ELDER WOODRUFF'S RETURN FROM THE EAST.

Letter to Orson Pratt.—Baptism of His Father-in-law, Ezra Carter.—Labors in New England.—Meets Dr. John M. Bernhisel.—Healing the Sick.—Interview with Col. Kane.—Hears Indian Chief.—Release from His Mission.—Return to the Valleys.—Conditions at the Frontier.—Stampede on the Plains.—Brigham Young Appointed Governor.—Salt Lake Temple Planned.—Salt Lake City Given a Charter.—Visit to the Southern Settlements.—Fourth Celebrated at Black Rock.—Celebrating of Twenty-fourth.—Death of His Stepmother.—Judge Brocchus Speaks in Conference.—Beautiful Words of Patriarch John Smith.—A Vote To Discontinue Use of Tea and Coffee.

The beginning of the year 1849 found Wilford Woodruff actively at work in the spread of the gospel. It was a glorious message which he was bearing to the people of the East, and he gave to it all the ardor of his intensely religious nature. Nor was he less concerned about the integrity and devotion of his wife to the faith they had espoused. His family was carefully instructed in the duties and sacraments of the Church. On the 15th of the month he wrote a lengthy letter to President Young and Council in which he reported his travels and labors. He prepared a historical sketch for the historian's office, and wrote to Orson Pratt, who was presiding over the British mission, as follows: "I am 42 years old today, March the 1st, 1849. How peculiar such figures look to a man while counting up his years in this probation. The very sight of them crowds on to his mind a flood of thoughts more than tongue can utter or pen describe. The last sixteen years of my life have been passed endeavoring to preach the gospel and build up the Kingdom of God in association with my brethren. The past is gone, I have no desire to recall it. I would not wish to live my life over again if I could. I feel like looking forward and not backward.

"While the Jews were high-minded and in the height of their power, the Son of God, in lamb-like meekness, bowed to the ordinance of baptism and all other rites of the gospel and commandments of His Father. He was looking forward to a time when He should make His second visit to His brethren after having overcome death and the grave. At the present day, while emperors, princes, kings, lords, nobles, and great men of the world have been making a wonderful effort to maintain their dignity, and appear to good advantage before the world, many of the noblest spirits that ever dwelt in the flesh, like Jesus and the Apostles, have been meekly submitting to the ordinances of the gospel, and like little children have submitted to the authority of the holy priesthood."

During the month of March Elder Woodruff visited Cape Cod, preaching to the Saints and strangers, the latter including sea-captains, sailors, and fishermen. There he also organized a branch of the Church with 21 members. Upon his return home to Cambridgeport, he found his father-in-law, Ezra Carter Sr., awaiting him. On the 22nd of March Father Carter was baptized, his wife having received the gospel before this. Elder Woodruff records these events as the fulfillment of prophecy by Father Jos. Smith, the patriarch, who, in blessing him and his wife years before, promised that their household should receive the gospel and stand with them in the Church. Elder Carter lived to be 96 years of age. His old home, in a beautiful rural district of southern Maine, still stands. It is near the roadside as you go from Saco to Portland.

On the 12th of April he started a company of Saints for Zion. There were 71 all told, 50 of whom were from Philadelphia. From Philadelphia he visited Saints in the neighboring towns. At Hornerstown he baptized three members of the Woolf family. They had been believers for a number of years, having been visited by the Prophet and a number of the Twelve. Leaving Pennsylvania he traveled through New Jersey to New York where he met T. D. Brown, just returning from England. From New York he went on to Cambridgeport to his family.

After journalizing the calamities occurring in St. Louis, New Orleans, California, and other parts of the world, Elder Woodruff started on a visit to Fox Islands where he had introduced the gospel twelve years before, having baptized nearly one hundred people. He passed many weeks on the Islands but with much less success than upon the first mission there. From here he went to New Brunswick, Canada, performing a large part of the journey on foot. One day he walked 35 miles, carrying a heavy load part of the distance.

Arriving at the ferry of Beauburs Island, he crossed in a boat and walked a mile through a pleasant grove to the home of Elder Joseph Russell, who for eleven years had been the owner of the entire island, which is a mile and a half in length, by a half a mile in width. Elder Russell was a ship-builder and had constructed 23 ships with a tonnage of 650 tons each. He was a man of considerable wealth, worth at that time, at a low estimate, $30,000. He was liberal with his means and faithful in the discharge of his duties to the Church. At that place there was a small branch of the Church over which he presided.

On the 28th he went with Elder Russell and son to Bedque. While here he received word that Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, and Franklin D. Richards had been chosen members of the Twelve Apostles.

On the 5th of August, Elder Woodruff set out upon his return to Cambridgeport, Elder Russell having first contributed $1,500 with which to aid the Church in its newly chosen home. He remained but a short time at home, when he started for Fall River and New Bedford to visit the Saints in those places. On his return from his trip to the South, he met at Cambridgeport, Dr. John M. Bernhisel, who, after giving an account of affairs in the Valleys, informed Elder Woodruff that he had come to Washington as our representative, bearing a petition for a Territorial Government.

Under date of July 25th, 1849, the President of the Church wrote Brother Woodruff a statement of conditions of the Church in the Valleys and expressed their desire to be admitted into the Union as a sovereign state. In that letter the President remarked: "The next time that you encounter the hardships, privations, and toil over the plains and mountains, you will meet with a very different reception from that which you did on your first arrival here. Friends will greet you, the products of the earth will be administered for your comfort. We shall be very happy to see you again."

During the remainder of the year 1849, Elder Woodruff visited the eastern branches, preaching the gospel and comforting all who would listen. In Cape Cod an aged lady of 84 years was instantly healed by his administrations. She immediately arose from her bed of sickness and went about her work.

He again went to Philadelphia where he had several visits with Colonel Kane with whom he talked over the situation relative to a Territorial Government. The following he quotes as the words of Col. Kane: "I applied, according to the wish of President Young for a Territorial Government, and had my last, sad, and painful interview with President Polk. I found he was not disposed to favor your people, and had men of his own stamp picked out to serve as governor and in other positions, many of whom would oppress you in any way simply to fill their own pockets. President Polk was unwilling to appoint men among yourselves, and I saw it was absolutely necessary to have officers of your own people to govern you, otherwise you would be better off without any government at all. It was necessary for me to use my discretion and I therefore withdrew the petition."

On December 3rd, he paid a visit to Gerard College of Philadelphia. On the 15th of the month he attended a meeting there where a Mr. Koh-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bow, chief of the Ozebwa nation, delivered a lengthy and spirited address in behalf of the American Indians, in which he appealed to the citizens to induce the government to give the Indians a territory they could call their own, and to forbid the encroachment thereon of the whites. He censured the white men in no uncertain terms for their pretended Christianity and religious professions, while in reality they were filled with deceit, hypocrisy, and wickedness.

The year 1850 witnessed a change in the character of Elder Woodruff's labors. Missionary work was in harmony, not only with his spiritual nature, but with the grand conceptions which he entertained for the future of the Church with which he had associated himself. Upon his return from Cambridgeport, he received a letter from the Presidency in which he was required to return to the Valley, and to bring with him all the Saints he could gather, and such means as could be collected from their properties and from contributions in the East. The Saints in the Valleys of the Mountains were so far removed from manufacturing centers that they felt the necessity of home manufacture, especially in the establishment of woolen and cotton factories in order that they might be self-supporting. The New England states where Elders Woodruff's labors had been directed contained many factories, and it was the operatives from these factories whose services would be needed in the new enterprises at home.

On the 2nd of March, he went to Maine where arrangements were made to gather with him to the Valleys of the Mountains his wife's people. His wife's brother, Ilus F. Carter, had bought ten wagon loads of merchandise which was sent with Elder Woodruff. Mr. Carter, however, returned from the Missouri River to his home in Maine on account of ill health. A number of the brethren had engaged in gold-mining in California and sent money to their friends in the East to assist them in their emigration. The manufactured products of the East were greatly needed by the Saints in the Valleys, and the money sent from California became very helpful in providing a stock of goods that would contribute to the comfort of the earlier settlers whose supply of clothing by this time was almost entirely depleted.

On the 23rd of March, Elder Orson Pratt arrived from England on business, intending to return before going to the Valleys. He found Elder Woodruff busily occupied in the purchase of such merchandise as would be most helpful to those who had gathered. About the same time, Elder John Taylor and Curtis E. Bolton were on their way to France; Lorenzo Snow and Joseph Toronto to Italy; Erastus Snow and Peter Hanson to Denmark; Franklin D. Richards and several others to England. Elder Erastus Snow sailed from Boston to his field of labor on April 3rd.

By the 9th of the month, Wilford Woodruff with his family and relatives, and with about 100 other Saints left for New York where they were joined by another 100, making all told 209 people. Their baggage amounted to 42,000 lbs. On their way to Pittsburg, they passed through Philadelphia. At the former place they secured passage to St. Louis where they arrived on the 1st day of May. From St. Louis to Council Bluffs they took passage on the steamer, Sacramento. They left St. Joseph on the 12th of May and Ft. Kearney on the 15th, and the following day Elder Woodruff went to Kanesville to visit Elder Orson Hyde. On this journey they were accompanied by Elder Orson Pratt.

This frontier town was a busy place in those days. The Saints were constantly coming and going, and the people were generally in a state of excitement, and the very nature of the circumstances gave rise to some discontent. The well-to-do hurried on to the Valleys, and the poor were left to make such arrangements as they could for present support and their future emigration to the Zion of their God. Provision, of course, for the emigration of the poor was made wherever possible, but yet their numbers were so great as to bring distress to the people of Kanesville. President Woodruff explained that he had received counsel from the Presidency to stretch out his arms and gather all he possibly could to Zion. He had baptized, while on this mission, about 200 people. Every effort was made to pacify those who were discontented in this frontier town. The fact, however, that the authorities had instructed him to gather all he could was the guiding motive in bringing with him to Kanesville the poor, as well as those who were in fairly good circumstances.

Elder Woodruff, when counsel came to him, never quibbled, never doubted, never stopped to ask his file-leaders the whys and the wherefores. He was like Adam when the angel said to him: "Adam, why dost thou offer sacrifice?" And he answered, "I know not save that God has commanded me." He was also like Nephi of old who uttered the memorable saying: "For I know that the Lord giveth no command unto the children of men save that He shall prepare the way for them to accomplish the thing which He commandeth them."

On the 21st of May the company starting to Zion was organized into hundreds, fifties, and tens with a captain over each. Robert Petty, Leonard W. Hardy, Edson Whipple, Joseph Hall, James Currier, Miner Atwood, and two others whose names are not given, were appointed captains. Some of the teamsters of this company did not belong to the Church, and in time became unruly. The ring-leader, however, was discharged, and later the others also. On the 9th of July, Lucy Johnson, Matilda Hardy, a Sister Snow, and Emily Huntington died. Deaths this year, 1850, on the plains were frequent and Elder Woodruff's company suffered with others. On the day following, Elder Woodruff baptized fourteen in the Platte River, among them his wife's niece, Sarah E. Foss. On the 15th, a few days later, a severe thunder storm arose and Brother Ridge, from Staffordshire, England, and his oxen were killed by lightning.

The 30th of the month witnessed one of those scenes not uncommon to the plains in the early days of emigration by ox teams. Those who have not witnessed a stampede can hardly imagine the scenes of confusion and dangers to which it gives rise. There were often thirty or forty teams close together. These teams consisted of from two to five yoke of oxen. The wagons they drew were loaded with women, children, and merchandise. The stampede generally took place without a moment's warning and the cattle ran in all directions.

Writing of this scene Elder Woodruff says: "Our stampede commenced in the following manner. While my son Wilford was mounting his horse, William Murphy struck the horse with a whip which started him to run. Wilford was thrown over the horse's head to the ground. The saddle turned under the horse and as a result he ran away. As he approached one of the wagons, a Mr. Cannon's team became frantic and started off at a great speed. In a moment twenty or thirty teams followed the first that stampeded and the whole company was rushing apparently onward into the jaws of death. On my carriage was a fine black steed, and in it were Rhoda Foss and Susan Woodruff. We were at the head of the company, and when the stampede commenced, I was by the side of my carriage. I saw Mrs. Woodruff rush into the midst of the scene with many other women and children. Their lives were in constant danger. I told Rhoda to let my horse run into the bluffs, and do the best she could. I gave him a cut to start him on to a run and left them to the care of Providence. I then rushed into the midst of the stampede in order to save the lives of my wife and as many others as possible, but I had hard work to save even my own life. Mrs. Woodruff soon found an opening and fled out of the midst of the scene. Brother Petty's wagons were turned over. My family wagon with four yoke of oxen ran over one of his wagons, and a wagon ran over one of his children. Prescott Hardy was knocked down by his own team and badly injured in the thigh and arm. Wherever I saw women and children in danger, I did what I could to rescue them. However, only little can be done at such times, and each one must dodge the best he can to save his life if possible.

"When I found I could do no more, I ran forward to see what condition my family carriage and wagon were in. I found my noble horse still running, but on three legs. One of the ox-teams had run on to the horse and carriage, bent one of the axles and smashed one of the horse's legs. Rhoda was thrown out of the carriage and Susan was lying upon her back with her feet hanging out between the wheels. She held on, however, till I came and rescued my daughter. Later I had to shoot my horse to put him out of his misery. It was very painful to have to do so. It was a miracle that no one was killed, and there was really but little damage done to oxen and wagons."

Barring some break-downs and delays, the company arrived in Salt Lake City, October 14, 1850. Soon after their arrival, Elder Woodruff moved from the old Fort into his house near Temple Block. He was also occupied in disposing of ten loads of merchandise sent out to the Valley by his brother-in-law, Ilus F. Carter. In the Council he read to the brethren the speech of Mr. Copway (Koh-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bow), the Indian chief, and the views of Col. Kane on the government of Deseret.

Wilford Woodruff's work at this time as a missionary had given him distinction and he was frequently regarded by his brethren as the "Herald of the Gospel." The following winter two vacancies occurred in the legislature by the death of Newell K. Whitney and Cornelius P. Lott. Governor Young appointed Elders Woodruff and Charles C. Rich to fill these vacancies, and thus began the experiences of Elder Woodruff as a legislator.

The new year, 1851, witnessed the dedication of a new school house in the Fourteenth Ward of Salt Lake City—the ward in which Elder Woodruff first located and where he built his home on what was subsequently known as the old Valley House corner. The people were poor in those days, but they nevertheless did all that a community could under similar circumstances to promote education. They needed both schoolhouses and meeting-houses, but their condition generally compelled them to make one building answer a double purpose.

The country to which the Saints had come was a wilderness, and the surroundings of the people were such that it was not always easy to keep men and women under proper restraint, especially young men who in a wild country naturally were prone to be uncouth and sometimes profane in their language. The Puritan spirit of the early pioneers was so intense that an effort was made to check evils in their incipiency and to wage a crusade against them as fast as they made their appearance. Profanity was one of the evils that could not be endured. The Authorities on the 12th of January, in a congregation of the Saints, called attention to the use of such language, and the whole congregation voted to "put down swearing" throughout the City and the Territory. Into the reform movement, Elder Woodruff threw all his energies and preached with all the ardor of his soul against the improper use of words that profaned the name of Deity.

The time had come to erect another temple for the holy ordinances that are peculiar and confined to that sacred structure. The work should be begun as far as possible with the absence of every semblance of evil; and on January 19, President Young announced to the congregation assembled that the time had arrived for the erection of a temple. Truman O. Angel was appointed architect, and during the day plans for the new Temple were submitted for inspection in the Seventies' Hall. That building now stands on State street in a good state of preservation.

On the 28th, news of the appointment of President Young to be the first governor of Utah reached the people. This appointment gave universal satisfaction. When the news came, President Young was about fifteen miles north of the city. The leaders and a band went out to meet him; and upon his arrival in the city, he was welcomed by a salute of ten guns.

About this time, on February 2nd, a pretender arose who styled himself Elijah, and a Mr. Bateman spoke for about 9 minutes in his behalf. The new Elijah, however, received no encouragement.

It was about the same time also that there began those regular weekly meetings of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles which have continued to the present time. The object was to keep the Twelve in harmony with one another, that each might know what the other was doing, that there might be uniformity, and that they might be actuated by a spirit of unity.

Early in February of that year, the legislature granted a charter to the community that was to be known as a municipal organization under the name of Salt Lake City. Concerning the charter President Woodruff writes that President Young said: "We do not want the Church to pass laws to punish crime, but to try members only on questions of Church fellowship. If the members transgress the laws of the land, turn them over to the authorities of the land. We want to protect the Church also in its rites of worship and protect every other sect that comes here. When the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdoms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, will their people all be members of the Church of Jesus Christ by obeying the Gospel? No, not one-eighth part of them. No more than a telestial kingdom is a celestial one, and they stand in about the same relation to each other."

Elder Woodruff, on the 23rd of April, in company with a party of about forty men with twenty wagons entered Utah Valley. This was his first visit to the settlements there. He met the Indian chief Walker. He thought him rather an ugly looking specimen for an Indian chief. Later on the company reached Sanpete valley. Here there were about one hundred families located. These families were engaged in farming. They had erected a schoolhouse and had commenced a council house.

Passing on from Sanpete, the company went through Sevier Valley to Marysvale and on to Cedar City. "We passed over the worst road the last few days that I ever knew. We had to draw our wagons up and let them down with ropes in places where the roads were so bad, and at places the slant was so great that we had to hold our wagons up to keep them from turning over." In the valley near Cedar City the company was met by President George A. Smith who at that time had charge of the southern settlements. The settlers had been there only three months. They had enclosed a fort of 19 acres, plowed and sown 1,000 acres with wheat, had fenced 600 acres, built a sawmill, and erected the first story of their council house. The little community welcomed President Young and party by the firing of a cannon and by waving the stars and stripes. This small settlement of pioneers had about one hundred men.

The discovery of coal and iron ore in the vicinity of Cedar City awakened in the Latter-day Saints a special desire to establish iron foundries. Men had been called to this work as a mission. Among the one hundred, there were perhaps thirty who were discontented. Part of them desired to return to Salt Lake City to get their families, and others to abandon the mission at Cedar entirely. Apostle Woodruff records the following words of President Young to these men: "If you were now on a mission to France or England or to any other part of the earth, you would not sit down and counsel together about going to get your families, or about going home till your mission was ended. This is of quite as much importance as preaching the Gospel. The time is now come when it is required of us to make the wilderness blossom as the rose. Our mission is now to build up stakes of Zion and fill these mountains with cities, and when your mission is ended you are at liberty to go. Only do what is right. When I go on a mission, I leave my affairs in the hand of God. If my house, flocks, or fields are lost in my absence; if my wife or children die, I say, Amen, to it. If they live, I say, Amen, to that and thank the Lord." The words of President Young removed much of the discontent and most of them remained to fill their mission in honor.

In speaking at this time of the Indians in that section the President said: "These Indians are the descendants of the Gadianton robbers who infested these mountains for more than a thousand years." At the conclusion of this visit, the party returned to Salt Lake City which they reached on the 24th of May, 1851.

Elder Woodruff's journal contains many of the discourses preached by President Young in those days on subjects of practical religion, home industry, prayer, financial integrity, farming, tithing, and kindred subjects. His talks contained just such subject matter as one would expect to hear from a leader whose mission it was to make the desert blossom as the rose. Elder Woodruff, here and there, used stenographic characters in making notes in his journal. He was not a stenographer, however, but he was so accustomed to writing the sermons in long hand that his memory was trained for the work, and a large measure of accuracy was given to these journalistic efforts.

To this work he had been called by President Young soon after the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum. The day would come when the details of that early history would be in great demand among those who would love to know the beginning of the work of God in this dispensation. "Some day," said President Young, "I shall look to you for my journal." This work was so carefully done, and the devotion of Elder Woodruff was so great towards his brethren that one is impressed by the splendid fidelity with which he honored the call.

On the Fourth of July of 1851 the Saints joined in a celebration at Black Rock on Salt Lake. "The procession was led by the general authorities with the Nauvoo Legion as an escort. It consisted of 140 wagons which reached Black Rock at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Patriotic speeches were made, and after the meeting, social pastimes were indulged in, and many enjoyed a bath in the lake. It was as pleasant a Fourth of July as I ever spent, and my family was with me. Next day we returned to Salt Lake City."

Those were happy days. The simplicity of their faith, the candor of their words, and the friendship of their lives produced a remarkable unity which in itself was both inspiring and joyful.

The Twenty-fourth of July was honored by a celebration. There was music by the Nauvoo brass band. The citizens came out in great numbers. There was a procession at the head of which the aged fathers and mothers were placed—men and women whose frames were shaped by the hardships and struggles of those early days. The procession ended at the bowery where there were speeches, instrumental music and singing. "The songs of Zion were sung not in a strange land, nor were our harps hung upon the willows. The shades of evening came over the city and there had been no accident to mar the proceedings of that hallowed day. There were no curses, no drinking, no rabble, no strife to mar the occasion." There was, perhaps, a little Church mixed up with the State in those days. Men had conceived the idea that God should be honored as much in the administration of civil as of religious affairs.

The harvest season followed the Twenty-fourth and Elder Woodruff was as enthusiastic and energetic on the farm as he was in a celebration or as he was in preaching the Gospel abroad. He was a model of industry. His little twenty-acre farm just south of the city was under a high state of cultivation. With a cradle in his hands, he went to the work of the harvest with singular pleasure. His restless nature often carried him beyond his strength, but he loved to work. He always worked, and with him one kind of work was as honorable as another; for God honored honest toil.

At his home on the farm, there lived with him his aged father. The stepmother had remained with her daughter in Iowa. About this time, he received word that she had died on the 20th of March and that his brother Azmon's wife had also died on the 3rd of January of that year. His brother also wrote him relating the sorrow and trouble he had encountered ever since he had left the Church. His letter bore evidence of humiliation and repentance, much to the joy of his faithful brother Wilford.

On the 7th of September, there was a general conference of the Church. After addressing the Saints upon practical affairs and the daily duties of life, President Young said: "No better man than Joseph Smith ever lived on this earth. Hear it, O, ye heavens, O, ye earth, and all men! It is my testimony that he was as good a man as ever lived, save Jesus." In harmony with these words, Willard Richards related his testimony to the mob in Carthage at the time of the Prophet's death to the effect that they were Prophets of God, and two of the best men that ever lived on earth.

During this conference, Judge Brocchus of the United States court in Utah, requested the privilege of speaking. The request was granted and he proceeded to cast unsavory reflections upon the character of the Saints. This President Young resented in strong terms. In the course of his remarks, the Prophet said to those who were going on missions: "Don't go and tell the people of different denominations that because their sins are not forgiven that they are always going to dwell in hell; for if they are honest, they will have a glory greater than many who carry the gospel to them. There are good people among all sects, Gentiles, Jews, and heathens. They act according to the best light they have. What is the condition of the people of this country? Light has come into the world, and many men love darkness rather than light. They reject that light, fight the prophets, and shed their blood. For this they will be damned."

At this conference N. H. Felt and John Banks were appointed traveling bishops. E. T. Benson, J. M. Grant, and Orson Hyde were called on a mission to Kanesville to gather out all the Saints in that region. Elder Woodruff here records the remarks made by Patriarch John Smith, uncle of the Prophet, and father to President George A. Smith. He had been a member of the Church since 1832. "I was ordained an elder under the hands of Joseph Wakefield. The Smith family was called to bring forth this work. My team hauled the first load of stone for the erection of the Kirtland Temple. My son George A., drove that team. There were four brothers of us on the stand at Kirtland. I am now left alone. I was in jail with my nephews, Joseph and Hyrum, the night before they were killed. Next day three guns were snapped at me. I could not weep for a long time; when I could, I wept much. I have labored much from that day till this. Now pay your tithing, make your measures good when you sell anything, and fulfill all your covenants if they are properly made. Then we shall prosper in this Valley. I am an old man and cannot say much."

When the pioneers returned to Winter Quarters from Salt Lake Valley, father John Smith was left in charge of the Church here. He was a man of the utmost honor and of sterling integrity both to God and man. Three generations of this man have been apostles in the Church.

It was at this conference that all the brethren and sisters voted to discontinue the use of tea, coffee, and tobacco. It was then adjourned until October 6th.