Chapter 3: Salt Lake
Valley
“The wilderness and
the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and
blossom as the rose” (Isaiah 35:1)
The Valley of the Great Salt Lake provided a near perfect
location for a people wanting to be left alone. The nearest city of any size to
the east was near 1000 miles away.
California and the Pacific Coast was almost as far to the west and in
between was the foreboding deserts of the Great Basin – an arid land of low
level mountains, sage brush valleys and few consistent sources of water. Wild red rock canyons and even wilder Indians
lay to the south and southeast, and to the north was the mountainous, little
explored land of John Colter and Jim Bridger.
Having established that this was the right place, Brigham
Young stayed in the Valley for a few weeks then returned along with others from
the advance company to Winter Quarters to help prepare for the trek the
following year. Along the way back he
encountered the several other companies headed west that summer of 1847. The travelers were thrilled by the presence
of their leader and reassured by his reports of their future home. Harrison Sperry relates:
“Before leaving the
plains I must tell you of our meeting with the Brigham Young party. They were returning to Winter Quarters to
bring back their families. They had been
to the Salt Lake Valley. They had located our future homes…They had even staked
out the place where Brigham Young had put down his cane and said, “Here the
Temple of our God will be erected.”
Brigham Young and his returning party camped with us that night. We were excited and had a great time that
night.” (1)
The wagon road into the Salt Lake Valley involved steep
climbs over high mountain passes. The
Sidwells, Sperrys, Chappells and
Dunsdons all arrived in the Valley in the fall. The mountain Quaking Aspen
would have been turning yellow and the oak brush red and creating beautiful vistas for the weary travelers. While fall is a beautiful time in the Wasatch
Mountains, the nights would have been cool, if not cold - frost likely greeted
them each morning. From the top of Big
Mountain – the highest pass along the wagon road, the families would have
gotten their first view of their future home.
They likely experienced a mix of emotions as they looked
down on the broad distant valley opening up beyond the narrow wooded canyon
lying just below them. While welcoming
an end to their long excursion, they likely were a bit taken back by the barren
nature of the low lying land bordered to the west by even more mountains and a
glistening Great Salt Lake.
| Coming into the Salt Lake Valley |
Wilford Woodruf, a member of the advance company with
Brigham Young, expressed his feelings as follows:
”We gazed with wonder
and admiration upon the vast rich, fertile valley which lay for about 25 miles
in length and 16 miles in width, clothed with the heaviest garb of green
vegetation in the midst of which lay a large lake of salt water … Our hearts
were surely made glad … to gaze upon a valley of such vast extent and entirely
surrounded with a perfect chain of everlasting hills and mountains covered with
eternal snows … presenting at one view the grandest and most sublime scenery
probably that could be obtained on the globe.” (2)
But there were also some who were less enthusiastic. Having struggled across the treeless plains
and the dusty high desert of Wyoming, many had envisioned a verdant home with
trees, waving grass and rippling streams of water. While the rippling streams were there, there
was nothing pastoral about the Salt Lake Valley, especially in late summer or
early fall.
“ According to Daniel
Tyler's history of the Mormon Battalion, Samuel Brannan complained that
"the Saints could not possibly subsist in the Great Salt Lake Valley, as,
according to the testimony of the mountaineers, it froze every month of the
year, and the ground was too dry to sprout seeds without irrigation, and
irrigated with the cold mountain streams the seeds planted would be chilled and
prevented from growing; but if they did grow they would be sickly and fail to
mature." Lorenzo Dow Young, Brigham Young's brother, remembered that
except for two or three cottonwoods along the streams no other trees were in
sight. Lorenzo's wife Harriet lamented, "Weak and weary as I am, I would
rather go a thousand miles further than to remain in such a forsaken place as
this." Her daughter added that she "was heartbroken because there were
no trees to be seen" and that the other women of the party also "felt
a sense of desolation and loneliness—in the new country to which they had
come."(3)
The Jedediah M. Grant Company of the which the Sperry and
Sidwell families were a part, arrived in the Salt Lake Valley between October 2
and October 4 1847.(lds.org, Mormon Pioneer Overland Trail, 1847-1868) The journal of Harrison Sperry describes the arrival and the initial work of the family
as they settled into their new home. They,
along with the other pioneers of 1847, built adjoining homes of log and adobe
in the shape of a square fort. Two forts
were built each being in size about 10 acres.
Harrison Sperry gives a very nice summary of building and living in the Fort:
“It was late in the
year, and the next most important thing to do was to prepare for winter…Our
little orphaned family of five souls reached our destination with two wagons,
four oxen, two or three cows, and a tolerable good outfit. We settled near the southeast corner of the
Old South Fort…Our first duty was to make adobes. They were large adobes, being about 18 inches
long and 10 inches wide. Our houses,
when finished, were purposely joined together for protection from the Indians
and the weather. Each family was allowed
as much space as they required. All of
the houses were about 9 or 10 feet high.
The roofs were first overlaid with poles, then overspread with grass or
hay, then the whole roof was covered with earth or dirt. This made it quite comfortable. Our floor was bare ground, or perhaps a wagon
cover spread over it.”(4)
 |
| Old Salt Lake Fort |
While the accommodations were adequate and provided shelter
for the winter, the nearly flat roofs and unseasoned adobe proved to be
inadequate as the spring thaw and rains came. Again from Harrison Sperry’s
journal:
“I must tell you more
about our homes in the fort. Our adobes
were very large. We laid them right upon
the ground without any foundation of rock.
During the next spring (1848) when storms and rain came, the houses
began to leak. The ground became soft.
Once the bottom layers were affected, the front of our house all fell out. What a mess we were in. Our bed clothes became wet. We were all soaked through. However, the sun came out again after a
spell. We dried out our clothes and
bedding. And we prepared ourselves
mentally and spiritually for other surprises.” (5)
Along with the thaw, the leaking roofs and crumbling walls,
the pioneers did, indeed have other surprises. “Further discomfort was caused
by innumerable swarms of mice. Digging cavities and running about under the
earthen floor, they caused the ground to tremble, and when the rain loosened
the stones of the roofs, scampered off in hordes. Frequently fifty or sixty had
to be caught and killed before the family could sleep.” (6)
The Sperry and
Sidwell families shared adjoining rooms near the southeast corner of the South
Fort. From the Sidwell Family History we
have:
“Soon after Margaret
Sidwell’s arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, she became acquainted with the
Sperry Family, their home being separated only by an adobe wall. A friendship grew between William and
Margaret which ripened into love, and in the year of 1849 they were married”.
(7)
Having spent a rather mild winter the Saints were optimistic
that spring of 1848. However, an early frost in May and crickets in June nearly
destroyed their early plantings.
Miraculously, the sea gulls from the shores of nearby Great Salt Lake
helped stave off the cricket infestation.
However, frost, drought and cattle took their toll on crops in the fall
and the with winter coming on, the survival of the gathering immigrants was not at all secure.(8)
It was into these circumstances that the Thomas Chappell and
Sarah Marie Gavitt family arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on the 24th of
September1848. They were a part of the second of three companies to arrive that
fall. Brigham Young led the lead company of some 1200 members who arrived
between September 20 and September 24th. The Heber C. Kimball Company
of some 660 members of which the Chappells were a part arrived on September 24th. The third company to arrive that fall, led by
Willard Richards and divided into two divisions the second being led by Amasa
Lyman, arrived between October 10 and October 19. It was comprised of about 520 members.(9)
I’m sure there was great rejoicing in the Valley as the
first of the three large wagon trains of that year arrived. Some 1800 individuals had arrived the summer
of fall of 1847 and had been very busy planting, building, and preparing for
the arrival of more of their fellow Saints.
To have their leader, Brigham
Young, back among them surely increased their confidence as the winter fast
approached. However how to care for the
arrival of some 2400 people in the wagon trains along with returning members of
the Mormon Battalion arriving from California must have weighed heavily on the
minds of the leaders. The new arrivals
would have increased the population to some 4250. Happily, the companies arriving in 1848 were
well supplied but were in urgent need of a place to live. (10)
We don’t have any details regarding the living
accommodations of the Chappell family that first winter in the Salt Lake Valley. While the inhabitants of the Valley had spent
the first winter together in the two forts, by early spring 1848 many had begun
venturing out and establishing other communities. Many of the new arrivals would have moved
into the fort, while others may have created living quarters in the new
settlements. We do know East Mill Creek,
the eventual home of the Chappell family, was established prior to their
arrival. John Neff had established a
mill on Mill Creek, a stream south east of Salt Lake City, during the spring of
1848 .
“A few months later, in the fall of 1848, John Neff moved his family to
the mill he had built on Mill Creek. He
was joined that year by two other mill builders, Robert and Archibald Gardner,
who built a saw mill and a grist mill on the stream. Ultimately, sixteen mills
dotted the banks of the creek, supporting a community of millers and farmers
called East Mill Creek.” (11)
Whereas the previous winter had been mild, the winter of
1848-49 was intense. In their first general epistle to the Saints abroad,
Brigham Young and his counselors described the weather as follows:
“Excessive cold
commenced on the 1st of December, and continued till the latter part of
February. Snow storms were frequent, and though there were several thaws, the
earth was not without snow during that period, varying from one to three feet
in depth, both in time and place. The coldest day of the past winter was the
5th of February, the mercury falling to 33 degrees below freezing point, and
the warmest day was Sunday, the 25th of February, with the mercury rising 21
degrees above the freezing point Fahrenheit. Violent and contrary winds have
been frequent. The snow on the surrounding mountains has been much deeper,
which has made the wood very difficult of access, while the cattle become so
poor through fasting and scanty fare that it has been difficult to draw the
necessary fuel and many have had to suffer more or less from the want thereof.
The winter commenced at an unusual and unexpected moment and found many of the
brethren without houses or fuel. Although there has been considerable
suffering, there have been no deaths by the frost. Three attempts have been
made by the brethren with pack animals or snow shoes to visit Fort Bridger
since the snow fall but have failed. As the winter progressed, many settlers
satiated their hunger with rawhides, sego roots, and thistles. Apparently none,
however, followed the Indians in eating grasshoppers and crickets.” (12)
Despite the difficult winter of 1848-49, all of our
ancestors survived the hungry cold and as the weather warmed began building a
home. East Mill Creek lies to the south
and east of Salt Lake City proper. While
the bottom of the Salt Lake Valley is quite level, moving to the east, the
terrain slopes up toward the mountains.
Rivers flowing into the ancient Lake Bonneville, an inland "ocean"
at its peak filling most of Western Utah and extending into Nevada and southern
Idaho, deposited large fans of sediments into the valley and created a series
of benches along the bases of the towering Wasatch Mountains. Mill Creek,
emerging from a narrow canyon high on the eastern bench, tumbled down the
higher terrain into the valley bellow and proved to be of favorable nature on
which to build water powered mills, both for timber and food. Along this stream, the community of East Mill
Creek was established in 1848 with John Neff being its first inhabitant.
 |
| John Neff mill in East Millcreek |
It was in East Mill Creek that Thomas Chappell and his son,
George Armstrong Chappell received their land allotments. Allotments were granted according to need and
water rights were attached to the land.
They, along with the other new residents of the valley, quickly went about
clearing the land, plowing, planting and creating irrigation ditches through
which the mountain streams could water their freshly planted crops. In the 1850 US Census, the family consisted of Thomas, age 55, Sally
(Sarah), age 46, George, 28, Edwin, 16, Lucy, 14 and Mary Garrett (Mary Nye
Gavitt – mother of Sarah Marie). (13) While we don't know much about their home
and farm, the story of Ryan Weech and his family does give us some insight.
Ryan Weech’s parents had joined the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day Saints in England and came to America to gather with the Saints
in Salt Lake City. After living 8 years
in the Midwest, they were finally able to come on to Salt Lake City in the
summer of 1856. The group consisted of 9
individuals; Hyrum , his mother, Elizabeth, six sisters, and an older brother
and his wife. (His father had died in 1852).
“We arrived in Salt Lake City on the 3rd of
October 1856. Mother had only three cents left. We gave up the wagon which we
had brought across the plains to the owner. We moved to a Mr. Chapple’s farm on
Mill Creek, four miles south of Salt Lake City. Mother, my young sister and I
went into the wheat fields where the wheat had been grown and picked up the
heads of wheat one by one which had been left. We gathered until our hands were
full and then tied the bundles with straw. In the evenings we stacked up in the
corner what we had picked during the day. We were living in a little one room
log cabin.
My two older sisters
had places to work in the homes of families in Salt Lake City. My brothers were
working for the neighboring farmers for which they were paid in potatoes,
squash and molasses made from beets which was the only sweetening we had. The
squash was cut in rings and dried. We couldn’t get flour on pay for work as the
grasshoppers had eaten so much of the crops the year before and the farmers
were so afraid that they would come again that they would not part with wheat
or flour. We thrashed the wheat we had gleaned by hand as we needed it and
ground it in a coffee mill. This was made into cakes baked in a frying pan over
a fire in a fireplace. These were very sparing. The most of our meals were
potatoes.
The winter came on
early and we had no wood. My older brother borrowed a wagon and he and I went
to Mill Creek Canyon to get a load of wood. The snow was quite deep. We got a
small load of wood and started back about sundown. We had about eight miles to
go and it was getting very cold. My brother walked and drove the oxen while I
rode on the load of wood. When we got home, my brother’s feet were frozen and
he was laid up all winter.
As soon as spring
opened we planted a garden. We had rented a few acres of ground from Mr.
Chapple. We had to keep a part of the wheat for seed so that this left us but
little to grind and make bread. As soon as the snow went off of the meadows and
the thistles appeared above the ground we dug up the roots and lived on them
until the peas got large enough to pick. Then the new potatoes came on. The old
ones had all been used for living and seed. We planted the few acres we had
rented in wheat and when harvested, it was about one third smut. When ground
into flour, the bread made from it was very dark and the flavor not very good.
Still it was better than thistle roots, green peas, potatoes or barley bread made
from barley flour. As barley ripened earlier than wheat we went and gleaned the
barley that was left on the ground and thrashed it by hand. We took it to the
mill, got the flour and made bread of it before our wheat was ripe”.(14)
The Chapple family mentioned in this history is most
certainly that of Thomas and Sarah Chappell.
No other “Chappell” family was residing in East Mill Creek at the
time. We can surmise that the small one
room log cabin the Weech family lived in was the initial home built by Thomas
and his son George. Thomas, Sarah and their children, George, Lucy Maria and
Edwin likely found the cabin quite accommodating until they could build a
larger home on the farm.
William and Margaret Sidwell Sperry were allotted property in Salt Lake City. For the
next several years both the Sperry and Chappell families would have been
involved in plowing, planting, building, fixing and caring for themselves and
their neighbors.
 |
| Early settlement of Salt Lake Valley |
While cooperative
hard work has always been a hall mark of Mormon Pioneers, community recreation
was also important. Unlike some other
religious zealots, such as the Puritans of early American history, the Mormons
enjoyed music, dancing, and making merry as a community. Light hearted recreation
was considered good for the soul and an important part of their lives. Brigham Young commented:
“Our work, our everyday labor, our whole
lives are within the scope of our religion. This is what we believe, and what
we try to practice. Recreation and diversion are as necessary to our well-being
as the most serious pursuits of life. If you wish to dance, dance, and you are
just as prepared for prayer meeting as you were before, if you are Saints.”
(15)
Regardless of the
time and place and difficulty of circumstances, like a desert flower, human attractions
- courtship and love - always find a way to blossom. William Sperry and Margaret Sidwell, next
door neighbors in the old South Fort were married on October 4, 1849. William's younger brother, Charles had
married earlier in the year on 21 Feb 1848, while Lucy Maria Chappell, age
15, married Solomon Thomas on May 23,
1852. (16)
George Armstrong Chappell was an eligible bachelor before
arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, and as 1851 rolled around – nearing 2 years
in Utah – finding a suitable companion and marriage was surely more on his
mind. Some time that year, a petit young
immigrant from England moved into Mill Creek and caught his eye. Later that year they were married (17) and as
1853 turned to 1854 they were expecting their first child and life was full of
promise. Little did he know his life
with her would be brief. Her name was
Anna Maria Dunsdan.
References:
1.
Harrison Sperry, “Sperry Family Crossing the Plains”,
Original Journal of Harrison Sperry, as found in: “George Armstrong and Aurilla Sperry
Chappell”, Compilation of Family History and Genealogy by the Descendants of
George Armstrong Chappell and Aurilla Sperry, p..134
2.
Eugene E. Campbell, “Establishing Zion: The Mormon Church in the American West,
1847-69”, 1988, Signature Books, Salt Lake City, Utah.
3.
Campbell, “Establishing Zion..”
4.
Harrison Sperry, Journal, p. 134
5.
Harrison Sperry, Journal, p. 135
6.
Hubert Howe Bancroft, “History of Utah,
1540-1886”, 1889, The History Company, San Francisco, California, www.utlm.org/onlinebooks, pp. 277-78
7.
History of William Lamont Sperry, as found in :
“George Armstrong and Aurilla Sperry Chappell”, Compilation of Family History
and Genealogy by the Descendants of George Armstrong Chappell and Aurilla
Sperry, p.139
8.
Campbell, Chapter 2
10.
Campbell, Chapter 2
11.
Campbell, Chapter 4
12.
Campbell, Chapter 2
13.
1850 US Census, as found on www.ancestry.com
15.
Arrington, Georganna Ballif. "Dance in
Mormonism: the Dancingest Denomination." In Focus on Dance X: Religion and
Dance, eds. Dennis J. Fallon and Mary Jane Wolbers. (Reston, Va.: National
Dance Association, 1982) p.32
16.
Family Genealogy Records
17.
Information on the LDS web site, www.new.familysearch.org, records
the marriage of George Armstrong Chappell and Anna Maria Dunsdon as occurring
in East Mill Creek in 1851. However, no
primary data source is available at this time and the marriage may have
occurred later than 1851 in that Anna Maria did not arrive in the Salt Lake
Valley until late 1851 and they did not have their first child until 1854. Also, family history noted in the George
Armstrong and Aurilla Sperry Chappell book, state George Armstrong Chappell and
Anna Marie Dunston were married in 1851.
If Anna Marie was indeed born in 1838, it would seem more plausible that
she would have married George Armstrong in 1853, at age 15. The fact that she was not expecting her first
baby until late 1853 would be consistent with a marriage later than 1851.
No comments:
Post a Comment