--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Snow, Moroni collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 15 number: 6 published: 1912-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Snow, Moroni, "From Nauvoo to Salt Lake XIV," *Improvement Era* 15, no. 6 (April 1912): 548–554.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1506unse 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: improvementera1506unse start_page: 548 end_page: 554 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1912-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1506unse publication_year: 1912 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 1912, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # From Nauvoo to Salt Lake XIV The Passing of the Home BY WILLIAM HALLS, AUTHOR OF "SELECT WRITINGS' As time rolls on and new conditions arise many old customs pass away. A generation ago most of the tools used on the farm were made in the home village, most of the clothing worn was made in the home, and most of the food was raised on the home farm and prepared at home. The schools were sustained by voluntary subscriptions. Now most of the tools used and the clothing worn are made, and much of the food is prepared, away from home. The school is controlled by the state and the attendance is compulsory. When the children are about four years old they go to the kindergarten next comes the graded school to which ; the parents must send them, so many hours a day, so many days a week, and in the evening, after the closing of the school proper, there are gymnasiums in which they exercise during "chores time." After supper they are off to the picture show or some amusement until bed time. The high school comes next, which takes them away still more and next, the college, which takes ; them from home entirely until they have passed their majority, and in many cases lost all interest in home. The modern boy, instead of learning to work on the farm, care for the stock, and milk the cows at home, is in college studying agriculture, animal husbandry, and dairying; and the girl,instead of learning cooking, sewing, and house work, at home, is in school studying art and domestic science. When a boy becomes unruly, he is taken from home to the reform school. The blind are sent to the school for the blind the ; deaf, to the school for the deaf; and the sick, to the hospital. The trend of the times is from the home to public institutions. At this rate, it may not be long until as soon as a child is weaned it will be taken from its home and cared for and educated by the state. Whether the passing of the home is good or bad is not the question. It is a fact. The question is how to meet it. THE PASSING OF THE HOME 549 This is a matter of great importance to the Saints. The Bible and all sacred literature are excluded from the state institutions, and all religious teaching and exercise are strictly forbidden. But instead of leaving religion entirely alone to stand or fall on its merits, some of the professors seem to go out of their way to destroy the faith the students may have received at home. In ignorance of the government of God, they classify all spiritual phenomena as supernatural, inconsistent, and contrary to known laws. All faith in a personal God, the efficacy of prayer, the divinity of Christ, a literal resurrection, and an active Providence in the individual lives of mankind, are declared superstition. They treat these subjects with a keen, sarcastic ridicule which fills the young people with contempt for the faith of their parents. When the Lord opened this dispensation, restored the Priesthood, and set in operation those uplifting influences that lead to life,Satan commenced to put in operation those agencies that lead to death. "There is a way that seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof is death." The means of self-indulgence and the allurements to sin are increasing on every hand. To meet this condition the Lord inspired his servants to organize the Priesthood quorums, the Church schools, Sunday schools and Improvement associations and other auxiliary organizations, and surely there is work for all to guard against the evils confronting us. It is not barbarous persecution, nor mob violence, that are to be feared. The battle is rather on social, intellectual, and spiritual lines. It is not a placid trust in Providence, nor an enthusiastic fanaticism, that are required, but an intelligent obedience to all the commandments of God, and a strict application of themeans provided, that will enable the Saints to save themselves and their children to the faith of their homes, and from the snares of the enemy. The conservation of the home is one of the great problems for the Saints to solve. It should be the ambition of every young man and young woman, at the proper age, not only to marry and rear a family, in the order of the everlasting covenant, but also to acquire a clear title to some real estate on which to build a home. Next to the blessings of the Priesthood and a family, is a home in a stake of Zion, where there is an organized ward, with there all the advantages of the institutions of the Church. In this is safety. Those who neglect to marry, to rear families, and to 550 IMPROVEMENT ERA establish their homes in Zion, may find, when too late, that they have wasted their lives, that "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and they are not saved." "Many shall come from the cast and the west, the north and the south, and sit down v/ith Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the Kingdom of Heaven, while the children of the kingdom are cast out." The Church is so perfectly organized that, as in the past so in the future, means will be provided, as conditions arise, for the humble, watchful, prayerful Saints to escape these evils, to save their children to the faith and the home, and be prepared for the coming of the Lord. Mancos, Colorado. Elder Howard P. Price, writing from Oakley, Idaho, incloses a group picture of the elders laboring in the Ea3t Kansas and St. John's conferences, Central States mission, taken while the elders were in Topeka attending conference and listening to the Taberacle choir. Kansas is a good field for the gospel message, and the truth is spreadingly rapidly in that section of the country. The elders have a very intelligent class of people to labor among, and the results are therefore gocd. A number of those who are shown in the picture have returned. The names of the elders are: Top row, left to right: William V. Lay, Escalante; C. P. Humphreys, Coyote, Utah; Elder Free; Daniel G. Marshall, Lyman, Wyoming; Ray S. Harding, Knightville, Utah; Joseph W. Greenhalgh, Safford, Arizona; Harold J. Marton. Rexburg, Idaho; Glen Allen, Hyrum, Utah. Second row: Chauncey Sandberg, St. George; William H. Duffin, Provo; John Denny, Sandy, Utah: John F. Miller, St. Anthony, Idaho; Edward Barrett, North Ogden; Horace Holly, Ogden, R. D.; James E. Manning, Farmington, LTtah. Third row: Howard P. Price, Oakley, Idaho; A. D. Livingston Manti; Ross P. Gelispie, Tooele; William Corbet, president, East Kansas; Lewis J. Bowers, Salt Lake City; President Webb, Kansas and St. John's; Thomas D. Levitt, Bunkerville, Nevada; Orville C. Day, American Fork; Lewis S. Dunyon, Draper, Utah. : From Nauvoo to Salt Lake in the Van of the Pioneers The Origiual Diary of Erastus Snow EDITED BY HIS SON, MORONI SNOW XIV. In the last number it was stated the pioneers had decided to build a fort on one of the public squares. The Journal continues Monday, August 2. Elders E. T. Benson, O. P. Rockwood and others were dispatched with horses and pack mules to meet the Saints who were expected on our track, and to return with our mail from them, if possible, before we left the valley to return, in order to ascertain who are on the way and with what quantity of stores and provisions, that we may better determine who shall tarry and who shall return. Brother Henry Sherwood commenced surveying the city, or its general lines, and the public square in the southwest quarter of the city was selected for the fortress. This week I was detailed to take charge of herding all our stock, and seven men were selected for herdsmen others were set to ; watering fields and sowing our turnips, etc. Others were to get out timber for log houses, and a strong company was organized to make adobes. To those unacquainted with these kind of buildings, I will say that they are very common in New Mexico and other sparsely timbered countries. Adobes are bricks made of gravel and soil and dried hard in the sun instead of being burned with fuel. Ours were moulded 18 by 9 inches in length and breadth, and 4^ inches thick. The soil upon the ground of the fort being well adapted for the adobes, it was plowed, and water brought from the creek on to it and mortar made with oxen. Sunday, August 8. Dams being prepared in the creek, all the Saints were re-baptized, from the president to the least member, and several who had never before been baptized. This we did because we had, as it were, entered a new world, and wished to renew our covenants and commence a newness of life. We had a most glorious discourse from the president on the priesthood, and sealing powers and blessings thereof. 552 IMPROVEMENT ERA Monday, 9th. Captain James Brown, accompanied by S. Brannan and a few attendants, started for the Bay of San Francisco to get a discharge for his men from the commanding officer in California. He was accompanied by some officers of the company to Fort Hall, to see if they could draw, or rather purchase, supplies for his men. This week I commenced getting out timber for a couple of houses. We hauled our timber about seven miles from a mountain ravine. It was a kind of timber called in the east fir tree. Mountaineers call it pine, some call it spruce pine. It often grows on these mountains to a great size. Brother Little and a few others started to explore the country north as far as Bear river and Cache valley. They accompanied Brown's company down the lake valley until they crossed Bear river, then bore up to Cache valley and found several places well adapted to settlements, and returned to camp after an absence of about a week. Professor Albert Carrington, with others, was engaged in an exploration or geological survey of the valley about the city, and from there up to the Utah lake and the adjacent mountains. Monday, 16th. Our express sent to bring mail from our rear companies not returning, it was thought wisdom that the ox teams which were to return to Winter Quarters should tarry no longer. Accordingly, a company of about ninety men, soldiers and pioneers, with thirty-three teams and a number of loose horses and mules, that were either ridden or driven, left the valley this afternoon under the superintendence of Brothers Shadrack Roundy and Tunis Rappleyee, who were appointed their leaders on their return trip. Tuesday, the 24th, was the day set for the horse and mule teams to follow them. I should have mentioned that several pioneer teams started about a week ago with instructions to halt for the ox teams as soon as they found game to subsist upon. This was in consequence of the men having exhausted their provisions, and the whole camp being left with but small supplies. Those that were left, now doubled their diligence upon the fort, except the blacksmiths and other mechanics that were set to shoeing horses, preparing wagons, etc., preparatory to starting. Sunday, 22nd. This afternoon the meeting was resolved into a conference to transact a little business relative to this place before the Twelve should leave. It was voted to organize a stake IN THE VAN OF THE PIONEERS 553 of Zion by appointing a president, high council, bishop and counselors, and all necessary officers; but the appointments were left to the Twelve when they should ascertain who were coming to winter here. The city was named the City of the Great Salt Lake of the Great Basin of North America. The Utah outlet wai. named the Western Jordan. Tuesday, 24th. Those who were ready to start went to the Salt lake for another bathing frolic, while the rest were getting ready. Return Journey. Thursday, 26th. All being ready, we left the valley at about noon, it being five weeks precisely from the time the first teams entered it. We have left about thirty log houses nearly finished, and the outside adobe wall about four feet high on two sides of the fort, and materials ready for the third side, the log houses to form the fourth side. The brethren who were left in the valley were instructed to continue their labors upon the fort. Our crops look well, and if there should be a favorable fall, the potato seed will be saved, and considerable benefit will be derived from the turnips and buckwheat. When we organized our return camp, we had thirty-six horse and mule teams, one hundred and eight men, besides about forty or fifty horses and mules that were ridden or driven loose. Quite a number of men, however, with some eight or ten teams, were expecting to meet their families and return again to the valley. Before taking our leave of the valley, I must give the reader a littlemore minute description of it, being better prepared to do so than I was when the reader was first introduced into it on the 2 1 st of July. It is bounded on the east by a ridge of mountains generally rough, rocky and mostly inaccessible. Some of the highest peaks are covered with perpetual snow. The highest one is 6,919 feet above the temple block; on the south, bounded by a low mountain range that separates it from the Utah lake, and through which the Utah outlet forces its way down an impassable canyon into the valley on the west, by another very high and rough ; ridge of mountains, extending from the Utah to the Salt lake, leaving only room for a convenient road between the north point of the mountain and the south end of the Salt lake; on the north. by the lake and the salt marshes, leaving little more than room 554 IMPROVEMENT ERA for a road between the marshes and the base of the eastern mountains, and some places scarcely that. The valley is about in twenty miles broad from the base of the east to that of the west mountains, and with the exception of from four to six miles in the center of the valley it slopes each way to the base of the mountains. It is about thirty-five or forty miles long, north and south. There are no streams from the western mountains, and the west side of the valley is dry, though the soil is good, and it may nearly all be irrigated from the outlet by taking the water out of the upper end of the valley. On the east side there are eight principal streams, besides several smaller creeks, coming out of the mountains between City creek and the Utah lake, and many extensive and excellent springs in the bottoms, and I will venture the assertion that better water cannot be found on the continent than these creeks afford. None but the larger class of these streams find their way to the outlet, or the Western Jordan. All the smaller ones spread out and are lost beneath the soil of the bottoms, and even the outlet itself, with all its tributaries, though sufficient for small steamboat navigation, shares the same fate during the dry season, ere it reaches the Salt lake. Its length in all its wanderings is probably one hundred miles. The sloping portions of the valley from the base cf the mountains to the bottoms are dry and gravelly. The bottoms have the alluvial character of Illinois, and abound with extensive beds of rushes, and the greatest variety of grass I ever saw in any country and ; the luxuriant growth of grass, rushes, cane-brake, bull-rushes and weeds, upon this bottom, is equal to any growth of vegetation in the Mississippi valley. There is no timber to be seen in the valley, except a few scattering trees upon the creeks, but by tracing these streams to their sources in the mountains, the ravines will be found to be full of timber sufficient to supply the Saints in the valley for many years to come. (To be Continued) Herman Bang, the we'l known Danish author, died at the Dee hospital,, Ogden, Utah, January 29, 1912. He was on his way to in San Francisco, on his route around the world, when death overtook him. He was born in 1857, and for many years was considered one of the leaders in literature in Denmark. A death mask was taken of the dead author, and his remains were prepared and shipped to his native land for burial,