CELEBRATION OF 24th, 1857.

Words of Brigham Young.—Talk by the Indian Chief, Aropene.—Assassination of Parley P. Pratt.—Return of Thomas B. Marsh to the Church.—Celebration of the Twenty-forth in Big Cottonwood Canyon.—News of the Army's Approach.

The year 1857 made its appearance in the midst of an unusual and extraordinary snowstorm. The ushering in of the new year in such a manner was portentous of the stormy and extraordinary experiences of the Saints. Elder Woodruff records that he passed most of the day in company with President Young and Franklin D. Richards. They were actively engaged in compiling Church history. It is remarkable how completely attached to the leaders of the Church Elder Woodruff was. His trust in them was both complete and sublime. He never found occasion to suppose for one moment that these leaders ever proved unworthy of the trust he imposed in them. In his mind, Brigham Young was a Prophet of God, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, as truly and perfectly as was Samuel of old, or Peter, or Paul. His reverence and respect for the living oracles were as perfect as for the dead. The words of both Joseph and Brigham, he was always careful to write down in his journal. In time when the sermons were recorded by reporters of the Church, he confined his record to sayings that were made when there was no reporter present.

On the 11th of January, in the Eighteenth ward, President Young addressed the people and from his sermon Elder Woodruff records among other things these words: "It is sometimes taught among us that we should follow Brother Joseph or Brother Brigham, or some other leader, and do as they say, and that is all that is required. Now this is in one sense a false doctrine. No man should trust solely the testimony of another. He should have a direct testimony from God for himself. Then obedience is intelligent and not blind. I might have listened to Joseph Smith testify to the truth of the Book of Mormon until I was as old as Methuselah, and in the end I would have gone away in darkness had I not received a testimony from God that he was a prophet and that he knew by revelation whereof he spoke. Men should get the spirit of God and then live by it."

In those days there was a strong sympathetic interest in the welfare of the Indians. The better ones among them were feeling constantly greater confidence in the people and in their leaders. They had a real friendship for those white men who treated them, not only kindly, but with high consideration for their rights. The Indian felt that there were reasons why he should command respect as well as receive justice. Aropene seems to have been a chief specially favored among the Indians and respected by the Saints. In the early part of that year, Elder Woodruff records that this chief delivered a strong discourse to the Saints in which he exhorted them to respect the counsel of their leaders and to abstain especially from the use of liquor, and to do right in all things.

On the 17th of February of this year, Elder Woodruff addressed a meeting of the bishops and gives in his journal a brief synopsis of his instructions to them. "No man should boast of the authority and power of the priesthood, or contend about the comparative greatness of a seventy or a high priest. Men should not boast of that power until they have received some manifestation of it, and when they receive it they will not feel like boasting about it. Its power will create humility and not pride. It is seldom that I have seen the power of the priesthood made manifest among the children of men in our day to any very great degree. There are, however, some instances. One was when the Prophet Joseph beheld the sick and the dying in his dooryard, and when they were also strewn along the banks of the river for two miles. He arose and shook himself like an old lion and commenced at his tent door and healed all the people who were not dead on both sides of the river, by the power of God, and his voice was as the voice of God and the earth almost trembled under his feet as he went along commanding the sick to arise and be made whole. It was also made manifest by Joseph while in prison and in chains in Missouri.

"Again, David Patten was taken by an armed mob under a United States warrant. When he was surrounded by about forty such men who were acting under the garb of law, and who forbade him to say one word in his own defense, he arose in the power of God and held them fast to their seats until he had addressed them for about one-half hour. He told them that they were cowards, rascals, and villains, and proved it to them and they had not the power to harm one hair of his head, and they let him and Warren Parish go free.

"This power was again made manifest by President Brigham Young on the banks of the Missouri River at Winter Quarters, when the merchants brought up goods to sell to the brethren who were going to the mountains. Old Major Miller, the Indian agent, was there, surrounded by officers. In order to show his great authority, he told the merchants who owned some alcohol not to roll a barrel off the boat or he would knock the head of the barrel in and pour the liquor upon the ground. President Young thereupon stepped up and told the men to roll it out. Miller and his officers turned pale, and the liquor was rolled out and nobody was hurt. Other instances might be named where the power of the priesthood has been strongly manifested. These men never boasted of it, and they never will."

March 1st brought Elder Woodruff to his 50th birthday. About this time he recorded in his journal instructions from President Young upon the importance of keeping a journal. The President quotes from instructions from the Prophet Joseph on the subject. He shows that the written testimony of the things of God is quite as important as the spoken testimony, that the world will be judged by what is written in the books, and that where it is the duty to record the manifestations of the spirit of God and men neglect to fulfil that duty, the spirit will be withdrawn from them. "Were you to be brought before the civil authorities and accused of a crime or a misdemeanor, you may be punished if you cannot prove from your journal that you were somewhere else and are innocent. Your enemies may prevail against you."

These words from the lips of Brigham Young in those early days are significant because of the position the enemies of the Church sought to place him in. How often he was subject to accusations which were laid at his door and which the enemies insisted were true if he could not prove his innocence. How often that has been the case in the history of the Latter-day Saints concerning whom, in the minds of their enemies, there are no presumptions whatever of innocence. The order of proof with them has been different too often from that followed by the world in the administration of law and justice. From these admonitions of the Prophet it may be seen that so far as the Latter-day Saints are concerned, they may often be compelled to prove their innocence, for their enemies will not treat them with the fairness with which they treat one another, and regard men as innocent until they are proven guilty.

Just before the opening of spring conference, on March 23rd, President Woodruff officiated in the dedication of the baptismal font which had been erected by the people of the Fourteen Ward. The semi-annual conference in those days created a great deal of interest as well as anxiety because of those whose names were announced for the first time as missionaries to the nations of the earth. As the list was read at the close of conference, a profound silence fell upon the entire congregation, as wives and mothers, as well as fathers and husbands, never knew when the minute call would come to them or to their household.

This spring the missionaries adopted the hand-cart method of crossing the plains. They were an enthusiastic body of men who on the 23rd of April hitched themselves to their carts and made their way through the canyons and over the mountains to the Missouri River and other terminal points, from which they adopted a more convenient method of travel.

Elder Woodruff records in his journal on June 23rd that the "eastern mail arrived bringing the sad news of the assassination of Elder Parley P. Pratt, who had been killed near Ft. Smith in Arkansas, by a man named McLean."

Apostle Woodruff was always careful in his journal to say something of the lives of men and women whose integrity to God he knew and esteemed. He rarely failed to record his testimony of those who were valiant when anything important occurred in their lives, or when they died. Of a Sister Vose who had just come to the Valleys he said: "She was seventy-seven years of age and rode 1,200 miles in twenty-three days, at least one-half the distance by team. She has been a member of the Church almost from the beginning, and has given thousands of dollars to build up the Kingdom and to assist the elders in their ministry."

Just about this time, he records the return of Thomas B. Marsh to the fold. This man had once been president of the Twelve Apostles. He had forsaken the Church and in time he was forsaken by his family and his friends. There still, however, remained within him a lingering testimony of the spirit that had once led him to a higher and better life. He appealed by letter to President Young to be restored to the Church. The request was granted by the President who said: "Let him be baptized and confirmed and then come to the Valleys." This brother reached Salt Lake City, and on the 16th of September, 1857, was presented by President Young to the congregation in their Sabbath meeting. As they gazed upon him, they saw a wreck—a relic of his former self. He was now crippled and palsied in body, miserable and unhappy in his spirit. When he arose, he called the attention of the Saints to himself as an object of pity and commiseration, and warned the Saints against apostasy and asked them to forgive him. President Young put his request to a vote and he was unanimously received into the fellowship of his brethren and sisters. A few years later he died in Ogden.

The approach of mid-summer awakened in the hearts and feelings the patriotic spirit of a devoted body of pioneers, who loved their religion and who consequently loved their country. The Fourth of July was celebrated as usual by a "splendid military performance." The procession disbanded before the Governor's office at noon.

They loved their country and they also loved their religion. Their advent into the Valleys of the Mountains was a mile-stone in what to their minds was the greatest historical event of modern times. That event must not be forgotten. Future generations must hold it in sacred remembrance, for it was God's history which the world some time would recognize by appropriate and almost universal observance. The remembrances of the pioneer journey were green in the memories of all but the little children. The Twenty-fourth of July recalled the scenes at one thousand camp firesides on the plains and in the mountains. It reminded them of suffering, recalled their hopes, and strengthened their faith. They were witnesses of God's providence in dispelling fears that human courage could not overcome, and in removing obstacles that seemed to them insurmountable.

On the 22nd of July, 1857, a great procession of people might have been seen wending their way along the eastern hillsides of the Salt Lake Valley on their way to a lake in Big Cottonwood canyon. The night of that day, they camped at the granite quarry from which the rock was then already being hewn for the foundation of the Temple. On the following morning, President Young and the leaders of the Church led the procession up through the canyon to a place selected for the celebration. The first arrived at noon and the last came in about midnight. Of this occasion President Woodruff writes: "This was a great turnout. The company numbered 2,587 persons, 468 carriages and wagons, 1,028 horses and mules, and 332 oxen and cows. Flags were raised upon the highest peaks and the stars and stripes were unfurled upon the highest trees. The surrounding scenes of mountains, valleys, lakes, woods, and meadows made the sight the most interesting I ever beheld. We had prayer at night and an address from President Young. There were five bands in attendance to discourse sweet strains of music."

Next day being the Twenty-fourth, ten years had passed since the faithful pioneers entered the Valleys of the Mountains. The day was to be celebrated in an enthusiastic manner. The program consisted of the firing of cannon, speeches, songs, recitations, and music. They were also there to render their thanks-giving and praise to God for His care over them, and above all for the testimony of His spirit, which burned within them. Some engaged in trout fishing, others roamed over the hills, and there were social pastimes that promised a great day for the Saints.

At noon, Bishop Smoot, Judson Stoddard, Judge Elias Smith, and O. P. Rockwell arrived in camp. The first named two brought the unhappy news with them from the East that the government had withdrawn the mail contract, and were sending a new governor, judges, and 2500 troops to Utah to suppress an insurrection that had never existed. The action of the government was based upon the falsehoods sent broadcast by Judge Drummond and other unprincipled men. President Young met the issue in a spirit of indignation and with a determination not to submit to another injustice. At day-light, on the 25th, the company broke up and commenced their homeward journey. Their joy and enthusiasm had now been turned to wonderment, anxiety, and sorrow. The approaching army was the theme of their conversation. Dark clouds hovered over them. A new problem had to be solved. What was to be done? Where could they go? What was to be the result of another injustice perpetrated against them? Their faith was again brought to their service. They exercised it by humiliating themselves in prayer and fasting. The spirit of joy had been transformed into one of the greatest solemnity.