AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY ELDER GEORGE A. SMITH, IN THE TABERNACLE,GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, AT THE GENERAL CONFERENCE, OCT. 7, 1853.
1:191
It is with pleasure that I have listened to the remarks of PresidentKimball. The sentiments he has advanced are true and just, and I am certainno person can have listened to them without having felt edified and instructed.
There is no doubt that a great proportion of the people who have beenhere in these valleys for years past, can bear witness to the counsel andinstructions that have been given, for the preservation of the settlements,and the establishment of the stakes of Zion within the limits of these mountains.Perhaps those persons, when they see me arise to occupy the stand will atonce say within themselves, "We are going to hear something in relationto enlarging the new settlements, making entirely new ones, establishingiron works, or some other thing of that nature, to draw our feelings outof the channel they have run in," for it is so really certain, thatI have scarcely attended a single Conference since I have been in the Valley,without having something of this kind to present during the term of Conference.I think, however, for the last year, it has not been my lot to address anassembly in this place. perhaps more than once or twice, and as I had beennoted for short sermons and short prayers, my addresses have also been few.But although my voice has not been heard from this stand, I have not beensilent, neither have I been idle.
I was appointed to preside over the affairs of the Church in the countyof Utah. I have also made two trips annually through the southern portionsof the territory, visiting all the Branches, taking considerable time anda great deal of interest in the affairs of Iron County, besides making asmany missions to this place as were necessary, to obtain counsel, and acquireinformation to carry on the work entrusted to my charge.
Any man that knows the country, and is acquainted with the businessthat has been placed before me, will be aware, that, lazy as I might be,I have had plenty to occupy my thoughts, and to give me active exertion,at least for the past year, in the exercise of my ministry and calling.
I present myself before you, then, to offer a few reflections upon whatI feel to be important for this Conference to consider for the safety, welfare,and protection of the Saints in the valleys of these mountains. I have beenmade familiar with the condition of our settlements south, and am awaresomewhat of the condition of our settlements in other parts of the territory.
In the commencement of my remarks, I will say, that the people almostuniversally do not realize the importance of listening to the voice of Godthrough His servant Brigham. My heart has been pained by the things thatare past, when I have been travelling and laboring in different parts ofthe territory; it has been pained to see the carelessness and indifferencewith which the words of the Almighty, through His servant, have been received.
Numbers were counselled to go to Iron County, and make there a strongsettlement, sufficiently so to enable the people to protect themselves,and establish iron works. Many started in that direction, and succeededin making the distance of from thirty to seventy miles, and concluded theyhad travelled far enough on good land without settling upon it.
Last spring, when President Young made his visit through the settlements,the county of Utah was very flourishing in appearance. Many splendid farmshad been opened, and men were living upon them with the same security andcarelessness as heretofore the people have done in the State of New York,where they need not fear the attacks of hostile Indians. The President hadpreviously counselled them to settle in forts, and not scatter asunder soas to render themselves in a state of helplessness in the case of attackby the red men. Forts had accordingly been surveyed, and cities had beensurveyed, where the people could gather together and fortify themselves;yet the great mass, I may say, or, at any rate, all the wealthy portionsof them, had selected good farms, and were building good buildings, andmaking improvements upon them, and were dwelling safely, scattered all overthe valley; a great many of them had lately come from England, and differentparts of the world, and were in a flourishing condition; cattle were increasingaround them, corn was growing in abundance, and fruit and all things seeminglywere beginning to flourish exceedingly.
On viewing this state of things, I said to myself, "Is this tobe the order of things? Are the people going to prosper in this way, whilein open violation of the counsels that have been given, namely, to gatherinto forts?" I knew that that state of affairs would not continue agreat length of time, and can call the men and women in every settlementto bear witness that I have publicly testified that that order of thingscould not remain; for when God has a Prophet on the earth, and that Prophettells the people what to do, and they neglect to do it, they must sufferfor it. I bear witness before you, this day, in the name of the Lord Godof Israel, that no people can treat lightly the sayings of a Prophet ofGod, whom He places on the earth to direct His people, and prosper. I knowit is impossible. I have borne this testimony to the settlements, in mypreachings, when I have visited them. In reply, the folks would say, "Thereis no danger, brother Smith, if we do live in the country, upon our farms,for it is so unpleasant to live in town."
When President Young was going south last season, in one of the largemeetings he addressed at Palmyra, in Utah County, he bore testimony, inthe name of the Lord God of Israel, that if the people did not gather intocities and forts, and fortify themselves, they could be driven out of thesemountains. If God had come down upon one of these mountains as He did uponMount Sinai, and kicked up a tremendous thunder storm, I could not havebeen impressed with the truth of those remarks one particle more than Iwas on that occasion. I knew Brigham to be a Prophet of the Lord, and esteemedhis words as the voice of God to the people.
I straightway commenced to encourage the people, and preached to them,and proposed laying out a fort for them, when they would perhaps turn aroundand say, "Really, brother Smith, do you think there is any danger?"I would say within myself, "Here are hundreds and thousands of brethrenthat have never been proved; they have never borne the heat and burden ofthe day, but they are picking up the fat valleys of Ephraim, and selectinggood farms, and securing to themselves beautiful situations, and makingsplendid improvements, and living in peace, and eating of the fat of theland, and forgetting their God. Can this state of things remain?
I went to every settlement, and attempted to encourage them to fort,but failed to accomplish anything towards getting them to obey the wordof the Lord on this matter. Some of them said they would move into fortsin the fall of the year.
Some time in the summer, however, a man, known in these mountains bythe name of Walker, found that the people cared nothing about God, or theinstructions of brother Brigham, and brother George A., so he said, "Iwonder if you will mind me;" and in less than one solitary week, hehad more than three hundred families on the move, houses were thrown downin every direction, and I presume one hundred thousand dollars' worth ofproperty was wasted.
Had the people listened to the counsel of President Young in the firstplace, and put their property in a proper place, it would have been protected.In the counties of Utah, Juab, and San Pete, the houses were vacated, andthe Indians got into them, and shot the brethren, so they had to be entirelydemolished, which rendered it necessary for great numbers to move into forts.This has been affected by brother Walker. That blood-thirsty Indian, inthis matter, had more influence to make the Saints obey counsel than thePresidency of this Church had, and could actually kick up a bigger fussin a few days than they could by simply telling the people the will of theLord.
When God places a man on the earth to be His mouth, he says this orthat is the law, and this is the thing for the people to obey. "Well,but," says one, "I cannot make as good a living in town as I canaway out on a farm, where I can keep a great many cattle." It appearsprobable to me, you might make more by going to parts of California, orAustralia, than yon can make even out on a farm in this country. If yourobject is to make as much earthly gain as possible, why not go where youcan get the most of it? This business of having one hand in the golden honey-potsof heaven, and the other in the dark regions of hell, undertaking to serveboth God and Mammon at once, will not answer.
Aside from the settlements in San Pete, I believe I have, more or less,been with nearly all the settlements south, and I have also visited theSan Pete settlements two or three times, and I do know, that if the counseland instructions of President Young could have been observed, it would havesaved the people at least one hundred thousand dollars. And I do furtherknow, to my satisfaction, that if the counsel of President Young had beenobserved, not one of the Saints would have lost his life by an Indian. Iam certain of these facts; and yet occasionally some man falls a prey tosome cruel savage, and whole villages have to be removed, and farms vacated,and tens of thousands of dollars' worth of damage is done all the time,because men will not live according to the instructions given to them bythe Prophet of God. If you ask men to build in a fort, they will say, "Itis a free country, and we can build there we please." I admit thata man is free to serve the devil if he thinks proper; but let me tell you,it is the cheapest in the end to do right.
There was no more necessity of having this Indian war than there isof our going out to kill the cattle on the plains of Jordan, and leave themfor the wolves to devour. If we had taken the course that was marked outto us, and observed the advice given to us, all our past troubles wouldnot have occurred. I Know this language will hurt the feelings of a greatmany.
But I will talk about Iron County, as I am the "Iron Major;"I am advancing in the ranks. They used to say, in Utah, I was a pretty goodsort of a fellow until I got to be a Colonel, and then I became more savage.Be this as it may, I do know, that if the people of Iron County had listenedto the counsel given to them, they would have saved to themselves in thatlittle settlement-not over eight hundred strong, not less than twenty-fivethousand dollars, which they have actually lost, or I may more properlysay, WASTED, in consequence of the disposition to do as they pleased. Whenwe first went to Iron County, we went with the same instructions the peoplehad in all the other settlements, and accordingly we laid out forts as wellas we were capable of. We will admit that those efforts were not plannedas well as they might have been, but they were planned as well as we knewhow to plan them at the time. A considerable number of men went to workat building forts, and those who did so were subjected to very little loss.But almost every time I have visited any settlement in Iron County, fromthe time it first commenced, up to the present, and I have been throughgreat proportion of them, I have had from one to fifty applicants saying,"Brother Smith, may I not go further, this way or that way, to makeme a farm? or, to the other place, to make me a ranch?" And so it wouldbe almost continually-asking for privileges to do things that they knewwere contrary to counsel. My answer would be, "Yes, of course, justas soon as the settlements are strong enough to secure to you protection;but it will not do to venture out, and separate far from each other, fortwo or three years. Until the settlements get strong, we must stay together,lest some evil influence should stir up the Indians, and destroy our settlementsentirely."
With all the influence I could use in those parts of the country, someof the brethren broke through and established several posts for cattle ranches,and commenced to open farms, but it was afterwards found necessary to gatherthese distant posts in, and those who were living on large farms, and erectingfine buildings, which either had to be removed away or entirely abandoned.All this trouble and loss of property could have been prevented, only forthat reckless disposition-"I want a little more liberty to go a littlefurther off."
As I had the honor to preside over Provo, I take the liberty to talkabout my own place, and tell its history, and I want all the new comersto profit by it. In the first place, there was a number of men wanted togo to Provo and make a settlement, and have a chance to fish in the waters,and trade with the Indians. They accordingly begged of the President tolet them go in accordance with their wishes. He finally gave them the privilegeof going there, if they would build a fort for their protection. They went,and made a beginning; they built something, but I never knew what it was.I have passed there, but not being very well acquainted with the scienceof fortification, nor with the science of topography, I never could findor frame a name for the thing which they built.
They then petitioned for the privilege of laying out a city with smalllots, and living in the capacity of a town, as it is so much more convenientto live in a town than in a fort. The President gave them the privilege,because he was afraid, I presume, if he had not granted it to them, someof their own careless boys, or the Indians, would set their hay on fireand burn up the whole concern. They went to work and laid out a city. ThePresident of that company is one of the most righteous men I ever was acquaintedwith; there is not a man living, I presume, would say any evil of him, andI am the last man to do it on any account; but he wanted to set an example,you know; for it is generally expected that Presidents and Bishops loveto set an example to the flock of Christ; so he went off up the creek, andfound a splendid piece of farming land. He took his cabin from the miserablehuddle they meant for a fort, and put it on this piece of land, and said,"Now, you poor brethren, (if he did not say it, I always thought hedid,) you stay in town, and I will remain here, and when I get rich I willremove into town, and build me a fine house, for these log cabins will notlook well in town." Every man that wanted to get rich went up the creekto what we technically call "the Bishop's," and pretty much allthe property went into the bushes, and there it remained until Walker spoke,and it was not a week after before this good President, and all who followedhis brave example, came bundling into town, after he had put up a thingup the creek among the bushes, that I call one of the mysteries of the kingdom.
Now if that man had taken the good and wholesome advice that was givenhim, he would now have been well off, it would have been over two thousanddollars in his pocket, and so it is with all the balance of the people whohave acted as he has. They have had to sacrifice all this property by takingtheir own way.
The Indian war is the result of our thinking we know better than ourPresident, the result of following our own counsel instead of the counselof Brigham Young. It has been the cause of almost all the loss of life andproperty that has been sustained from the Indians; that is, in the southerndepartments. Understand me, I do not pretend to say anything about mattersthis side the Utah mountains, but I will tell you what I think: I thinkthat all the forting I have seen in Great Salt Lake County-it is true Ihave not seen much of it, but the most of what I have seen amounts to nothingmore than a humbug; and if ever an Indian war comes upon you, you will beno better off than the distant settlements, unless you make timely calculationsfor it beforehand, and make them right. Such a war will cost you nearlyall you possess. I do not know that you will ever have one, but I shouldthink, allowing me to judge, that you have one on your hands now. And ifI had a family scattered out on any of these creeks, or living in any ofthese unfortified settlements, I should think it prudent for me to movethem into the city, or into a fort, and do it the first thing I did. Afterthe Indians have come and peeled your heads clean, murdered your wives,killed off your children, burnt your houses, and plundered your property,then you can move into forts, and it will be all right. That appears tome to be the kind of forting I can observe in the thinly settled parts ofthis county; in the cities the people are more wide awake.
I expect, brethren, I shall preach here again, if I live, and I shallprobably preach about the Indian difficulties, about the Indian war, ifthey did say I was the biggest coward south of the Utah mountains, and thatI dare not go out anywhere, not even for my cows, without my gun, and generallywith somebody with me; and consequently being so nervously afraid, I shallsay to the new comers, especially if they want to be preserved and to savetheir property, and labour to preserve the lives of their families, theyhave got to take the counsel of President Young, and that is, to SETTLEIN FORTS-and have fortified cities; and not only to settle in forts andcities, but to go armed, and not be overtaken and murdered by the way, inthe manner that some have been.
You might suppose, because I am so cowardly, that I am very anxiousto kill the Indians; but no man ever heard me undertake to advocate thebusiness of killing Indians, unless it was in self defence; and in no ordersthat I have issued (and I have issued a great many under different circumstancessince the war commenced, being the "Iron Colonel,") have I evergiven licence of this kind, but to act in defence of ourselves and property.For I do believe, if the people can be made to listen to President Young'scounsel, we can close the war without bloodshed. I have believed it allthe time, and I have acted upon it. With the exception of a few blood-thirstyindividuals that may have to be punished for their crimes, the great bodyof the Indians that have been affected, can be brought to peace and duty,if the people themselves will observe their instructions.
I know not what my friends may think of me for talking as I have today;but I have expressed freely my candid sentiments, and I can express nothingelse; at the same time I do not consider that the Indians have had any provocationin any shape or manner, to cause them to commence this war upon their friends.I believe it was commenced through the influence of some corrupt individualswho were fired with a desire for plunder; and that it never would have beencommenced at all, if the people had all been in forts, as they ought tohave been, notwithstanding this influence. But when the Indians saw propertyscattered all over the plains, thousands of cattle and horse, with grainand everything spread before them, in an unprotected condition, those thatwere evil minded among them coveted our property, and thought we could notdefend it. And sure enough we could not, for we have more property thanwe can defend, we have more cattle than we can take care of; Indians cansteal from us all the time, and we cannot take care of that which God hasgiven us, because we have so much of it; and for want of its being broughtunder a proper organization, it is badly scattered and exposed; and untilwe make proper provisions to take care of our stock, evil minded personswill plunder us.
If we had built our forts, established our corrals, and taken care ofevery thing we had, according to the instructions that all the new settlementsreceived, this Indian war never would have commenced, because the Indianswould have discovered there was no chance for plunder. They had no ideawe would move into forts as we have done.
I advised one individual, before he built a house out on a farm, tobuild in the city. O no, he must have more room; and he built in one ofthe most dangerous positions in the mountains. By and by the Indians drovehim in. I absolutely did know, if I let that man's house stand, his familywould sooner or later be murdered, which might have occurred any day; soI issued an order for it to be removed. He durst not trust me to removeit, for fear I should break something; and don't you think the poor miserablefellow broke two joists in removing it himself, which did not appear sosmall a matter to him as it does to us. He lost considerable, because hewould not build in a safe place. His house was situated in a position tocompletely command the mouth of a kanyon, and at the same time a more dangerousplace did not exist in the district; the safety of the settlement actuallyrequired its removal.
There were several men wounded through leaving their houses and notthrowing them down, for they became a barricade for the Indians; so I tookupon me the responsibility of removing such dangerous places as would giveshelter to our enemies, while they pierced us with their bullets.
Some men would tell me such a course was not strictly according to law.I told them I should save the lives of the people. And if they had not beengathered up, scores of men, women, and children would have been butcheredbefore now.
I presume I have talked to you long enough. It is a matter I feel considerableabout. I know men are careless, women are careless; and if there is notgreater care taken, women will be carried away prisoners; and their childrenwill be murdered, if they wander off carelessly and unprotected. I tellyou, in a country like this, where women are scarce and hard to get, wehave great need to take care of them, and not let the Indians have them.
Walker himself has teased me for a white wife; and if any of the sisterswill volunteer to marry him, I believe I can close the war forthwith. Iam certain, unless men take better care of their women, Walker may supplyhimself on a liberal scale, and without closing the war either.
In conclusion I will say, if any lady wishes to be Mrs. Walker, if shewill report herself to me. I will agree to negociate [negotiate] the match.