--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Kimball, Solomon F. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 14 number: 5 published: 1911-03 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Solomon F. Kimball, "President Brigham Young’s Excursion Party. III," *Improvement Era* 14, no. 5 (March 1911): 415–420.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1405unse 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: improvementera1405unse start_page: 415 end_page: 420 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1911-03) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1405unse publication_year: 1911 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 1911, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # President Brigham Young’s Excursion Party. III PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG'S EXCURSION PARTY. 417 ELIZA R. SNOW. one could imagine. No matter what the conditions were, he was ever equal to the occasion, and his fellow-travelers almost idol- ized him. He always planned his trips before leaving home, and determined the day and almost the hour that he would visit each settlement. He then sent runners ahead on horseback to notify the Saints of his coming. He never failed 1 1 keep his appointments, even if he had to drive all night to do it. In times of peace he always led the way, while others followed in their order, according to the positions they held in the Church. At 1:30 p. m. the party started on its down hill journey, reaching Toquerville in time for a late supper. When the com- pany were seated at the table, President Young noticed that the teamsters were not present, to which he took exception. He always insisted upon the drivers eating at the first table, and often said, "They do the work while we play." The next day the party drove to Kanarra for dinner, and arrived at Cedar City at 5 p. m. A meeting was held in the evening, and President Young occupied all the time. A synopsis of his remarks, as reported by Apostle Wilford Woodruff, is here published for the first time: Dear Brethren and Sisters: This is the first time I have had an opportunity to speak to you in public, this season. It is a great com- fort to visit the Saints. It seems that we must learn more rapidly than we do. We have a warfare to combat, as evil is in the world. All have sinned, and we should have patience with each other. It should be our delight to do the will of God; but to learn to do it takes time. Where is the man who feels that God reigns within him who fears for a moment that we will not be victorious, and that we shall not do the will of God? All such have confidence in God when the Spirit of God reigns within them. When we turn to our farms, our merchandise and our temporal affairs, we some- times neglect our spiritual duties. Then we feel differently; we lose the VII. ATE M. KIMBALL. 418 IMPRO VEMENT ERA . A MILTON MUSSEK. Spirit of God and forget. We must take the things of the world as we find them, and not make a bad use of them, but learn to acknowledge the hand of the Lord in all things. The people are trying to live their re- ligion, and when they are devoted to God they will have peace within, as well as without. We will feel to say, "I have given all to God's cause." If in our day we are called to do something that goes against our feelings, and we feel that we cannot do it, yet if we go ahead and do what is required of us by the Lord, we will always find a blessing attending it. We believe that this is the Church and kingdom of God, and that Joseph Smith was his prophet. Those who follow the kingdom of God feel well, and have a testimony that we are led by God's power. What if I were to ask you to give deeds of all your property to the trustee-in-trust for the use of the Church, don't you think that there would be an enquir- ing? I think there would. That would try the people, and we would know what we are made of. I know that you send your teams across the plains to bring the poor to this place, but this does not take all you have. One poor brother sent his only yoke of oxen for the poor, and he gathered more volunteer wheat than he would have gathered had he cultivated the land. There is no mother who has more care for her chil- dren than the Lord has for this people, nor half as much. The Lord observes every hair thai falls from our heads. Our children do not see. the light they are walking in. I know that our children are way- ward and do not appreciate the light they enjoy. I will give you a comparison: If you had lived in the light of the sun all your days what would you think of darkness? Nothing! Neither would any man who was born blind have any conception of light or darkness. A blind man was once asked what he considered color to be. He said that red, he thought, was like the sound of a drum. So our children do not know much about the light they are walking in. They walk in the light of revelation from heaven, but they do not realize it. They do not know the contrast, for they THOMAS JENKINS. PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG'S EXCURSION PARTY. 419 WILLARD RICHARDS. have not been in the darkness. Many men will embrace the gospel, go on missions, labor for years in the kingdom of God, and then fall over some little temptation or trial. We should live so that we may walk in the light of God, and know what to do. This is his work, and he is gathering his people together, and building up Zion, and doing a good work. How do I know this? By the revelation of Jesus Christ, and by no other way. Let the minds of men be opened to see the things of God, and it is a feast to them. What a con- sola' ion it is to know the destinies of the na- tions of the earth! Our children know more lhan all the world combined, because they can tell the world what awaits them. . . If a stranger were to ask our children what would be the consequences if our people were driven from here, what would they say? They would say, "You could not live here — the Indi- ans would kill you. They would destroy your vegetation, and you would starve to death." I might say that it is hard for the Saints of God to live here, but the Lord has made it so that the wicked will not remain here. Thomas S. Williams, the merchant, once said "the Lord would fav- or those who had the biggest guns and the most amunitiun." We have seen what respect the Lord has for big guns and plenty of amu- nitim, right in our own nation. Joseph the Prophet said the Lord would give the people of Missouri all the mobbing they wanted. Is it not so? Men have been sent to the territory to find gold and riches in these mountains, but they will not find them until the right time c-mes. I told them so. I have heard some of them say that they have tried to find it, but they were not successful. Messrs. Box and Shirtz are try- ing to find gold mines, but they will not find them. They are employed by the soldiers. I am sorry that Mr. bhirtz is acting so foolishly The people of no new country will prosper who depend upon gold mines for their support. If we want riches, let us secure unto ourselves eternal life, then shall we be rich. The Lord holds the riches of the earth in his hands, and will give them to whom he MARY E. KIMBALL. pleases. Then let us seek for wisdom. May the Lord bless you. Amen. When President Young was re- turning home after being absent for some time, as the saying goes, "he never allowed the grass to grow under his horses' heels," nor lost any time listening to long, dry yarns. Fifty miles a day over a dusty road was no unusual day's travel, and sometimes he drove as many as sixty HEBER P. KIMBALL. or seventy miles in that length of time. Out of fifteen carriage loads of excursionists who left Salt Lake City, on the first of the month, there were only three who returned with the same animals that they had when they started. They were Lewis S. Hills, Willard Richards and the writer. Following is an extract from Mr. Hill's journal, September 22: President Young's party left Cedar City at 5:30 a. m. Watered animals at Antelope Springs. Stopped to feed teams five miles beyond. Reached Beaver at 5:30 p.m. Traveled fifty-seven miles. One of President Young's and both of Brother Musser's horses died. September 23, left Beaver 5:45 a. m., Cove Creek, 12 m. Ar- rived at Corn Creek at 5:15 p. m. Traveled forty-six miles over a rough, rolling country. On the ridge northwest of Cove Creek met Colonel Heber P. Kimball and Captain Nelson A. Empey, direct from Salt Lake, with im- portant news concerning Indian troubles. One of Oscar Young's horses died. NELSON A. EMPEY LE ORAND YOUNG. The purport of the message to Presi- dent Young was that a band of friendly PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG'S EXCURSION PARTY. 421 Indians living in Uintah valley, had sent runners to Salt Lake City, notifying the authorities there that a band of renegade Ute Indians were laying plans to attack from ambush the president's party, as it passed through what they termed their country. This startling news afterwards proved to be the dis- tant rumblings of what was later known as the ''Black Hawk War," which cost the citizens of Utah not jm0f^j^^ less that $1,500,000, besides the loss ^^F ' jjm Wb*._ °^ rnany lives- mmf Jm The next day the company drove ' ifl to Round Valley, now known as Scipio. On the way they met LeGrand Young and George W. Thatcher, who had accompanied the Kimball party as far as Fillmore. By this time the "Min- ute Men," who were really a part of the territorial mili- tia, were pretty well aroused, and there was "something doing" from that on until the president's party reached home. (The April Era will contain the closing article of this series, includ- ing President Young's epitome of the trip, written by George D. Watts.) GEOBGE \V. THATCHER. Undertones. (For the Improvement Era.) I sometimes think that in some future hour, Those whom we loved, and who have passed away, Or who have turned from us in anger, may Come to us gladly, and in all the power Of love, give us their hearts. How sweet the day When those dear loved ones clasp us by the hand, And, mourning for past sorrows, gently say, "I understand — at last, I understand!" So we, who through the dark unceasingly Have raised our doubt-dimmed voices in complaint And questioning, as waves along the strand, May humbly creep unto the Master's knee, And weeping our past blindness, whisper faint, "I understand — ah, now I understand!" H. J. O'Brien. Chicago, III. The Crown of Individuality.* BY WILLIAM GEORGE JORDAN. XV. — When We Forget the Equity. Life simplifies wonderfully if we stand on a truer base of interpretation. We lose much of the real joy of living because of our one-sided view. We accuse Nature of playing favorites. We imagine she is giving us all the hard benches, and to others, seem- ingly, reserved seats of preferred positions with an unnecessary supply of easy cushions. We may think Nature strews the path of one with roses while working overtime in collecting thorns for us. It seems she sends us the great, real sorrows and hands our neighbors across the street only an occasional bon-bon trouble put up in a perfumed, beribboned box. We forget we know only part of their trial or sorrow— never all. We forget while we know all our troubles, we do not recog- nize all the good we might enjoy if we would— the unnoted things dear in our lives that should greatly lessen our pain. We forget the equity. In business the equity is the net value of a house or other property over all mortgages or claims against it. There is an equity in your favor, on a bookkeeping account, if what is owed you is more than what you owe. Two men may have all their possessions in the separate own- ership of two houses. The one who has a three thousand dollar house free from debt may envy the owner of the ten thousand house next door, unknowing it is covered by an eight thousand dollar mortgage, leaving this man's equity at two thousand dol- * Prom The Crown of Individuality. Copyright, 1909, by Fleming H. Revell Company.