FW

Salt Lake City Under Brigham Young


The saints not only had it hard the first winter they were there but it was also hard during there second winter as well. It was hard mainly because of the crickets that came and ate everything. During that winter Heber C. Kimball at a conference promised the saints that in a short period of time they will be able to have everything they had before and they could buy anything that they had before for unbelievable prices. There were many who did not believe this prophecy because it seemed like they was nothing out where they were in SLC. Heber C. Kimball also wondered himself if he might have said too much. The saints soon realized that this promise came true. There were hundreds of people traveling to California for the gold rush and they would stop in SLC on the way. When they would stop they would dump all the stuff they had been carrying because they didn’t want to travel with it across the mountains so they would sell their furniture and other things to the saints for almost nothing. The saints during this time also try to make Utah a state. The government denies them so the saints decide to still run as if they were a state. They called it the State of Deseret. The governor was Brigham Young, Secretary of State was Willard Richards, and the Chief Justice was Heber C. Kimball. They made a militia, counties, and a University which is the University of Utah today. They also made it so the church could own property and have its own legal identity unlike before. This was the very beginings of a church owning property.