Brigham Young (Program 1)

He is a figure unique in the annals of American history. A man without schooling who possessed an uncommon power unmatched in its scope by any other American leader. A man who was a savior to his followers. That was savaged in the national press. He had a quick and sharp wit. But was sensitive of his own bad grammar. He developed comprehensive plans for a more perfect society but much of the nation was more interested in his dozens of wives. His vision redefined the uncharted west of the 1800s but triggered a tense standoff between the religious empire he championed and the American government. When he died. Mourners filled the streets of Salt Lake City. Yet much of the nation cheered and taunted his life but friend and foe alike agreed the nation would never again see the likes of Brigham Young. Funding for the production of Brigham Young was provided by a grant from the Georges and

Dolores Dora Eckels Foundation. It's August of 1877 in Salt Lake City government seat for the Utah territory. The city bakes under a summer sun. The unpaved streets surrender a choking dust his wagons roll down south Temple Street. Passing the large compound of Brigham Young in the late afternoon of August 29. Young's normally bustling office is silent. The desk

where he directed affairs is first territorial governor as Indian superintendent and as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is unintended. The kitchen is filled with the sounds of making dinner for Young's family and his hired workers. But in the summer day of 1877 the voices are hushed upstairs. The unique household of Mormon leader Brigham Young is showing the signs of crisis in one room a wife fervently prays aloud nearby soft sobbing is heard from another of Young's wives. His children range from 52 to seven years of age and the youngest know to be quiet right now. Throughout the day visitors have filed in and out of the Lion House. A fairly typical scene for the home of a man who's been the heart of the Utah territory for 30 years. But today several of the visitors are doctors. They carry balances filled

with medicines and painkillers. They know will be of little use. Nearly three months past his 76 birthday. Brigham Young is in the last hours of his life for 72 hours. Doctors have tried to understand Young's ailment as he slips in and out of consciousness. But for any doctor in 1877 much of the human body remains a mystery. Few people outside of the Lion House understand the severity of Young's illness. The fact that the end is near. For many of the 100000 residents of the Utah Territory it's business and life as usual. Farmers are nearing the harvest. The struggle between more men and non Mormon businessmen continues to dominate streetside conversations in Salt Lake City. And everyone has an opinion. When the Mormons will be able to complete their temple in the heart of the town. The territory has just marked the 30th anniversary of the Mormon arrival in the Salt Lake Valley. Despite threatened war with the federal government open conflicts with Native Americans

and economic conflict over the coming of the railroad. The Utah Territory has endured much as Brigham Young envisioned when he first entered the valley in 1847. Under Young's guidance three hundred settlements have been established in the West. Eighty thousand Mormons have immigrated to Utah from throughout the world under his direction. Most are convinced they have weathered the worst storms the world could offer. Thanks to the vision of Brigham Young. Two generations have depended on young to wield an extraordinary combination of spiritual political economic and social power. If the nation's political leaders were disgusted by Young's control and many were. They were just as agitated over the loyalty of the Mormon people to Young's unquestioned authority. In the darkened bedroom of Brigham Young on August 29th 1877 a handful of people knew their world was about to change. One was George. Q

Can publisher of the Deseret News and a protege of Brigham Young. As I sat near his bed and thought of his death I recoiled from the view. It seemed to me that he was indispensable. What could we do without him. He has been the brain the high the ear and mouth and hand for the entire piece. The clock neared 5 p.m. and someone thought they heard Brigham Young speak. Joseph Joseph jobs then silence filled the room. On June 1st of 18:1 the ninth of what would be eleven children was born to John

and Abigail Yan. The family had only recently arrived in the Vermont village of Y.D. him in the rolling foothills of the Green Mountains. The boy was named Brigham after his mother's grandparents. And like most of his brothers and sisters he was given no middle name. The Youngs were a farming family scratching for survival. And when Brigham was three the family left Vermont for upstate New York. It was the edge of the American frontier and a life that was often mired in poverty. Brigham had only eleven days of formal schooling. He was pressed to work at a young age on the family farm and clearing land for others just after his 15th birthday. As the family lived near Cayuga Lake Brigham's Mother Abigail lost a long battle to tuberculosis. If there had been any doubt childhood was definitely over. Brigham worked as a painter and glazier painting homes and setting windows whenever he could find work. But even with the

progress of the engineering marble of the nearby Erie Canal life often failed to provide opportunity. It often was almost impossible to hire to do a day's work. A man would have to run and perhaps beg to do a day's work. When the labor was a farm. It was frequently worth twice the amount it was paid. To make himself more marketable. Young worked at developing skills as a carpenter. He would do any type of work but soon developed the name for simple and solid furniture. Just after his 24th birthday he married Miriam works a stunning blonde 18 year old he had met at a local end. They moved further along the Erie Canal to mend in New York. And within a year celebrated the birth of their first child a daughter they named Elizabeth. The young carpenter could be forgiven for not imagining a future in which he would father another fifty five children over the next forty five years. But as he

neared thirty the life of Brigham Young was wholly unremarkable. A circumstance ready to dramatically change in a place called the burned over district. In 1830 the town of Palmira New York was booming with new faces and new business brought by the nearby Erie Canal. The area also proved to be a hotbed of frontier religious fervor. So many religious fires swept the region that it was later dubbed the burned over district. This was a very unique. Place in time and in space. Shirley Jones is a communications professor who studied the major influences on Brigham Young's life. And it was called burned over because time and again he burned with the fires of revivalism. And so it burned and then it burned

burned again and there was a great religious fervor. Brigham Young had joined the reformed Methodist Church in his early 20s but it was clear he was looking for something else. He made it a point to listen to the visiting preachers roaming the burned over district. Sometimes his camp meetings would go on for weeks and would be attended by thousands. And most of these religions just dwindled and died. But Mormonism did not by 18:30 much of the region was talking about the new religious teachings of the son of a farmer from Pallam Iraq. The announcement of a new religion in upstate New York was not earthshaking for the place or time. But Joseph Smith Jr. had brought forth a new religious document a book really. That he said had been delivered to him by spiritual messengers. Printed in Pallam IRA. It was known as the book of Mormon. And while Smith first called his new group the Church of Christ. They soon became known by their new scripture. The Mormons 10 miles away in Mendon New

York life was increasingly difficult for Brigham Young. His wife Miriam despite delivering a second daughter was in poor health. And carpentry work on the New York frontier was spotty at best. Young would later talk of this as an often dark and gloomy time. He was given a copy of The Book of Mormon. A nearby friend Heber C. Kimball had already accepted Mormonism and had long talks with Brigham about the new religion. But Young was not an easy convert. After two years of thinking it over. Brigham Young was baptized into the Mormon church at the mill pond by his carpentry shop in April of 1832. And his life changed almost immediately. Struggling to care for his nearly invalid wife young accepted assignments to preach in support of Mormonism. And the first outings were pretty rough. When I began to speak in public I was. About as destitute as languages a man could well be.

Ah I would have a headache when I had to lay before the paper and not words to express them. But young soon discovered that he had a gift for public speaking and connecting with his audiences. It was a talent that came in handy as antagonism built toward the Mormons in upstate New York and so there was a feeling of defiance and a feeling that somehow. These people felt they had the answer and that creates resentment. When when you say I know and you don't. And so those things helped create a sense of hostility while young was preaching to a small group near the town of Victor the barn in which they met was surrounded by a hostile crowd threatening to burn the barn and stone the occupants unless they broke up their meeting. Young escaped but formed hard and lasting impressions of churches and religious leaders who went out of their way to attack Mormonism. In September of 1832 Miriam

young died of tuberculosis leaving Brigham a widower with two children under seven years of age. It was a pivotal time in which young would either turn inward toward his family or step out to the world as an advocate of Mormonism. Joseph Smith summoned Brigham Young for a first meeting and told Brigham that he foresaw a day when young would lead the Mormons. Brigham left immediately for Canada to serve as a missionary for his church on his return. He moved his daughters to a new gathering site for the Mormons in Ohio at the town of Kirtland. Young It earned a name among the group for his missionary zeal and common sense leadership. And Joseph Smith selected young to enter a new level of authority within the Mormons serving as one of the group's 12 apostles. At the same time the 33 year old young met and married Mary an angel a 30 year old unmarried convert to Mormonism. Caring for Brigham's two daughters during his extended

absences. Mary Young would have six additional children with Brigham. And she would witness an extraordinary transformation of the young household in years to come. In the 1840s the first picture of Brigham Young emerged. He looks as he did on his many preaching missions for the Mormons. Now known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. Young and his family were living in virtual poverty in Kirtland Ohio. In January of 1836. He was forced to borrow twenty five dollars to feed his family until spring. He went on his church expeditions without a dime in his pocket relying on donations to keep him going. He would often sing religious hymns as he passed the hat and would register his disgust if the hat came back empty. On his return to Kirtland. Young witnessed a growing antagonism toward the Mormons.

Forever. Mormons established their headquarters they established a headquarters culture that included gathering program of all Mormons who could and would gather to that center that gave Mormons enormous political and economic power wherever Joseph Smith established his headquarters and that put them into immediate conflict with the original settlers who suddenly found themselves displaced because they had the wrong religion. The conflict flared in 1837 when a financial institution started by Joseph Smith failed in Kirtland young rush to Smith's defense against a group of Mormons who sought to dump Smith as leader of the Ohio gathering crumbled and the Mormons who now refer to themselves as saints. Pushed on to Missouri and from the outset there was conflict there was a lot of violence on the American frontier that was based on real distrust of one another so that if you could

identify a group that wasn't like you. It was easy to stereotype them and to say they are. Although the idea that a group might vote block. Just made some. Politicians see red. Even on a local county level. The idea that they might have the only store in town made others feel that way. Open warfare broke out between Mormons and non-Mormons in Missouri at Haun's Mill Mormon families were gunned down by marauding bands. More than defense squads were also deadly. Finally Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs had had enough. Oct. 27 1838 the Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state if necessary for the public peace. Little Bird Boggs governor of Missouri. That was horrific fire. There were tremendous losses of property life

suffering because they were basically driven out at the point of a sword in the face of the extermination order. Brigham Young was selected to lead the Mormons away from Missouri. The move went as well as could be expected and ended in 1839 on the swampy banks of the Mississippi River in western Illinois. The town was called commerce but under the Mormon influence was soon renamed Nahoon almost immediately malaria ravaged the town hitting Brigham Young hard as he prepared to depart on a special church mission to England. With his close friend Heber Kimball. Brigham left in March of 1840 for Liverpool. And would spend the next year converting Britain's lower classes to Mormonism and sending them on their way to the United States when he himself returned Brigham Young would find dramatic forces at work that would shape the rest of his life. When Brigham Young returned to Nauvoo from England in the summer of 1841 he

immediately assumed a position of leadership in the Mormon community. He was now the president of the Twelve Apostles. Putting him in the innermost circle of Mormon Church President Joseph Smith. Church and State blurred in Nauvoo and yang served as a city councilman as Smith served as mayor. Yangs expanding family moved into a new home and stability seemed to grace their lives for the first time in years. But in November of 1842 Brigham Young fell gravely ill. He was delirious for 18 days his fever raging and skin falling from his body. Most historians attribute that to scarlet fever scarlet fever does produce a rash that does flake off. It could well have been life threatening at that period of time. Brigham Young stopped breathing. In desperation his wife Mary Angel young threw herself on her husband and forced her own breath into his body. He took a deep breath and then started to breathe on his own once again

the illness coincided with the crossroads of faith for Brigham. Earlier in 1842 Joseph Smith had confided to Brigham and others that he had a revelation authorizing plural marriage. One of his daughters would later write that a commandment to take multiple wives left Brigham Young. Dumbstruck. Plural marriage was a great trial on my father's feelings. This might sound incredible but it is true nevertheless. He told my mother that after the principle had been taught to him he suffered much in his mind Suzy and gates. It was the first time in my life that I desired to grave. He reacted very strongly. This was something that was very difficult for him to understand. And he was shocked by that. He tells us that he heard about it the same day that there was a funeral in town and that he really. Was jealous of a corpse for six months.

Brigham wrestled with Smith's encouragement to take another wife. Finally he proposed a plural marriage to 20 year old Lucy and Decker when she accepted at about the same time. He also proposed to Martha Brotherton who was so disgusted with the notion of plural marriage that she quit church membership fled Nabu and told a story of lechery and immorality to St. Louis newspapers. This cultural clash between the Mormons and non-Mormons was based on a misunderstanding of this relationship. This plural marriage was a relationship and it was very much caused a clash among Mormons their neighbors while outside criticism built over the rumors of plural marriage mislabeled as polygamy Brigham Young demonstrated his commitment to the practice. Over the next two years he would marry for more women in his personal journal. He would employ a code to log a new marriage writing m e to indicate he had taken a new wife for eternity but refusing

to use the word married. This day I visited brother Isaac chase. Rather Heber see Campbell was with me brother and sister chase with their daughter Claire she was at home. We had it good visit. We went to Brother Chasez seemed all right. He Purcey Campbell. The prosperous outward appearance of Nabu was soon overshadowed by events racing out of control. Mormon leader Joseph Smith was a constant target of investigation by authorities political and economic conflicts produced heated showdowns and the allegations of polygamy only added fuel to the fire. In 1844 Smith announced his candidacy for president and sent the upper ranks of Mormon leadership including Brigham Young to the east to campaign. He also lashed out at a Nabu newspaper that attacked him over polygamy ordering the printing press destroyed before.

I will bear this unhallowed persecution any longer. Before I will be dragged away again among my enemies for trial. I will spill the last drop of blood in my veins and will see all my enemies in hell. Joseph Smith. On June 27th 1844 as he awaited trial for destroying the Nabu Expositor. Joseph Smith was murdered by a mob in Carthage Illinois. For the Mormons. Joseph Smith was more than a church founder. He was considered a prophet of God. They hadn't really ever considered the death of Joseph Smith. It was like he was a figure larger than life a charismatic leader. This just was not supposed to have happened. And so they were fearful. They were devastated. Fear and uncertainty gripped Nabu with much of their leadership still in the east including Brigham Young.

The Mormons were rudderless in the summer of 1844 Nauvoo Illinois August 1844. Dear mother. I have seen some sorrowful days since I left you. And some happy ones. But I can tell you it is a sorrowful time here at present. Those that stood up for Joseph before his death are getting divided among themselves. Service. Nauvoo Illinois was in an uproar through July of 1844. Armed anti-Mormon groups were in the field and surrounding Hancock County and internally the group had suddenly and dramatically lost its leadership. We were said church member Wilford Woodruff. Like sheep without a shepherd. Into the Void steps Sidney Rigdon. A former close associate of Joseph Smith who had fallen away and moved to Pittsburgh and came

back from Pittsburgh. He got there before the Apostles returned from their missions and announced that he'd had a revelation and that he was to be the new leader. Rigdon was trying to solidify support when Brigham Young arrived from Massachusetts. And so when Brigham Young returned. There was this open air confrontation. They both delivered speeches. And the people voted as to which one they would follow. The 8th of August was hot and humid and 5000 latter day saints gathered in a field to decide the future of their troubled gathering. Rigdon spoke for nearly two hours claiming divine inspiration and authority to serve as the Mormons guardian. And then Brigham Young wrote to deliver the most important speech of his life and spoke for only a few minutes. He spoke with authority he spoke with confidence. He wasn't. Afraid. He wasn't frightened. He was someone that they were

looking to for answers and he he had them. Later. People in the audience would claim that young actually transformed into Joseph Smith during his brief talk. Some identifying it as a divine miracle. What is certain is that young instilled confidence that there was a future for the Mormons that they would find that future together. In short he told the Mormons there was light at the end of their tunnel. He formed the culture. He let them know who they were. And then he bound them together. He gave them a sense of group membership. They were working together against all of the forces of the world and nature. And so this bonding was really important but the bonding was not complete for there were other challenges for leadership. The artist came from James J.

Strang a Mormon who produced a letter he claimed was from Joseph Smith ordaining Strang as leader in ordering the Mormons to move to Wisconsin. Yang acted swiftly to brand Strang a forger and threw him out of the church with a few followers Strang founded a settlement on an island in Lake Michigan where he ruled as king until he was shot and killed in 1856. More troubling for Brigham Young was one of the widows of Joseph Smith his first wife Emma. Emma Smith accused Brigham Young of commandeering Joseph Smith's personal property for the church leaving her destitute. Am I finally broke with Brigham and renounced his leadership encouraging her children to do the same. The animosity would haunt both Brigham Young and Emma Smith for the rest of their days. But even with leadership resolved the future was far from certain. The governor of Illinois and the surrounding communities made it clear that the Mormons were no longer welcome in view.

He was a first test of how far Brigham Young would compromise I I think given his personality his strong a will that he probably didn't have much of a choice to have stayed in Illinois or the Mississippi Valley would have meant compromising and a lot of ways with politicians or with with other groups. I don't think that was in his makeup as he was able to play off the needs of the Marmon people the ideas and hopes of Joseph Smith against the on the one hand the mobs who were threatening the people in Navajo as well as the alternative rival claims for a succession that within weeks and a number of individuals were raising and he was having to negotiate all of

those concerns at one time. You see the emergence of a brilliant strategist in a letter to President James Polk. Brigham Young announced that his people would leave the United States rather than face any further suffering at the hands of government. We had read rather a treat to the desert islands or mountain caves then consent to be ruled by governors and judges whose hands are drenched in the blood of innocence and virtue will delight in injustice and oppression. Brigham Young directed frantic activity to prepare the Mormons for their next and uncertain step. He oversaw completion of a temple in Vuh and the Mormons crowded into complete sacred ordinances before entering the wilderness. For his part Brigham Young married ten new wives in 1845 and 46. Several of them the plural wife widows of Joseph Smith. Young now had married 20

women though only 17 were living and he had fathered 13 children. He was also struggling to hold off the anti-Mormon groups that had gathered strength in the vicinity. The groups had worked to level charges of counterfeiting against young and other Mormons which resulted in a federal indictment. In 1846 the indictment was renewed each year until well after young and the Mormons had fled Illinois. Finally as winter gripped the upper Mississippi Valley in early 1846 young ordered the first wagons away from Nauvoo. Leaving in the middle of winter. In a situation so frozen the Mississippi had frozen over and during part of that evacuation from other women dying in childbirth men women and children dying from the exposure. Having no chance. Even though it was as orderly as it as Brigham Young could make it. Everyone left at

once and that put incredible burdens hundreds of people died during that period of time. All ages. They were push off into what was essentially a veil. They were pushed out of place and out of town to stage death by the start. To go into banishment unprepared death by starvation. But yet under these heart rending circumstances several hundred others have started on our very journey. Some of us are already without food. Hundreds of others must shortly follow the same unhappy condition of MIA. At 45. Brigham Young was the leader of a lost nation within a nation facing the unlikely prospect of stepping into the wilderness of the American frontier.

Twelve thousand men women and children were depending on young for their very lives. Along with his own 17 wives and the like number of children the reluctant preacher who 10 years before struggled to speak with a handful of neighbors now negotiated with governors and presidents in a desperate bid to keep a flickering dream alive. Brigham Young again emerge as somebody to be reckoned with as as a negotiator with people who. Seem to have all the power. Young cut a deal with President James Polk for the creation of a Mormon military unit to serve in the army in the war with Mexico. While the men marched off to a year of uncertainty in the American Southwest. Young was able to use over twenty thousand dollars in enlistment bonuses to feed an outfit the Mormons for their westward track. As the families survived the winter of 1846. In their makeshift settlement on the banks of the Missouri River rumors spun wildly about a destination for a

springtime exodus. And they've considered Oregon they've considered Texas they've considered Vancouver Island all of which would be outside the United States. They definitely want isolation they've learned they can't get along with any neighbors. They want to be a way to hedge his bed. Brigham Young instructed Samuel Brannen to sail with a group of New York Mormons to California. They would land in San Francisco. And were soon convinced it was the best destination. But Young had been studying a newly published book by Army explorer John C. Fremont. Fremont roads of a Great Basin surrounded by towering mountains a virtual definition of isolation in the rugged West. And when Brigham Young began the pioneer Trek. He had a clear sense and mind of the great basin it's not at all clear that the average man and woman who traveled with that pioneer company knew the final destination.

In April 1847 young led a vanguard of some 150 Mormons into the west. Three women were in the company including one of Brigham's wives Clara Decker. Just prior to departure Yang had married the Bigalow sisters Lucy and Mary Jane his 21st and 22nd publicly recognized wives. They would wait at the Missouri River to see if their husband survived the trip into the wilderness. The company followed the Platte River a tedious and slow trip 14 rivers and crossing rough terrain. Rugged but surprisingly well-traveled you'd have fur traders going over this route since the 1920s. I tell my students at BYU that a blind man could have found his way across the trail by this time there was a well-defined route. It had wagon travel up and down this route now for over 10 years. As the small company advanced across what would become present day Nebraska young

encouraged them to view their journey in biblical proportions to consider themselves a new class of people. As they went. They took on this new look and they were Latter day Saints. They were Mormons and so now they were not just Mormon English. They were English Mormons. It's a lot different. Sunday May 23rd. Brother Young gave us some glorious instructions which done my soul good. He said he was perfectly well satisfied with conduct camp and all things were going. But the trip was far from a peaceful journey to the new promised land. Only one week after convincing Howard Egan that everything was fine. Brigham Young blistered the company with a torrent of anger threatening to turn back.

Nobody has told me what was going on in this camp but I have known it all the while. And then there is a change of conduct in a different spirit to that which there is now in this camp. I go no further. Give me the man of prayer give me the man of faith and I would rather go among the savages with six or eight such men and trust myself with all of this. He then asked the brethren if they were willing to repent of their follies to cease from all their evils if they were willing to manifest it by holding up the right hand. Every man raised his hand and the company rolled uneventfully through South Pass the continental divide of the Rocky Mountains. But as they passed the Green River legendary trader and Trapper Jim Bridger told young that his declared destination of the Great Salt Lake Valley was not a good choice and that's when he made this statement to Brigham Young that he didn't

know whether or not you can even grow in your corn and all Brigham would say is. Well we'll see and he'd say Well I personally I'd give a thousand dollars if I could be sure an Eric corn could be groaner. And then Brigham said Will. We'll see. At about the same time Samuel Brannan appeared from the west arguing that California was the promised land. But Brigham rejected Brandon's appeal and ordered the company to roll forward toward the mountain range. The native Indians called Wasatch. Suddenly disease swept through the company Sunday July 18. Brother Kimball told us that President Young was very sick. It was his mind that the brethren should stay in camp and offer up prayers in behalf of President Young and the others who were sick and afflicted. I think he had Colorado fever at that time. The person becomes ill

suddenly with headache muscle aches back ache flu like symptoms. Fever for a couple of days then they feel better for two or three days and then they have a second recurrence of the fever. It's not particularly life threatening but it's a miserable type of illness. Company members recorded young Sirin fever and occasional delirium as dozens fell to the mysterious disease. The company split up with two advanced groups moving ahead while young and the rest tried to recover. On July 21st the first two scouts entered the Salt Lake Valley. Wading through thick grass that in spots reached their heads. The next day the first wave of settlers said Camp near a bubbling creek and immediately started to plant crops and by the 23rd before Brigham came into the valley the following day it already planted potatoes. Some people have asked themselves What would have happened had Brigham said no. Got the wrong spot.

We'll have to leave they have gone and pulled up the potatoes on July 24th. Wilford Woodruff rode his wagon to a point overlooking the Salt Lake Valley. Brigham Young was in the back still battling the pain and fever. And Wilford Woodruff was the only person to record the event. When we came out of the canyon in full view of the valley I turned the side of my carriage around up to the west. And President rose from his bed. And took a survey of the country. While gazing on the scene before us. He was in rapt vision for several minutes. It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on the next day a Sunday. Young was well enough to deliver a sermon and set some general rules for the settlement. Co-operation was the key to success. And theft. The greatest sin. Sunday July 25th. Brother Young said that if a man retained anything which did

not belong to him it would prove to be cursed. And the stain would never be wiped out until it was burned down. It is wisdom that certain officers should exist among you who do it will be to observe those principles and to pass such laws and ordinances as shall be necessary if such need be. Though we trust few or none will be necessary. Or you have had precept upon precept and know what is right and our motto is every person do their duty. Give me the company's Journal history record a young surprising announcements on the city. He expected to thrive in this unlikely place. July 28 1847. About 5 p.m.. Brigham Young Heber C. Campbell and others walked to a point between two forks city grid and Brigham Young struck a stick and said that should be the side of the temple.

It was resolved that the temple should be built there that the city blocks should be ten a.z streets eight rods wide the sidewalks twenty feet wide. In fact young was following an urban design sketched by Mormon founder Joseph Smith. Long before his death. Squared an orderly blocks lined out north and south from a center of worship. Smith called his design a plot for the city of Zion. Zion. Ancient Judaism's ideal nation a utopian experience was how young envisioned this new land. But a few others including his sister in law in the first wave of settlers were hard pressed to share the vision on first sight. This day we arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake. My feelings were such as I cannot describe. Everything looked gloomy and I felt heart sick. Weak and weary as I am. I would rather go a thousand miles farther than remain in such a

forsaken place as this it young. But there was little dissent is the hard work of survival consume the camp. Young wanted to build the New Zion. Apart from a society he distrusted. The non-Mormon world that he and his followers referred to as gentile what was started in that new place under the watchful eye of Brigham Young in the summer of 1847 would prove to be a unique and embattled chapter in the nation's history. At the same time it would help to define the American experience. Often lost to history is the fact that Brigham Young spent only one month in the Salt Lake Valley before turning back to the Missouri River. Young went eastward to organize a global pipeline that will deliver Mormons to the new gathering place in the West.

Come then say Come then the honorable men of the earth. Help us build up the kingdom of God. And no power on earth or in hell can prevail against you. And was the biggest. And most effective system of organized immigration in American history. Approximately eighty thousand persons were organized then brought to Utah from 1849 up until about the time of Brigham's death in 1877. Recognizing the role that young was playing the Mormons removed any doubt about his status. It was finally eighteen forty seven three years after the death of Joe Smith that the the twelve decided that was the time to ask Brigham officially formally to be present of the church and profit. But back in the Salt Lake Valley the ability of the new settlement to survive was in doubt.

In the spring of 1848 an army of crickets swept through the crops destroying much of the food supply. And when young returned to the Salt Lake Valley in the fall of 1848 the settlement was soon gripped by a bitter winter. The valley from a human standpoint presented nothing better than extreme suffering if not starvation. The Saints were scattered hither and thither somewhat back to the states and some went on to California while the mass of people were eating whatever they could and while all that was going on it looked like there was a splendid chance for going naked. Pre-mix. Faced with defections and the lure of the booming California gold rush young told the gathering to commit to the new order. Or leave. If we were to go to San Francisco and dig up chunks of gold or find it in a valley it would ruin it. If you elders of Israel want to go to the gold mines go on but damn. If you go I would not give a picayune to keep you in this tight circle that he drew.

If there was someone who didn't want to be a part of it. He actually deposited them outside of that circle. They were no longer one with the Saints. Rather than dig in for survival young announced a series of bold initiatives. He announced Mormon claims on an enormous portion of the American West including the Port of San Diego. And immediately started assigning parties to settle the region. I think the most interesting thing about the way Brigham Young approached colonization was his. Driving sense of order. He didn't just send groups of people out to isolated areas without a sense of plan. And each of the groups he send out included blacks Matthan different artisans so that so that when they went out they were they were a community. They were a well-rounded group of individuals who could work together and essentially be self-sufficient wagon trains many filled with newly arrived European converts to the Mormon church would often find young as an official greeter ready to send them off on another

journey. President Brigham Young in Heber C. Kimball and elder John bankcard who is the interpreter for the days came and found out the occupation of each of these newcomers and they were assigned to each new community where they were most needed. Christian Kristiansen. Young's expansion of Mormon settlements soon brought the settlers into direct conflict with the native yoot and Shoshone Indians. He's challenging the geographical claims of the Native Americans who preceded him and so the next decade is miserable because of that because they have these alternate claims to the land. The use of their natural resources the water well. Something had to give and eventually you know as early as 1849. You've already got friction between the Mormons and the US young often preached a policy of feeding rather than fighting native people. But he was also adamant about developing living room for the Mormons. The friction escalated to open warfare among the Mormons and bands led by Chief Wakara. It was a

war young did not want. And from the day the war started Brigham Young desperate was trying to have a meeting with Wakara. So the two could get together and bring this to an end by being a matter of not very many months down the chicken creek just outside of MiFi. That arrangement was made and Brigham Young literally met with Wakara. Basically the war came to an end. The peace was fragile and firefights between expanding Mormon settlements and native indians seeking to protect their lands would continue for another 20 years. Despite the conflict and the drive to settle the Outlands. Within two years hundreds of adobe homes form the primary settlement now dubbed Great Salt Lake City. There were no hotels because there had been no travel no shedder of business because they were all too busy to make a satire. All must cultivate the land or die for the country was new and no cultivation but their own was within 1000 miles. The New York Tribune.

The next step was to create order in the unique society young envisioned and he seized it as an opportunity to restate the blending of church and state and the creation of a government above political discord or even political choice. Ninety nine percent of the votes went for the approved Mormon candidates. We're talking about a cohesive political order that has no parallel and a mom and American history the the sacred and the secular. We're integrating so that you began to find it difficult to know who is a religious leader and who is a secular leader in 1849. Army Captain Howard Stansberry wrote into the Great Basin at the head of an expedition to produce a map of the region. He was immediately struck by the unique power held by Brigham Young. He was not only the civil governor but the president of the church upon the earth.

He is consequently profoundly revered by all and possesses unbounded influence and almost unlimited power. Captain Howard Stansberry. And the only substantive manifestation of power of real power. From 1850 onward was Brigham Young himself in the isolation of the American West a west that was technically Mexican territory. The Mormons were free to build their new society but the end of the war with Mexico soon turned over all of their claims to the government of the United States and once again the Mormons were under federal jurisdiction and facing federal law. And so the Mormons were faced with a reality the reality is we are no longer on foreign soil whether we like it or not. We are under the jurisdiction of the United States government and so it's a question of how best to negotiate Marmon

independence with a national perspective that they were now under. Young dispatched a delegation to Washington with a proposed constitution to push for the creation of the state of Deseret in letters to the delegation. Young urged them to dodge thorny national issues especially slavery. We wish you distinctly Dondre stand that our desire is to leave that subject to the operations of time circumstance and common law. You might safely say that as a people we are averse to slavery but that we wish not to meddle with this subject but leave things to take their natural course. In reality young encouraged legalization of slavery in the area as claimed by his people. And would often speak of it as a divine institution. But the desperate bid for statehood was doomed. Eleven thousand Mormons failed to produce the population Congress expected and decision makers soon received letters from old

rivals of Brigham Young attacking his new society and his role as leader. This American tyrant is endeavoring to establish a new order of political popery in the recesses of the mountains. William Smith. In 1850 Congress voted to create the territory of Utah dramatically trimming its empire like boundaries and leaving it to President Millard Fillmore to select its leadership. Mormon delegate OLman Babbitt lobbied heavily for Brigham Young to be elected governor. Promising the partisan loyalty of the Mormons. Fillmore gave the governor's chair to young balancing the act by appointing equal numbers of Mormons and non-Mormons to territorial office. It was an act certain to end the isolation that it provided Brigham Young a free hand in designing a new society in the wilderness but in 1850 Young did not fear outside officials coming to his Citadel of faith.

I think he expected that if they used wisdom the Lord would bless them and what they did and would interfere with any efforts that a hostile government or hostile politicians or pettifoggers would make to interfere with their progress. It would prove to be dangerously optimistic. That polygamy does actually exist among them cannot be concealed from any one of the most ordinary observation. Captain Howard Stern's Mormonism's worst kept secret was the practice of polygamy and Brigham Young was the first to break the loose vow of silence concerning his numerous wives. When he spoke to the Territorial Legislature in

1851. I have more wives than one. I have many and am not ashamed to have it known when members of Congress started to register complaints. Mormon leaders told them to mind their own business. I deliver a prophecy upon it. It will sail over and ride triumphantly above all the prejudice and priestcraft of the day. It will be fostered and believed in by the more intelligent portions of the world as one of the best doctrines ever proclaimed to any people. For the first. Time. There is a sustained attack on Mormonism as being other as so far as being dangerous as being non-Christian as being heathen the handful of federal officials in the Utah Territory were outraged over polygamy with very few sharing the view of the Territory's Chief Justice.

The plurality of wives prevails extensively. But those who suppose that licentiousness or looseness of manners or morals prevails to any extent are very much mistaken. Chief Justice Lazarus read more typical of the federal response was Perry Broncos who within days of arriving in Utah as a territorial judge lashed out at what he viewed as Mormon immorality. Judge bronchus causes problems because he calls on the women to be virtuous and he calls on the people to give up their practices. He's upset because the church leaders are critical of federal officials. The president of the United States and the whole thing was really uncomfortable. Judge Brocas is either profoundly ignorant or willfully wicked one of the two. I love the government and the Constitution of the United States but I do not love that damn Rascoe to administer the government. I am indignant at such corrupt fellows as bronchus come in here to lecture us

on morality and virtue. His manner was boisterous passionate infuriated in the extreme and if he had not been afraid of final vengeance he would have pointed his finger at me and I should have. In an instant then a dead man. How it will end. I do not know. Perry bronchus Federal Justice Utah Territory. Rumors of violence were rampant in the Utah Territory. One key reason was the thundering sermon style of Brigham Young. Demanding an 1850 spiritual rededication among the Mormon people and diaries are referring to hellfire and damnation although they call it raining pitchforks sermons in 1855 and those increasingly emphasized that that there are some crimes which were so serious that individuals should welcome the opportunity to provide an instant forgiveness of the people who committed these crimes

by setting their throats and sending them to a reward that was better than what they were getting was Brigham Young advocating bloody terror against opponents. Or was he simply using dramatic metaphors to steer his followers away from sin. Young's words associated with blood atonement would create extraordinary controversy lingering accusations and remained the subject of angry interpretation for many years to come. And they did nothing to build the troubled waters roiling between Utah Mormons and federal officials. The federal officials who are not church members very quickly perceive that Brigham Young and the priesthood holders are the respected. Government officials not them. They can see that there is a political Kingdom in effect a theocracy. And when Brigham Young. Do you regard them and spoke to them as though they were his subjects. This infuriated

them. And and there basically was very little dialogue that was passed. When President Franklin Pierce announced he was ready to replace young as governor the now 52 year old Mormon leader laughed off the challenge. I have no fears whatever of Franklin Pierce excuse me from office and say that another man shall be governor of this territory. I am and will be governor and no power can hinder it and tell the Lord Almighty says Brigham you need not be governor any longer. Word of Young's defiance swiftly found its way to Washington prompting Utah's delegate to Congress to beg Brigham Young to tone down his rhetoric. Whenever you feel to indulge a train of remarks designed for the ears of the saints only I humbly and respectfully but earnestly in Treeton implore that you ask the reporters not to give publicity to them for they greatly tend to alienate our friends and prevent us from obtaining appropriations and other favors.

John Bernheim is a delegate to Congress. I don't think. He's as concerned about national opinion as he is faithfulness among the faithful and young enjoyed extraordinary support among the Mormons of the Utah Territory evidenced by a letter written by Jedediah grant to the New York Herald. Grant claimed the east with its soft life and soft politicians simply did not understand the rugged West. Brigham is the article that sells out west with us between a Roman cutlass and a butcher knife to cut up a deer or cut down an enemy. And that will save your life or carve your dinner every bit as well. A diagram. These were trying times in Brigham's homes to wives Louisa Beaman and Margaret Maria Allie died suddenly a third Mary Jane Bigalow asked for and received a divorce. It would not be the last terminations of a Brigham Young married. But nearly a

decade into the Utah experiment signs of the success of Young's management were everywhere. Immigrants continue to flow into new communities were being created at a rate of almost one per month. And any doubts of survival had disappeared. As the Mormons prepare to celebrate their 10th anniversary of arrival in the Salt Lake Valley in 1857. Brigham Young appeared singularly and solidly in command of all he surveyed. Thousands of European converts swelled the ranks of Mormons migrating to the Utah territory in the 1850s. Short on wagons in animals Brigham Young devised a plan to have the immigrants walk to the promised land with their few belongings stacked in carts pulled by him. I knew when I left England that ours was to be a hand-cart company. But it was impossible for me to realize the hardships I had to meet misgivings

or fear. Never entered my mind for it was the only way I could get design. And the journey had to be met with faith and courage. Susan Malveaux and went back. The hardship turned to tragedy in 1856 when two hand card companies delayed their start to accommodate hundreds of new immigrants trapped in early Wyoming blizzards. Members of the Wyllie and Martin hand-cart companies died by the dozen. Desperate they sent word to Salt Lake City that they would not survive without help. Brigham's strong leadership is reflected in the rescue effort and the story of the rescue effort is one that's not very often told in connection with the disaster. But Ted it was as heroic as the tragedy of the hand-carved companies themselves.

The weather commenced to snow and blow hard from the north. Here we met the advance of the hand-cart company it's presented a sad sight to see men women and children thinly clad poor and worn out with hunger and fatigue trudging along in this dreary country facing a severe snow storm and the wind blowing hard in their face as they stop. Even with the rescue effort championed by Brigham Young. More people died in the William Martin hand-cart companies than any other overland expedition to the west. It was a convulsive time in the Utah Territory. Immigrants streamed in on a steady basis swelling the population to more than 30000. Brigham Young was preaching a strong course of rededication to the kingdom of God and a rejection of external temptations. A period that historians would come to know as the Reformation. And the Mormon Commonwealth was on a rocky road with the federal government. A conflict fueled by federal officials fleeing the territory with dramatic stories of Mormon

disloyalty and polygamy. One of the most outspoken was territorial judge W.W. Drummond who arrived in Utah in 1855 promising to hold a tight rein on the Mormons. Drummin was accompanied by ADA Carroll who he introduced as his wife. But in reality she was a prostitute who had met Drummond in Washington just prior to his departure. She can't find things to do. So she follows him to court. And on those days when he has a court trial she's sitting on the bench with him. And depending on her feeling in the matter of what ever cases being heard she may or may not know the judge under the table. He. Would add a month or two to a sentence or a year. This does not escape notice in the Mormon community. Drummin fled the territory after one year sending a resignation letter to

Washington. March 30th 1857. I have concluded to resign the office of justice of the Supreme Court of the territory of Utah. The only rule of law by which the infatuated followers of this cruise people will be governed is a law of the church and that emanates from Governor Brigham Young and him alone. It is noon day madness and folly to attempt to administer the law in that territory. The facts are that they are as corrupt as hell and we know it and they would cut our throats and destroy these people if they had the power and they are endeavoring to stir up some kind of mess with the federal government. Brigham Young. The letter filled with charges against the Mormons caused an outrage in the nation's capital. Should such a state of things actually exist as we are led to infer from these reports. The knife must be applied to this pestiferous disgusting cancer which is gnawing into the very vitals of the body politic. It must be cut out by the roots and seared over by our red hot iron of stern unflinching

law. Senator Stephen A. Douglas in 1856 John C. Fremont ran for president of the United States as the first candidate of a new Republican Party. A party created under a banner of attacking the twin relics of barbarism slavery and polygamy. Fremont lost the election to James Buchanan but Buchanan was immediately faced with a nation disintegrating over slavery and a national economic crisis. He was under extraordinary political pressure to demonstrate leadership and President Buchanan wanted us a place where he could assert federal authority with no as it were back for. This is the first rebellion which has existed in our territories and humanity requires that we should put it down in such a manner that it shall be the last. We ought to go there with such an imposing force as to convince these deluded people that resistance would be in vain.

James Buchanan you can order twenty five hundred troops. Some 20 percent of the entire national army of the day to march to Utah to crush the rebellion. And Brigham Young vowed that they would never enter Utah territory that he would shed every drop of his blood and the blood of the defenders before he would allow that they sought and in Doomsday terms liars have reported that this people have committed treason and upon this misrepresentation the president has ordered out troops. We have transgressed no law neither do we intend so to do. But as for any nation coming to destroy these people God almighty being my helper it shall not be at the end of August 1857. Brigham Young declared martial law in the Utah territory. For the last 25 years. We have trusted officials of the government. From constables and justices to judges governors and presidents

only to be scorned held in derision insulted and betrayed. The issue which has thus been forced upon us compels us to resort to the first great law of self preservation and stand in our own defense. The order went out from Brigham Young to seal the borders and stop trading with California bound immigrants as a means of saving food for the looming war with the United States. It set the stage for the most dramatic bloody and painful chapter of Utah's early existence. As the declaration of martial law was being circulated. A California bound wagon company led by the Fancher family entered the Territory of Utah. Joining other wagon trains and scoffing at attempts to restrict travel as the company turned south for a warm weather route to California. Friction flared into hostilities. Rumors circulated that the company was poisoning waterholes or that they were promising to

send an army from the West to attack the Mormons. In the extreme southwest corner of the Utah territory. The wagon company pulled into a spot known as the mountain meadows and soon found themselves surrounded by what they thought were Indians. The local Mormon communities were well aware of what was taking place. They were already on a war footing heeding the advice from Brigham Young to be ready to defend their faith. They dispatched a rider to Salt Lake City to seek advice from young. On September 11th 1857 the Fancher party accepted an offer from local Mormon militia leaders to surrender and be escorted from the area. More than 100 men women and children were gunned down in their tracks. The only survivors were a dozen or so of the smallest children who were spared. Shortly after the massacre at Mountain Meadows the rider returned from Salt Lake City

go with all speed. No horse flesh. The Emigrants must not be meddled with. If it takes all iron County to prevent it they must go free and unmolested. Brigham Young. For years opponents would challenge the message and accused Brigham Young of masterminding the Mountain Meadows Massacre. But they would fail to produce evidence to support their claims. Young did participate in the story that blamed the attack solely on the Indians but even as the tragic end was playing out in southern Utah. Brigham Young was forced to turn his attention to the east. The Federal Army under the command of a controversial and sometimes brutal general William Harney was advancing on Utah. Brigham Young is very concerned and he knows that if William Harney is leading these troops that Brigham Young will die young ordered territorial militia commander Daniel Wells to build the fences and send out

raiding parties to harass the army as it neared Utah. Brigham Young sent an official letter warning all armed bodies of men from advancing into the valley calling on the forces of the territory to rally to the defense. And there for you ever see such impudence such an old idiot. We will show him on which side of his bread the butter spread. Captain Jesse go. But the army was slowed by the Mormon guerrilla attacks and then a change in command that sent General Harney back to the Midwest to deal with slavery riots. And then almost on cue in early Wyoming blizzard stun the federal army. It is so devastating that the 6th of November it was known as the camp of death and that night more than 500 animals died right in their tracks in the grips of winter. The Army could not advance on Utah and was forced to make camp on the edge of the territory

near Fort Bridger. Through the winter months the bravado that had marked Brigham Young's defiance was transformed by the weight of the challenge he now faced. In Washington President Buchanan was undergoing a similar change of heart when faced with growing opposition to his strike against Utah. Congress was demanding an explanation. Newspapers were turning on the president and Buchanan found himself desperate to remove himself from a Utah quagmire. I offer now a free and full pardon to all who will submit themselves to the authority of the federal government. James Buchanan. A peace commission delivered the offer to Brigham Young in Salt Lake City. I thank President Buchanan for forgiving me but I really cannot doubt what I have done. Young met Alfred coming the Georgian designated by Buchanan to replace young as governor and he found him to be courtly and considerate not a wild eyed

zealot bent on destroying the Mormons so young struck a deal except in coming as governor of the Utah Territory and agreeing to allow the army to occupy the region. In return there would be no action against the Mormons and the army would be forced to camp 40 miles away from Salt Lake City as the army prepared to march into Utah in the summer of 1858. Brigham Young orchestrated one final act of defiance. He tells everyone I don't know what you're going to do but we're getting out of here. And they move south. They began unmoved by moving to Provo and they moved every every family out of Great Salt Lake and they move into the Provo area and May. The city is abandoned for the Mormons to do that to evacuate the city. That was an enormous plus for them and the public prayers.

There is much that is noble in their devotion to their delusion. These Western pioneers seemed to be a nation of heroes ready to sacrifice everything rather than surrender one of their wives. The London Times. They seem not only resigned. But cheerful. It is the will of the Lord and they rejoice to exchange the comforts of home for the trials of the wilderness. I shall follow these people and attempt to rally them. Governor Alfred coming eventually. Brigham Young would order a return to the Salt Lake Valley a return to the homeland that was now certainly changed forever. The one thing that Brigham Young could not ever recover from was the influence of the real world on the Mormons. However we need to remember what the replacement Brigham Young governor Cummings said that it's true. I may be

governor of the territory but Brigham Young is governor of the people and he continued to be the people's governor in a realistic sense. He is a very hale and hearty looking man young for 64 with a light gray eye cold and uncertain and a mouth and chin betraying a great and determined will and when his eyes did sparkle it was most cheering. Samuel Boles the Springfield Republican in the early 1860s the appearance of Brigham Young underwent a dramatic change. A beard first appeared what would become a trademark for the rest of his life. But much of young was the same observers who expected his leadership to crumble under the federal Army's occupation of the Utah territory in 1858 were sorely disappointed.

But the de-facto reality was that Brigham Young was still the power to be reckoned with in Utah Territory and every governor who came there from Governor coming onward and recognized that fact and the power young exerted over the Utah Territory was extraordinary from a spiritual leader to economic master planner to political power broker. He was all of them. And these did not result in any conflict in his own mind in his own character. He was supremely confident that the Lord had appointed him to do this work. Many men wonder and say you latter day saints Why do you always do when your prophet leader tells you. We have proved during twenty five long years that God has blessed him everything he has told us to do. Rebel against him and his authority.

As well might we rebel against Jehovah himself. Or against Jesus. Q Can the reach of Young's authority infuriated federal officials in the Utah Territory including judges go back to Brigham Young your master that bottom end of sin and shame and disgust and tell him that I neither fear or love him but I really despise him. Tell him. That I did not come here by his permission and that I will not go away at his direction promised great federal. Territory. But there was an extraordinary bond between young and the Mormon people he had led to the west evidence about loyalty surfaced in 1862 when young called for a renewed bid for admission to the union a bid that included a new constitution and elections for office.

Votes cast nine thousand eight hundred eighty. For Brigham Young as governor. Nine thousand eight hundred eighty. The Deseret News. While the statehood bid failed descriptions of this man in the American West who held off the federal government reigns supreme piqued the curiosity of people throughout the world. One was the legendary British explorer Sir Richard Burton who traveled to Utah to observe the religious kingdom at work. Brigham Young removed his hat advanced to the end of the tree and leaning forward upon both hands began to address his followers. Discourse began slowly through gestures and round. If it had a fault it was rather rambling and disconnected and the address was very long. Sir Richard Barton he was very interesting even entertaining as the speaker. He was very dynamic very animated in that way. He was a great

speaker. The writer Fitzhugh Ludlow marveled that young status in the Mormon community when he was away from the pulpit as well. I talked with the president until a party of young girls who seemed to regard him with idolatry came to him with an invitation to join in some old fashioned dance long forgotten in the east. I was curious to see how he would acquit himself in the Supreme ordeal of dignity. And was much impressed by the aristocratic grace with which he went through his figures. Fitzhugh Ludlow. Young's unquestioned leadership along with what the nation perceived as a harem of wives in polygamy made him one of the most talked about figures in the nation. That even captured the interest of legendary circus promoter Phineas T Barnum. When young men P.T. Barnum young jokingly asked about the money that could be made in the east. Exhibiting himself to the curious. Mr. President I'll give you half three seats which I will guarantee shall be

more than two hundred thousand dollars a year. I consider you the best show in town. Phineas T. But there were far more serious exchanges when influential New York publisher or Horace Greeley traveled to Utah. He grilled young on the issue of slavery which was propelling the nation toward war. What is the position of the church with respect to slavery. We considered a divine institution and not to be abolished until the curse on ham shall be removed from his descendants. Are there any slaves now held in the territory there. Am I to infer that Utah if admitted as a member of the Federal Union will be a slave state. No. She will be a free state. I myself hire many laborers and pay them fair wages. Utah is not adapted to slave labor. The few slaves are who were in Utah and on the eve of the Civil War in 1860 census were matched by about an equal

number of free blacks in Utah. In 1860 approximately a hundred total fifty slaves 50 free blacks as the civil war erupted in the east. Brigham Young sought to play a deft hand to the nation. He portrayed Utah as fiercely loyal to the union. You say it is a pledge that I as well as the people of Utah are disloyal to the government of the United States. The allegation is utterly and absolutely false. If devotion to it love for my country constitutes disloyalty then I as well as this people are disloyal. But within the Utah Territory young often talked of the Civil War as Armageddon with the nations certain to crumble and Brigham Young put it best he said I hope both sides win when he expected both the Confederacy and the union to to

destroy themselves over this and for the the kingdom of God to fill the vacuum to come in and be the standard bearer of peace to the inhabitants of the former United States and that's how they were referring to it as the former United States. You'll all be out here before long. Are unions gone forever. Fighting only makes matters worse. When your country has become a desolation. We are the saints whom you cast out. Forget all your sins against us and give you a home. With the nation in the grip of total war and consumed with the future of the Union. Abraham Lincoln decided Brigham Young and the Mormons were issues that would simply have to wait. When I was a boy on the farm in Illinois there was a great deal of timber on the farms which we had to clear. Occasionally we come to a log which had fallen down. It was too hard to split. Too wet to burn

and too heavy to move. So we plowed around. That's what I intend to do with the Mormons. Abraham Lincoln. Next time on the conclusion of Brigham Young. The final years of Young's life for a study in grand contradictions his dream of building a sustainable society in the West is realized and the Utah Territory looms as a unique pinnacle of faith. But Brigham Young is forced to confront a rapidly changing world the economy politics and society require new strategies and young faces a unique challenge on the home front. Next time on the conclusion of Brigham Young. Funding for the production of Brigham Young was provided by a grant from the George S. and

Dolores Dora Eckles foundation