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Farson, Wyoming is a tiny crossroads farming community of about 300 souls, located in the southwest portion of the state and at least 50 miles from any other hint of civilization. It has been a crossroads for the westward migration since the days of the fur trade. On the south edge of town we found this little marker, which is self-explanatory.
I spent some time wondering what these two old fellows would say now if they could see the Salt Lake valley. Brigham Young lived long enough to see his efforts bring success probably far beyond his wildest dreams. Jim Bridger lived to a ripe old age but history does not record any evidence of him paying up on the wager, or ever visiting the valley in his later years.
A deep rift developed between Bridger and the Mormons, after Mormon militiamen burned Fort Bridger, and harrassed advance parties, as part of their strategy to stop the advance of "Johnson's Army" which had been dispatched to quell what some called the "Mormon Revolt" or "Mormon Rebellion." In fact, the Mormons, having been driven from every previous refuge, just wanted to be left alone; to live their lives and worship as they pleased. The Army finally did arrive in the Salt Lake Valley, only to find the City pretty much abandoned. They moved on through the valley and set up headquarters at Camp Floyd, near Utah Lake.
As far as the wager is concerned, there is no record that it was ever paid.
Last edited by Buck Elliott on Wed Aug 12, 2009 4:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Regards
Buck
Life has a way of making the foreseeable that which never happens, and the unforeseeable, that which your life becomes...
My Great, Great Grandfather and his family made that trip to settle the Salt Lake Valley. He was then sent by Brigham Young to settle the Bear Lake Valley in southeast Idaho. There my family still resides.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
NRA Life Endowment
SASS & CAS
Born in Idaho, the same great state Elmer Keith & Jack O'Conner lived in and loved.
Once upon a time, there was a ferry at Big Sandy Crossing (present Farson) run by 2 or 3 old mountain men. When one of the stranded & rescued handcart companies finally reached the ferry, after slogging many miserable miles through early-winter blizzards and numbing cold, a couple of the old trappers took a fancy to a couple of the young ladies in the company, and convinced them to commit to the matrimonial process and remain at the Crossing.
FWIW, my Great-Great-Grandfather was in the Martin handcart company, and made that journey all the way into the Salt Lake Valley.
Regards
Buck
Life has a way of making the foreseeable that which never happens, and the unforeseeable, that which your life becomes...
mescalero1 wrote:How is one " sent " to settle a particular area?
I think the Mormons were so busy trying not to get murdered by the non-Mormons that they tried to pick remote areas they could settle in where they would be less at risk from Indian attack than from other protestant whites attacking them. Naturally, they would pick out-of-the-way areas with some potential for water, fertile soil, etc., and then try to 'settle' them by 'sending' the braver souls to start a community, then others would follow.
The Mormons were the earliest pro-women's-vote group (yeah, I know THAT may have backfired... ) so that they could keep a political majority in the areas they settled, and keep from being legislatively messed with. They also were VERY pro-gun (and still are) since they were more prone to getting shot at or their homes or houses or churches burned down, than the average citizen.
John Moses Browning was one of the more famous Mormons of that era, I believe.
Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws "first do no harm" - gun control LAWS lead to far more deaths than 'easy access' ever could.
mescalero1 wrote:So Brigham Young could set goals for others to accomplsh?
He could hardly accomplish them all by himself. The LDS religion espouses community involvement and participation -- all voluntary. Brigham Young sent families -- usually those with strong leaders -- to settle areas in the Mountain West, partly to give each man an opportunity to make something of himself and to raise his family, and partly to provide a network of connected communities for commerce and for protection from the outside world.
Remember, they had been driven from pillar to post; shot; hanged; tarred-&-feathered; burned out in mob raids carried out under cover of darkness; had their leaders murdered and their homes, farms, crops and businesses destroyed and looted. They wanted nothing to do with the governments and politics they had left behind, to come to a place no one else knew much about or wanted. They worked hard and they prospered, They toiled and they died, and indeed, made Brigham's prediction come true -- that the dessert would "blossom as a rose..."
Regards
Buck
Life has a way of making the foreseeable that which never happens, and the unforeseeable, that which your life becomes...
John Browning was indeed a devout Mormon. The early Mormons were persecuted mercilessly as described, I would add that the "extermination order" given by Governor Boggs (I think that was his name) of MO. to kill any Mormon on site was not purged from the MO. books until 1957. When my GGGrandfather was "called" by Brigham Young, as he wrote it in is personal journal of which I have a copy, he considered it a calling from God. He had a choice to say no but did not and moved his family to the mountain valley that was inhabited by nothing but Indians and trappers. He had only been there for about six months and then was called by Brigham to serve a mission in Switzerland and then England leaving his young family in a fledgling community while he served without "purse or script" for six years before returning home. Oh I almost forgot. His family consisted of three wifes and a bushel of kids. I don't know how they did it. I can't handle my one wife.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
NRA Life Endowment
SASS & CAS
Born in Idaho, the same great state Elmer Keith & Jack O'Conner lived in and loved.
First, I am NOT morman. I do respect the many morman friends we have here. My wife and I moved here at cedar city, utah 4 1/2 years ago. When we bought this place my wifes stepmother told us she was the great, great granddaughter of John Doyle Lee. We hadnt known that. John Lee was the ONLY man exicuted for the mountain meadows massicure. A wagon train was comeing through here in 1857 from missouri, called the francher party. At the time the united states army was marching here from the east and there was a lot of war talk. Bringham Young had ordered the mormans not to sell the wagon train anything. There was a lot of bad feeling. Some in the party said they had helped kill Joesph Smith back in missouri, and were going to bring a army back from california when they got there. The mormans at first tried putting the indians up to attacking the wagon train. They were beat back, also people in the wagon train saw some of the "indians" were whites in disguise. It was decided the wagon train had to be whipped out, except for the young children that would be too young to remember the event in later years. The rest of the story is highly conterversal in what really happened and whether Brigham Young ordered the massicure directly or not. John Lee had a talk with the leaders of the wagon train under a flag of truce. He told them they would be given safe passage here to cedar city if they gave up their guns, as that would incite the indians if they were armed. The morman soliders from cedar city militia would march along side the men, "protecting" them. They walked them into a ambush and on command turned and killed the men. The indians were turned loose to kill the women. I belive 122 people were slaughtered. 20 years later to appease the US goverment John Lee was turned on by the mormans and was the sacrifical goat.
After mother in law told me these things I have made a deep study on my own of the event. I totaly agree Lee was rightfully exicuted, (He was shot 20 years later at the spot of the massicure.) However I also belive that many more should have also been exicuted, possibly includeing Brigham Young. The mountain meadows massicure took place september 11th, 1857 makeing it the original 9-11! I have visited the area a number of times. When mother in law visited us I took her to panguitch and she found her ancesters grave.
If you get a chance see the movie, "September Dawn", it may be on DVD soon. John Voight played John Lee in it, and it is about the events leading up to the massicure.
A statue was made of Lee and it was to be put up in St. George. However there was a big fight and the Lee family decendants bought it. Here is the statue of John Doyle Lee and myself hamming it up with him.
) so that they could keep a political majority in the areas they settled, and keep from being legislatively messed with. They also were VERY pro-gun (and still are) since they were more prone to getting shot at or their homes or houses or churches burned down, than the average citizen. 
