the railroad was finished. Fuel is not sufficiently abundant, and labour
is too high, to make it at all certain that iron can yet be made in the Ter-
ritory cheaper than it can be brought from the East.
But iron ore, or some product containing iron, is an absolute necessity
in the treatment of lead ores. Utah has seen many furnaces built, but with
an almost unceasing round of failures. It is impossible to give any other
reason for the ill-success of so many adventurers, except the general one
that they were ignorant of the work they undertook. But, if there is any
one of their errors which is especially prominent, it is their failure to seek
a cheap supply of iron ore. Instances have been known where the smelt-
ing of ore cost less than twenty dollars a ton for all expenses but the iron
ore used ; that alone amounted to fifteen dollars more. The reason of this
heavy expense is, that the ore is mined in Wyoming Territory, and carted
to the Pacific Railroad, on which it is carried to Salt Lake Valley, where
another cartage of twenty or twenty-five miles farther increases the expense.
For all this there is no need whatever. Utah contains a great number of
44
732 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
iron ore deposits which might be opened. Some are on the line of the
railway, as in Weber Canon,, much nearer Salt Lake City than those from
which ore is now drawn. Others are reported in other parts of the Terri-
tory, and there is strong probability that ore could be found within twen-
ty miles of the principal mining canons. A mine of this material conven-
ient to the smelting-works would be of the greatest value, not only to its
owners, but to 'the future of the Territory. It would decrease the cost of
smelting, in many cases one-third, and would contribute so much to thor-
ough work in the furnace that the furnace-owners of Utah would find it
to their interest to combine for the purpose of seeking iron ore in their
valley. Their dilemma will be greatly lessened when the Utah Southern
Railroad finds its way to the great deposits of the southern counties ; but
it is needless to wait so long.
As to localities at present known, magnetic ore is reported at Devil's
Gate, on the Weber River ; specular ore on Church Island, in the Lake ;
hematite ore at Farmington, between Salt Lake City and Ogden, and at
other places, in the Oquirrh Range, and to the southward.
Coal is really of secondary importance to iron, as to cost, but of course
it is a sine qua non in smelting. The character of Utah ore is such that
much of it requires twice the amount of iron ore as of coal, and at about
the same or a greater cost per ton. Utah is not well wooded. It lies so
far inland that it receives but little moisture from either ocean. Nothing
but the intense cold of winter enables it to arrest what few vapours escape
condensation on the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, and even in
winter the dryness of the air is such during the intervals between the
storms that the thick coating of snow evaporates with wonderful rapidity.
These conditions are not favourable to the growth of timber, and Utah
has little or no timber except in the mountain gorges, where it can be had
in considerable abundance for mining purposes when roads are constructed.
Fortunately, considerable deposits of coal are near at hand, and, though
it is net of the best description, being a cross between lignite and bitu-
minous coal, its value to the Territory is beyond expression. It can be used,
and there is no fear that the mines will outlast it. Its price, too, is such
that the enterprising metallurgist who undertakes the task of utilizing it
in the right way will find himself greatly profited. As yet nothing is
known of the exact extent of the coal-beds. They are found for more than
one hundred miles along the line of the railroad, and other beds are known
in the southern, or, more properly, the central part of the Territory. It is
by no means impossible that other deposits will be found in the heart of
Utah, and it is absolutely certain that the day is not far off when the smelt-
ers of the Territory will be forced to solve the problem of how to use
their coal.
Of building-material Utah offers many sorts. The first houses of the
Mormons were built of adobes or sun-dried bricks, a material which makes
an admirably close shelter. Excellent clay, both for common and for fire
bricks, is found. Of stone, there is quartzite, a hard, durable sandstone,
IMPORTANT DECISION UPON OLD LOCATIONS. 733
in almost every canon. Its colour is lighter than that used in the East, and
it is also of a livelier red. Probably, in its numerous beds of limestone,
some good building-varieties will be found, but the rock in the neighbour-
hood of the mines has been so much altered by metamorphic action as to
destroy its usefulness as a building-material. For the same reason, the
softer rocks discovered in the Plains are absent, or at least have not yet been
discovered in any quantity. For building-lumber it is at present for the most
part dependent upon the great forests of the Nevada Mountains, though
its mining-lumber is cut near the mines in which it is to be used. For
works which will bear a heavy cost, an excellent granite, light in colour
and wearing well, is at hand, and has been used in the foundations of the
Mormon Temple.
The great desideratum in a mining country is the assurance of being
in possession of a clear and valid title to property. Without it, the rich-
est mine in the world is nothing but a source of interminable litigation
and most aggravating annoyance. Owing to the peculiar difficulties which
beset the first mining prospectors in Utah, many were unable to work lo-
cations that were then made, and left the country. Till work had been
performed sufficiently to develop the presence of ore, $uch "locations " of
course had no actual value, and not infrequently the " location," made one
week, would be abandoned for a better " prospect " the following week.
In this way, some untiring, hopeful men spread their names over many
pages of record, and ultimately retired, disgusted and broken in spirit,
from the further pursuit of the buried wealth.
In all mining countries, the hill-sides are honeycombed with such aban-
doned locations, and, in some of the now regularly organized mining-dis-
tricts of Utah, they had, at one time, a very serious aspect ; but, fortu-
nately, a contest over interests of considerable importance has led recently
to an important decision by the Commissioners of the Land-Office, that
sets at rest the question of unworked and undeveloped ancient claims, and
gives a^urance and protection both to the honest miner and the enterpris-
ing capitalist.
Two discoveries had been made the Last Chance and Hiawatha in
Little Cottonwood Canon, in the summer of 1870, almost in a direct line
with the Emma. When the work on these discoveries developed to the
satisfaction of their owners, they were duly recorded, in the usual legal
way, both in the mining-district and with the County Recorder. In Jan-
uary, 1872, application was made, by Colonel E. A. "Wall, at the United
States Land-Office, for a patent covering the two mines. Before the ninety
days' notice had expired, another party, J. W. Haskin, filed a sworn pro-
test against the patenting of said claims, and averred that, " for the sum
" of one dollar," he had purchased certain prior-located claims, with which
the Last Chance and Hiawatha for which the patents were then asked
would come in contact to his injury. Commissioner Drummond, after
maturely reviewing the claims of the protesting party, not only in the case
734 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
of the mines named, but in other similar claims, set aside the protest, and
rendered a decision that must give great satisfaction to miners in general.
He says :
" Old abandoned locations appear upon the records of every mining-district,
which, provided the whereabouts of the locators can be ascertained, may be pur.
chased for a mere trifle : this being true not only of Utah, but in the other mineral-
producing States and Territories.
" In the great majority of these cases, these old locations were described upon the
records in such a vague and indefinite manner that the locus could not by any possi-
bility be determined with any degree of certainty from such record.
" To allow the interposition of the record of these abandoned, unoccupied claims
to be a bar to proceedings for patent 6y bona-fide claimants of an actual well-defined
vein or deposit, of which they have actual possession, and upon which they have
made substantial improvements, without the clearest and most unquestionable proof
of identity and actual conflict, would result in a virtual nullification of the Mining
Act ; these paper locations of undefined lodes, the locus of which cannot be deter-
mined, with any degree of cdrtainty, from such records, being conveniently floated
around so as to be made to conflict with any valuable mines in the sarae district,
which confliction is usually discovered immediately after the bona-fide claimant has
found his lode to be of value, and has applied for patent. . . . The records of all dis-
tricts show almost innumerable 'locations' of claims as lodes where sufficient work
was never done to test the fact whether such lode really had any existence or not.
" These locations were usually made years ago by various parties, who recorded a
lode for almost every hole dug by them while out prospecting, whether any ore was
found or not ; and to treat such records as valid adverse claims to property actually
worked and occupied by bona-fide claimants would put it in the power of a few
enterprising individuals to suspend, in a great measure, the execution of the mining
statutes.",
Though it may have been both unpleasant and expensive, to the parties
directly interested in these and other great mines in Utah, to have been
forced into litigation, their temporary misfortune, calling forth this deci-
sion, will be of lasting benefit to the future mining development of the
country.
From what has been said, the reader will gather that Utah has great
mineral resources. It is fully able to house and support any number of
people. As a field for the tourist it offers attractions to be found nowhere
else. Different from Nevada on the one hand, and from Colorado on the
other, its scenery is most like that of the Austrian Alps, but on a far
grander scale. Instead of valleys five or ten miles across, its mountains
lie twenty or thirty miles apart, stretching a hundred miles away before
they are lost to sight. The peculiar clearness of the air makes a vista of
sixty miles appear like a day's walk, and more than one unsuspecting East-
ern traveller has attempted to reach the mountains which lie so plainly
in sight from. Salt Lake City, in a walk before breakfast ! In one case,
after two hours' walk, the gentleman found that he was still twelve miles
from the foot of the mountain which he had expected to reach in half an
hour. Utah deserves a visit. To the Eastern man the change is usually
beneficial, and many a man overworked, but unable to find the right place
to recuperate in, could purchase health by riding and driving through the
sage-bush valleys of Utah, with just enough interest in the mines to give
him occupation.
APPENDIX.
[See page 617.] .
THE following is the speech of Gov. John B. Weller, at the
close of the examination of witnesses relative to the assassination
of Dr. J. King Robinson :
" Gentlemen of the Jury, let us look for one moment at the circumstances
connected with this case, as disclosed by the testimony : Doctor Robinson
(aged 31 years) had resided in this city for three years, having previously
been attached to the military forces as a surgeon. He was an amiable,
quiet Christian, universally loved and respected. In March last he was
married to a young lady of 18 years, of one of your most estimable fami-
lies. Ascertaining that certain property, upon which the Warm Spring is
found, near this city, was wholly unoccupied, and believing it to be a por-
tion of the public domain, locates on it and proceeds to make improve-
ments. Without any previous notice whatever, an armed force of the po-
lice is sent out by order of the city authorities, who destroy his buildings
and eject him from the premises. He appeals, as was the bounden duty
of a good citizen, to the organized tribunals of justice for redress. During
the progress of the case his counsel raise the question before the Chief Jus-
tice of the Federal Court, that the city, because .of the non-performance
of certain acts, had no legal existence. This question was fully argued,
and on the 19th day of October the Judge decided in favour of the city.
Dr. Robinson gave notice of his intention to appeal. On the llth day of
October, a bowling-saloon, owned by the doctor, was destroyed by a gang
of twenty or thirty men, part of whom were disguised. For this act, per-
formed at midnight, a number of persons were arrested, and on the 13th
day of October examined before the District Court. The Chief of Police
and two of his subordinates were identified as parties in this affair, and
bound over by the Chief Justice the first in the sum of $2,000, and the
other two in the sum of $1,500 each. On Saturday, the 20th, Dr. Robin-
son, under the advice of his counsel, goes to the house of the Mayor, to
give notice that he intends to hold the city responsible for the damages
736 APPENDIX.
which he had sustained by the wanton destruction of his property. The
Mayor, as soon as he ascertained who he was, ordered him to leave his
house. Great care is taken by the Telegraph newspaper to chronicle
this act the next morning in the following terms :
" ' As WELL TBALNED. The admiration for Zebra, Napoleon, and
Leopard, on Friday night, was " snuffed out " by the greater admiration for
Dr. Ball-alley, as he cleared from the Mayor's house yesterday afternoon.
His Honour had only to open the door, direct his finger, and the man of
pills and bluster vamosed with a grace that fairly eclipsed little Leopard
under the admirable direction of Bartholomew.'
" On the very next day after this publication, between the hours of 11
and 12 p. M., a man goes to the house of the doctor, after he had retired
to bed, wakes him up, tells him that a brother of his (Jones) had broken
his leg by the fall of a mule, that he was suffering very much and required
his professional services immediately. The doctor hastily throws on his
clothes and proceeds with this man upon what he regarded a mission of
mercy. At a distance of 175 steps from his dwelling he was struck over
the head two blows with some sharp instrument, and then immediately
shot through the brain. The shriek of the doctor when he was struck,
and the report of the pistol, were heard by a number of witnesses. Two
gentlemen in a boarding-house (distant from the scene of murder about
150 steps), who had not yet retired to bed, hearing the noise, stepped to
the window and saw three men running to the east at full speed. They
went down-stairs, and in a very few minutes found the murdered man. One
remains on the ground, and the other goes to the City Hall for the police.
He finds the Chief and five of his men sitting by the stove, all of whom
had shortly before returned from the circus. The Chief directs his men to
go down at once and investigate the matter, and then retires to bed. Ar-
riving at the scene of the murder, one policeman goes for Dr. Ormsby (a
distance of some 300 yards), who is too much indisposed to go out.
Three other physicians are sent for, who arrive in due time. The body is
removed to Independence Hall, some fifty yards. In the meanwhile the
poor wife is -informed of the murder. She wildly rushes to the Hall and
insists upon the removal of the body to the house. He is carried to the
house, and in an hour expires. Previous to this the police return to the
City Hall and retire to bed.
" One witness saw one of the assassins running from the spot towards
the northwest ; two witnesses saw three men running towards the east ;
three witnesses saw three men running south making in all seven men at
least engaged in the murder. Some of the witnesses saw the assassins at
a distance of four or five feet. The spot selected for the deed was on the
corner of one of the most public streets in the city. The moon was at its
full and shining brightly. One witness says ' it was light enough to find
a pin on the ground.' Between the place of murder and the house from
which he was decoyed is, as I have said, 175 steps. Between these two
points, on the same side of the street, there are five dwelling-houses, all
APPENDIX. 737
occupied by families, and on the opposite side the same number. The
nearest dwelling-house to the murder is forty feet.
" The shriek which preceded the report of the pistol was heard at a
distance of 250 steps.
" The Chief of Police goes down to the scene of the murder the third
day after. The Mayor is informed of the murder at 10 o'clock the day
after it occurred.
" And upon this evidence I have a few plain questions to propound,
which I will leave you and others to answer. I do not propose to discuss
them, simply because I could not do so without increasing the excitement
which already exists, and producing an exasperated state of feeling, which
could not at the present time result in any public good :
" 1. If my associate Judge Stout, the City Attorney, had been mur-
dered under the circumstances Dr. Kobinson was, would the police have
exhibited a greater degree of vigilance and energy ?
" 2. Would the attention of the 4,000 people who assembled at the * Tab-
ernacle ' (where secular affairs are often discussed), on the succeeding Sab-
bath, have been called to the crime, and they exhorted to use every effort
to ferret out the assassins ?
" 3. Could any prominent Mormon be murdered under the same cir-
cumstances, and no clew whatever found to the murderer ?
"4. Would any portion of the 500 special police have been called into
requisition or ordered on duty ?
" 5. Would any of the numerous witnesses who saw the assassins flee-
ing from their bloody work have been able to recognize and name them ?
" 6. Have we not utterly failed to prove, after full investigation, that
Dr. Robinson had a personal enemy in the world, and have we not proved
that he had had difficulties with none except the city authorities ?
" 7. Is there any evidence that he had done anything to make personal
enemies, unless it was having the Chief of Police and two others bound
over to answer a charge of riot ?
u 8. Would he have been murdered if he had not by his land-claim
raised a question as to the validity of the city charter ?
" 9. Would the ten-pin alley have been destroyed if it had not been
his property, and that he had a suit pending against the city ?
" 10. Would the Mayor of the city have ordered him out of his house
two days before he was murdered, if he had not understood that, he
claimed damages from the city for the wanton destruction of his prop-
erty?
"11. Is it not remarkable that a gang of men could go to a bowling-
alley, nearly surrounded by houses, within 60 steps of the most public
street of the city, between the hours of 11 and 12 at night, demolish the
windows and break up with axes and sledges the alley, and no witnesses
found to identify the men, or who knew anything whatever about the per-
petrators of the act ?
" 12. Are not the Jury satisfied that some witnesses have withheld evi-
738 APPENDIX.
dence calculated to fasten guilt upon certain parties, because they feared
personal violence ?
" 13. Is there not an organized influence here which prevents the de-
tection and punishment of men who commit acts of violence upon the per-
sons or property of ' Gentiles ? '
" 14. If a Mormon of good standing had been murdered, would the
Mayor, to whom the Chief of Police reports, have been informed of the act,
before 10 o'clock the next day ?
" 15. Would the Chief of Police have gone to bed as soon as he heard
of the crime, and waited three days before he visited the scene of the mur-
der?
" 16. Was the murder committed for the purpose of striking terror
into the ' Gentiles,' and preventing them from settling in this Territory ?
" 17. Is it the settled policy of the authorities here to prevent citizens
of the United States, not Mormons, from asserting their claims to a por-
tion of the public domain in the regularly-organized judicial tribunals of
the country ?
" 18. Are all legal questions which may arise in this city between * Mor-
mons ' and ' Gentiles ' to be settled by brute force ?
"19. Do the public teachings of the 'Tabernacle' lead the people to
respect and obey the laws of the country, or do they lead to violence and
bloodshed ?
" And now, gentlemen of the Jury, I have a few general remarks to
submit upon some of the incidental questions alluded to in the course of
the examination :
" I came here, as many persons well know, with no prejudices against
the people who control this city and Territory. When they were driven
out of Illinois and Missouri, I may have been familiar with the circum-
stances which led to the act, but I do not choose to go back and review
them. It is enough to say that a strong impression was left upon my
mind that they had been persecuted because of the peculiarities of the
religion which they professed. Under these circumetances, it is scarcely
necessary to say that my sympathies accompanied them in their weary pil-
grimage over barren and desolate plains and stupendous mountains into
these now pleasant valleys. Here they established settlements which,
without their labour and industry, would have remained in the undisturbed
possession of savages and wild beasts. The discovery of gold in Califor-
nia, the establishment of an Overland Mail, passing through this city, and
the subsequent discovery of rich minerals, in Nevada on the west and
Idaho and Montana on the north, afforded the people of Utah a ready
market, and at high prices, for all the products of their labour. Without
this the people would have remained isolated and their whole commerce
would have consisted in a simple exchange of commodities amongst them-
selves, and this city would have been an inconsiderable town.
"I have said that I have no prejudices whatever against these people.
I did not come here as a missionary or a moral reformer. I have endeav-
APPENDIX. 739
cured to obey the laws, respect the rights and opinions, and what I may
regard as the prejudices of the people. The religion which they profess I
have neither by argument, ridicule, nor otherwise attempted to change.
Under the Constitution, which of course is the supreme law of the land,
they have a right to worship God in their own way and according to the
dictates of their consciences. I never war against anything that is con-
stitutional. Nor have I attempted in any way whatever to interfere with
any peculiar institutions which they claim to have adopted (and which
now exist amongst them) upon Divine revelation. I have nothing, there-
fore, to say about, their religion or customs, but I have a few observations
to submit touching the public teachings of those who are recognized as
the leaders in this community :
" As a general principle, there can be no security for either person or
property in a community where any of the laws are openly disregarded.
I have been taught from my infancy to regard the Constitution, and the
laws of Congress passed in pursuance thereof, as the supreme law of the
land. To these, as an American citizen, I owe implicit obedience. Laws
might be passed which I may regard as unconstitutional or in derogation
of the rights of the people, but so long as they remain upon the statute-
book it is my duty to respect and obey them. If the people of this Terri-
tory consider any laws of Congress arbitrary, unjust, or unconstitutional,
they can only resort to the legislative power for a repeal, or to the Courts
for a judicial decision. Resistance to their execution, by force of arms, is
treason. Are not the people of this Territory exhorted by those who di-
rect and control their minds to disregard a law of Congress and obey the
behests of their spiritual advisers ? Have not sentiments been promul-
gated upon many occasions, in the ' Tabernacle,' calculated to inflame the
minds of the people against the ' Gentiles ' and lead to acts of violence ?
Is he not a dangerous teacher who advises the people to avenge their own
wrongs by taking the law into their own hands ? It is moral treason