Nauvoo in 1846

Improvement Era Vol. XVIII. JANUARY, 1915 No. 3.

Nauvoo in 1846 FROM CHARLES LANMAN, A SUMMER IN THE WILDERNESS (CONTRIBUTED BY HARRISON C. DALE)

' Rock Island, July, 1846. On my way up the Mississippi, I tarried a few hours at the far-famed city of Nauvoo and when I resumed my course, I felt :

like one just awakened from an incomprehensible dream. * * * The "Mormon" city occupies an elevated position, and, as ap- proached from the south, appears capable of containing a hundred thousand souls. But its gloomy streets bring a most melancholy disappointment. Where lately resided no less than twenty-five thousand people, there are not to be seen more than about five hundred and these, in mind, body, and purse, seem to be perfectly ;

wretched. In a walk of about ten minutes, I counted several hundred chimneys, which were all at least that number of families had left behind them as memorials of their folly and the wicked- ness of their persecutors. When this city was in its glory, every dwelling was surrounded with a garden, so that the corporation limits were unusually extensive but now all the fences are in ruin, ;

and the lately crowded streets actually rank with vegetation. Of the houses left standing, not more than one out of every ten is occupied, excepting by the spider and the toad. Hardly a window retained a whole pane of glass, and the doors were broken, and open, and hingeless. Not a single laughing voice did I hear in the whole place, and the lines of suffering and care seemed to be imprinted on the faces of the very children who met me in the way. I saw not a single one of those numerous .domestic animals,

*Charles Lanman, essayist and journalist, born at Monroe, Mich- igan, 14 June, 1819, died at Washington, D. C, 4 March, 1895. Lan- man was educated at Norwich Academy, Connecticut, and at the age of sixteen began his career as a journalist in New York City. He rose to prominence as an editorial writer, and in 1850, became private sec- retary to Daniel Webster. He was the author of "A Tour to the Saguenay," "Private Life of Daniel Webster," "A Dictionary of Con- gress," etc. The book from which the following extract is taken (now comparatively rare) was published in 1847. Lanman was one of the many to visit the deserted Nauvoo, in 1846-47, but no one has left so vivid a picture of the "grandeur of desolation" as he.— D.

192 IMPROVEMENT KRA which add so much to the comforts of human life; and 1 heard not a single song even from the robin and the wren, which are always so sure to build their nests about the habitations of man. Aye, the very sunshine and the pleasant passing breeze, seemed to speak of sin, sorrow, and utter desolation. Yet in the center of this scene of ruins, stands the Temple of Nauvoo, which is unquestionably one of the finest buildings in this country. It is built of limestone, quarried within the limits of the city, in the bed of a dry stream ; and the architect, named Weeks, and every individual who labored upon the building, were "Mor- mons." It is one hundred and twenty-eight feet in length, eighty feet wide, and from the ground to the extreme summit it measures two hundred and ninety-two feet. It is principally after the Roman style of architecture, somewhat intermixed with Grecian and Egyptian. It has a portico with three Roman archways. It is surrounded with pilasters; at the. base of each is carved a new moon, inverted, while the capital of each is formed of an uncouth head, supported by two hands holding a trumpet. Directly under the tower is this inscription, in golden letters: "The House of the Lord. Built by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Commenced April 6th, 1841. Holiness to the Lord." In the basement room, which is paved with brick, and converges to the center, is a baptismal font, supported by twelve oxen, large as life, the whole executed in solid stone. Two stairways lead into it, from opposite directions, while on either side are two rooms

for the recording clerks, and, all around, no less than twelve preparation rooms besides. On the first floor are three pulpits, and a place for the choir and on either side eight Roman win- ;

dows. Over the prophet's pulpit, or throne, is the inscription "The Lord has beheld our sacrifice: come after us." Between the first and second floors are two long rooms, appropriated to the patriarchs, which are lighted with eight circular windows each. The room of the second floor, in every particular, is precisely like that of the first. Around the hall of a spacious attic are twelve small rooms, with circular windows and a massive lock on each door. At the two front corners of the edifice are two winding stairways, which meet at the base of the tower and lead to the — summit, while the roof of the main building is arranged for a place of promenade and the walls of the noble edifice vary from ;

four to six feet in thickness. Estimating the manual labor at the usual prices of the day it said that the cost of this Temple was about $800,000. is The owners now offer it for sale at $200,000, but it will be a long time, I fancv, before a purchaser is found. The "Mormon," who took me over the Temple, and gave me the above information, was nearly broken-hearted. Like the ma- jority of his brethren remaining in the city, he was without money

RUINS OF TITE TEMPLE OF NAUVOO and without friends, and yet, it was to be his destiny, in a few days, to push his way into the wilderness, with a large family de- pending on him for support. It was in a most melancholy tone indeed, that he spoke to me the following words "Mine, sir, is a :

hard, hard lot. What if my religion is a false one, if I am sincere, is it not cruel, in the extreme, for those, who call themselves the

only true church, to oppress me and my people as they have done? My property has been stolen from me, and my dwelling been con- sumed ;and now, while my family is dependent upon a more for- tunate brother for support, my little children cannot go into the streets without being pelted with stones, and my daughters cannot

194 [MPRi )\ I MENT ERA go to the well after a pail of water, without being insulted by the young and noble among out persecutors. do not deserve this I

treatment. Iam not a scoundrel or a foreigner:- far, far from the truth is this supposition. "My grandfather, sir, was killed at the battle of Yorktown, as an officer of the glorious Revolution; my own father, to was also an American army officer during the »,

last war; and all my kindred have ever been faithful to the upright laws of the government. Knowing, therefore, these things to in true, and knowing, too, that I am an honest man, it is very liar' 1

to be treated by my fellow-men as a 'vagabond.' O, 1 love this sacred Temple, dearly, and it makes me weep to think that I must soon leave it to the tender mercies of the Christian world." Thus far had this poof man proceeded, when his utterance was actually choked with tears, * * * and my own heart wa- afTected by his piteous tale * * * le was called to attend to I

a new arrival of visitors, and I was left alone in the belfry of the Temple. Then it was that I had an opportunity to muse upon the superb panorama which met my gaze on every side. I was in a truly splendid temple, — that temple in the center of a desolate city, and — that city in the center of an apparently boundless wilderness. To the east lay in perfect beauty the grand prairie of Illinois, reach ing to the waters of Michigan to the north and south faded away ;

the winding Mississippi; and. on the west, far as the eye coul 1

reach, was spread out a perfect sea of forest land, entering which. I could just distinguish a caravan of exiled "Mormons," on their line ofmarch to Oregon and California. As before remarked, when I went forth from out the massy porches of the "Mormon" Temple, to journey deeper into the wilderness, I felt like one awakened from a dream. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY. ST. LOUIS. MO.

A SCENE IN NAUVOO ; THE TEMPLE IN THE DISTANCE