlement, and cultivate the soil. They went as directed — this writer was one of them. President Young directed the captain of our company —Mr. Samuel Brannan—to come east in 1847, to meet a company of Saints that would be coming west that year searching for a place to settle. Mr. Brannan went, and met President Young and company near Salt Lake. Before this. President Young had directed his people to leave Nauvoo and flee to the mountains. They left. The Prophet Joseph had told them, some time before his martyrdom, that they would be driven to the mountains, where they should become a mighty people. When they got out on the plains, a government recruiting officer came to them and requested a company of at least five hundred of their able-bodied men, to go to California, to assist in the war with Mexico. President Young listened, then said, "You shall have them." The number asked for were gathered, and marched to California, and were there discharged. "Yes," says the objector, "that was creditable and very patriotic, but what had that to do with the discovery of gold in Cali- fornia?" President Young and Mr. Brannan were on the overland trail. Before Mr. Brannan left on his return to California, President Young said to him. If you meet the Battalion boys, tell them none must come home, except they bring enough food to last LOOKING BACK. 31 them eight months," or words to that effect. Mr. Brannan met the boys on the mountains, and delivered them President to Young's message. The boys counseled what best to do, and decided that those having families, or important duties urging them forward, should go. This counsel was carried out, and those who returned to California applied to Captain Sutter, then living in his fort, where Sacramento City is now located, for employment. Jhe captain had no money; he had plenty of land, and the American river ran through it. The boys informed the captain that their needs were not money, but flour and other food to carry to their relatives and friends in the mountains for the coming year. Sutter said, "If you sow and harvest a crop of wheat, and build a mill to manufacture the wheat into flour, I will pay you for your labor in flour and ponies, after the wheat is ground next year." A bargain was made. Sutter to furnish the land, seed, farming tools, teams, etc., necessary for plowing the land and sowing the wheat; also tools and teams necessary for getting the logs out of the mountains, out of which to saw the lumber for building the mill and digging the mill race, etc, Mr. Sutter was to board the boys while they were doing the work. The wheat was sown, the mill frame was up, and the mill race dug. / saw them. The wheat was growing. The first water let through the race washed away the loose earth, and left the shining, yellow flakes of gold exposed in the bottom of the race, to which the boys directed the superintendent Mr. Marshall's attention. Thus it may be seen that the "Mormons" performed the physical labor that discovered the gold of California to the world, and there are many living witnesses that can testify to the awakening of the world by its discovery. Not only the continent of America, but the nations of Europe, Asia, Africa and the islands of the sea. The scramble for the precious metals was not in California nor the United States only, but wherever they have since been discovered. It has made the nations and their people more •enterprising, and better acquainted with other nations and their people. If the Battalion boys had not been sent to California, how long would the discovery of gold in California have been delayed? That 32 IMPROVEMENT ERA. is a question difficult to answer, as all the great events and discoveries of the precious metals that followed, in consequence of this first discovery, must likewise have been delayed. The Battalion boys and ship Brooklyn "Mormons," were sent to California by President Young, and by their labors gold was discovered. A great awakening in the world was the result. California soon grew into a noted state, as a result of the discovery, I was the only one of the Brooklyn passengers who went into the farming business to stay; after my success, others took hold. Had my crop of 1849 failed, California, no doubt, must have been at least one year longer supplying itself with vegetables, particularly potatoes, as I had all the potatoes that were raised in the territory that year. Had my farming venture failed this year, as ithad the two previous years, there would have been no seed for planting in 1850; or had I not been in the territory, how long would it have been before some one would have ventured into the business, are problems difficult to answer. I had been at the business four years before any other person; two were failures, and two successes. After our second crop was produced, others began in the business in a small way. Our third crop wrought wonderful changes in the minds of some. Mechanics, sea captains, lav/yers, college professors and other classes, went into the farming business. But only few of them succeeded. Despise not the day of small things. No one depending solely upon himself and the Great Father for success should despise or shun the day of small things, but "strike out unaided, depend on no other." "Strike and keep striking till you hit the right spot." "Perseverance captures the game." I always endeavored to keep myself employed; when I could not do so, I worked for others. Upon my first visit to Nauvoo, I had a little money, I paid my tithing, and, not finding work elsewhere, I labored at the stone quarry where rock was being quarried for the Temple. I wanted to show I was anxious to be employed. I had some money with me but preferred to work and keep it, than to do nothing and get short. I soon found all the labor I wanted, and in the end, I received four dollars per day. To show the importance of looking after and husbanding small things, I will relate this fact: In the summer of 1845, I was. LOOKING BACK. 33 boarding with my father, and teaching a district school. In his corn field were sharp corners, and crooks in his fence, leaving a few square feet of land, here and there, which he could not cultivate with his teams. He consented that myself and brother might dig it up and plant potatoes in it for ourselves, which work we did mornings and evenings, so as not to interfere with our daily duties. We did not anticipate much of an income from what we were then doing; but it was exercise, and a good lesson for us. It was the first timewe had ever attempted to produce wealth from the elements, working under our own dictation. Little did we think that eight years from that time, we would have raised and sold for gold coin over one million dollar's worth of potatoes, in a strange country, three thousand miles away. Producing wealth from the elements has been our occupation since, and several millions of wealth, besides the one referred to above, has been produced under our superintendence. One hundred and fifty men was about the extreme number employed by us at any one time in California; here in Hawaii, the average has been double that number. The point I wish to make is, we raised some potatoes along our fath- er's fence, dug and buried them to protect them from the winter's frost. They were yet under the frozen ground in January, 1846, when I was ready to start for California. I sold my share of them for five dollars. When I got to New York, I added two dollars to the five and bought a Colt's six-shooter pistol. I was told, "yo^ are going to a country occupied by savage beasts, and still more savage men, so you must go armed to protect yourself." When I arrived in California, it was in the throes of a revolution. A war was raging between the United States and MexicoI carried my rifle and pistol wherever I went prospecting, but see- ing no one whom I wanted to shoot and no one who wished to shoot me, I concluded my pistol was useless and traded it to a Spaniard for a yoke of oxen, the first animals I ever owned; with them I plowed for my first crop of vegetables in California. From this small beginning grew the large business referred to. Five dollars worth of potatoes in New Jersey was a small capital for starting a large farming business in California, but it had its efi'ect: it helped me to a yoke of oxen. If I had idled away my mornings and evenings, I would have had no potatoes: no potatoes, no five 34 IMPROVEMENT ERA. dollars; no five dollars, no pistol; no pistol, no oxen: no oxen, no plowing and experimenting in 1847 and '48, and perhaps the foundation would never have been laid for the large business I afterwards built up. A young man starting out to hew for himself a character and his way in the world without assistance from friend, or ready money, must not despise the day of small things. Small remuneration he must be willing to accept, or even no remuneration at all, until better opportunities present themselves; he should be humble enough to pick up, earn and save the pennies. These are his school days; the doing things in a small way may be the means of qualifying him for handling a large business,if it ever presents itself. The valuable superintendent is the one who understands and works up the details of the business, for if the details are neglected success is uncertain. Had I not saved my small earnings, and endeavored to earn more, it is doubtful that I ever would have been able to prospect in the West, or to pay my way to California. After I got to California, had I been unwilling, or from lack of the necessary qualifications unable, to handle the plow and guide the team myself, and work on alone, under disadvantages and discouragements, I might then have been away from home when fortune knocked; but I was there, ready when she knocked, took hold at her bidding, and went my way rejoicing. After my first success, others followed my plows, worked my teams, planted, harvested and marketed my crops, made my irrigation and draining ditches, built my buildings, fences, etc., as I directed. My business was large, but I never employed a superintendent. I kept hold of my business, bossed it, and, in fact, was abso- lute monarch. During my first year's struggles, I worked with my head and hands against great odds; but it was this struggle that made possible my after achievements which, as elsewhere stated, proved, perhaps, the most prosperous farming venture, from so small a beginning, in so short a time, ever known in the United States, up to that time. It must be remembered that the wealth referred to above was all produced from the elements, by subduing the earth and making it yield up its treasures to us. This may encourage some young men, who are compelled to work their own way in the world, not