For the Gospel’s Sake

EDITORS' TABLE 887

settled, in the early 80's, the pioneers built upon Swift Creek in

the shadow of the high Rockies. Afton was organized in 1887

into a ward of the Church. Swift Creek is a large, beautiful, clear

stream of water issuing from a pine- and aspen-lined canyon which

opens into the very heart of the settlement. The photos at the bot-

tom show one of the main sources of this stream, some seven

miles, from that to ten, up the precipitous mountain pass. It is

an ice-cold, clear, fresh-water geyser pouring an immense volume

of water out of the side of the mountain at intervals of twenty

minutes. The flow continues for the space of twenty minutes

and then gradually recedes into the mountain again, for a like

length of time. The water rises slowly out of the fountain or

hole in the hill, after each interval, until it reaches the brim, when

again the stream is precipitously poured down its bed on the

mountain side to join Swift Creek on its way to the valley. Swift

Creek, which is really a small river, is thus fed, one may say, by

jerks.

In the early settlement of the town, a pioneer miller built a

flour mill upon this stream, at the mouth of the canyon. He fre-

quently observed to his customers that it was one of the most re-

markable streams he had ever seen in his life. His mill would run

rapidly for twenty minutes and then slow down for another twenty

minutes, when it would again begin to run more rapidly, thus alter-

nating continually. The cause of the phenomenon was never

known by the good miller, since he died a year or so before the

residents of the town solved the mystic problem some six years ago,

when the fresh-water geyser referred to was discovered. In the

frontispiece a company of young people are seen making their way

down the canyon on a narrow trail. They are returning from a

Pourth-of-July trip, having visited this wonderful fresh-water gey-

ser. The bed of the stream, nearly dry, and the mouth of the

geyser, are shown in the lower and upper pictures to the left and

;

in the lower right hand corner, the same are shown when the

water is at its height.

For the Gospel's Sake

President Nicholas G. Smith, writes to the Era from Wood-

stock, South Africa, May 9: "On the morning of April 23, five

elders arrived in Table Bay from Zion, and their hearts were filled

with happiness at the thought of soon landing and going to work

at their missionary labors. That was not to be their lot in South

Africa. No sooner had the emigration officer boarded the boat

and learned that they were elders of the Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter-day Saints than he ordered them to be detained.

"Elder Clifford S. Hodgson and myself were soon busy try-

.

888 IMPROVEMENT ERA

ing to arrange with the officials to let the elders out on bond, but

they would not do so. The emigration officers selected some

very difficult words from the dictionary and ordered the men

to write these words. The elders did not spell all of them cor-

rectly and consequently they were deported on account of "illit-

eracy.' We appealed to the highest tribunal, the Board of Par-

dons, and after the elders had been in confinement for eight

days, the case was brought up and tried.

"We had secured an eminent attorney, and he made a very

good case out of it, actually showing that the men could write

even better than some of the judges who were sitting on the case,

but all to no avail. We

were 'Mormons' and were not wanted

here, so the action of the emigration official was sustained and

the elders ordered deported.

"The elders were kept in a shanty made of galvanized iron,

with a galvanized iron fence around it, with barbed wire around

the top, the lot being about 30 by 130 feet and adjoining the

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compound, or place, where the negroes are kept.

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They also

had several Indians and other undesirables in with the elders.

For this accommodation they were required to pay $2.50 per day.

The man who was in charge of them felt that they were upright

men, and did everything in his power to make their stay pleasant.

m

His kindness will long be remembered by the elders and goes to

show that whenever a person associates with the Latter-day

Saints he cannot help but be impressed with their manhood.

"The South African mission is growing slowly but surely,

and I yet look for the time when we will be permitted to enter

here and preach the gospel unmolested. The elders deoorted are

EDITORS' TABLE 889

shown in the picture, left to right John E. Riggs, William C.

:

White, S. E. Van Francis, Peter J. Peterson, and Gerald R. El-

dredge. Their keeper, a Mr. Ross, is standing in the rear."