DEATH OF BRIGHAM YOUNG, AUG. 29, 1877.

Death of His Son, Brigham Young Woodruff.—Prophetic Utterances.—Baptisms for the Signers of the Declaration of Independence.—Death of Brigham Young Changes His Plans.—Funeral.—Visit to Logan.—Visit to St. George.—A Vision.—Old Folks' Excursion.—Zion's Board of Trade.

On the 16th of June, 1877, while on a visit to Pine Valley, southern Utah, Elder Woodruff received the sad news of the death of his son, Brigham Young Woodruff, who was drowned in Bear River. The young man was in point of spirituality very much like his father, and his devotion, therefore, to the Church was a matter of both joy and pride to Elder Woodruff, who looked forward to his son's labors in the Church with great pleasure. The young man was also ambitious in an effort to obtain an education, and devoted himself at home and in the university to diligent study. At this time Elder Woodruff had changed the location of his family in Randolph, Rich County, to Smithfield, Cache.

"We cannot always comprehend the ways and means of Providence," the father said. "There is a mystery hanging over this affair. I never saw a person more anxious to obtain an education than he, as he often studied until midnight during the past two years. I now feel calm and composed and reconciled in this bereavement. I have done, and am doing a great deal of work for the dead. It may be necessary that one of my family be in the spirit world to labor among those for whom we are officiating in the Temple of the Lord."

Upon the return of Elder Woodruff to St. George, he resumed his work in the Temple there. During this and the immediate subsequent years Elder Woodruff devoted himself with great diligence to the work for the dead in the Temple at St. George. Work-day parties were gotten up for him. Hundreds of people gave him a day or two days or more in the Temple in the ordinances for his kindred dead.

If it can be truthfully said of any man that he followed the injunction of the Savior, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all else shall be added thereto," it may be truthfully said of Wilford Woodruff. In his journal he wrote at that time: "I have passed through the whole history of the Church from the day I embraced the gospel until now; and after so long a time and such experience, I wish to bear my testimony that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, ordained from before the foundation of the world to come forth in the last dispensation of the fullness of times to lay the foundation of the Church and Kingdom of God on the earth, and his life was preserved against every foe by the power of God until he accomplished all that his Maker ordained him to do, then he sealed his testimony with his blood, and that testimony is in force upon all the world.

"I am now called to preside over the only Temple there is on the earth, built for the salvation of the living and the dead. There are but a few of us living who were in Zion's Camp. I will here say that God has inspired me to keep a journal and write the history of this Church, and I warn the future historians to give credence to my history; for my testimony is true, and the truth of its record will be manifest in the world to come. All the words of the Lord will be fulfilled upon the nations, which are written in this book. The American nation will be broken in pieces like a potter's vessel, and will be cast down to hell if it does not repent,—and this, because of murders, whoredoms, wickedness, and all manner of abominations, for the Lord has spoken it. Awake, therefore, O Zion, to the coming of the Son of Man. Let the people sanctify and purify themselves before the Lord, and be prepared for the redemption of Zion and the coming of the Son of God, for His coming is at the door, and will overtake the world like a thief in the night."

There is throughout the journal of Wilford Woodruff that continuous spirit which manifests itself in the revelations and head-dealings of God. His spirit is like that of the prophets and patriarchs of old, and what he has written day by day represents the spirit of the times and is in response to the needs of the hour. He was always in close touch with the Prophet and was always in harmony with his divine calling. There may be traced throughout the journal of this remarkable man a certain devotion to those fundamental principles which God revealed in the establishment of the Church in this dispensation. These principles gave him his guiding star, and by them he interpreted the history of the world and its destinies. He was not overtaken by vagaries, and he never had a thought of stamping his own personality on anything that he did or said. He was always impressionable to the spirit. His journal, therefore, is a storehouse of beautiful and convincing testimonies; for his testimonies beget faith and lead to a better and more exalted life. Elder Woodruff lays bare his spirit in his journal day by day, and it is the same humble devoted childlike faith from the first to the last page.

Leaving St. George, Elder Woodruff made a tour of the settlements in southern Utah. He celebrated the 24th of July in the State House at Fillmore. On this tour, he, for the first time, visited the beautiful Panguitch Lake. He was a great lover of scenic beauty. The work of God was no less precious to him than the word of God. At that lake he also enjoyed the opportunity of his favorite pastime, fishing for trout. He was a great fisher and hunter, both of game and men.

After his return to St. George on the 21st of August, that year, he was baptized for the signers of the Declaration of Independence and other notable patriots in the history of his country. It was a part of his loyalty to the United States to crave God's blessing upon the men and women who had laid the foundation of free institutions. To his mind they were all the instruments of a divine purpose, and he sought their welfare according to the light and intelligence which God had given him.

His work in the Temple was suddenly disturbed by a telegram stating that President Young had died at four o'clock p. m. August 29th, 1877. He, therefore, in company with Erastus Snow, hastened by private conveyance and stage to York, the railroad terminus, that they might reach Salt Lake City as soon as possible. A distance of three hundred and forty miles was covered in two and a half days, though Elder Woodruff at that time was over seventy years old. On reaching Salt Lake they immediately went to the Tabernacle where the remains of President Young lay in state. From his journal we learn that something like twenty-five thousand people took a parting look at the remains of the dead Prophet. At his funeral Elder Woodruff spoke. Perhaps no man in the Church knew Brigham Young better than he knew him. They were pioneers together, and spent months and years together preaching the gospel and compiling Church history.

This change brought the quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with John Taylor at the head, in control of Church affairs. The following September, Elder Woodruff visited Logan, where he took part in laying the corner-stones of the Temple, concern-whose erection he had prophesied many years before. Temple work was now the burden of his thought and discourse; and at the following October Conference he talked at great length of his labors in the St. George Temple, where, he said, between the first of June and the first of September twenty-three thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine baptisms for the dead had been performed. He was now also joyful in anticipation of the Temple which was to be built in Manti. This location on the hill overlooking the country made him feel, when its erection was completed, that it was truly the mountain of the Lord's House.

During this year repeated mention of his work on the farm is made in his journal, though at the time he had passed three score and ten years of life. He loved farm work and devoted to it much thought. With him it was all in the purpose of God and his devotion never flagged whether he was on the farm, in the canyon, or in the pulpit. His Church duties, however, as time went on, weighed more heavily upon him, and on the 15th of December, that year, he resigned his position as President of the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society, a place he had occupied with zeal, interest, and honor, as well as with ability, for fifteen years.

On Christmas of that year he made note of the joy he found over the privilege of being at home with his wives and children, whose happiness and welfare were matters of great satisfaction to him. He watches them take their presents from the Christmas tree, and he enters into the childish joy of his little children with a tender and fatherly love. It would swell beyond due proportions his biography to recount his movements to the different parts of the Church, and the daily duties of his life. Elder Woodruff was an excessively busy man. He was always looking for something to do, and he never had any difficulty in finding it. His constant travels and administrations among the Saints made him to them one of the most familiar figures among their leaders.

Early in January he set out on a mission to the southern settlements and St. George, which he reached on the 22nd of the month. There, he again took up his labors in the Temple. The people there knew how happy Temple work made him and they turned out in great numbers to render him assistance in the work he had planned to do for his kindred dead.

It was at this time that he paid his first visit to Kanab, going by way of Rockville and Grafton. He calls the Hurricane Hill there the worst hill he ever drove a team up in his life. He and his companions camped for the night on the summit. He slept on the ground. The next morning he encountered a heavy snow-storm which continued until noon. At night they reached Pipe Springs, a little oasis in northern Arizona. This was also the first time he had been in that Territory.

On the return to St. George he resumed his work in the Temple. Of that work he said: "In one year and fourteen days endowments had been received for ten hundred and sixty-two of my dead." On March 20th he returned to Salt Lake City by way of Parowan, Cove Creek, Richfield, Manti, and Nephi.

He wrote a brief account of the April conference. Here, it should be said that matters of general Church interest which were taken down by stenographers ceased to find a place in his journal, and he confines himself more to personal affairs and matters of special interest. In many places, taking it for granted that the facts are known, he made his journal simply a commentary.

About the time of conference that year, there were difficulties between the heirs of President Young and the Church over the estate of the late President. "I will say," he wrote, in his journal, "for and in behalf of the executors of the estate of Brigham Young; namely, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young, Jr., and Albert Carrington, that they have done all in their power to settle this estate in justice, equity and righteousness." In those trying difficulties Elder Woodruff acted as a peace-maker.

The year 1878 began to witness some of those beautiful outings, designated "The Old Folks' Excursion." The early history of the Church was beginning to crystallize in beauty and importance. To the Latter-day Saints, the men and women who had borne the burden of those early days were veterans of distinction, and the people loved to honor them; besides there is something in the spirit and teachings of Mormonism that calls forth reverence and honor for old age. There is within the Latter-day Saints a marked disposition to manifest gratitude. On the 11th of June, that year, thirteen cars conveyed the aged veterans, men and women, to Ogden, where they were received by a hundred and twenty-five conveyances and taken to Farr's Grove. Since then, these outings have become frequent and general throughout the Church.

Elder Woodruff gives us some data of an Old Folks' Excursion in those days. He says that prizes were distributed for various distinctions. Mrs. Catherine Wilson received one because she was the oldest person present—ninety-six years. William Wilde was likewise honored because he was the next oldest, ninety-five years. Five sisters obtained prizes because they had yoked and unyoked two yoke of cattle and driven them across the plains. Five others received them because they had drawn hand carts to Salt Lake Valley. One woman, Mrs. Ann Moses, was distinguished because she was the mother of twenty-one children. Mrs. Elizabeth Taylor came in also for her honors because she was the mother of fourteen children and six hundred grand, and great grand children. Elder P. Green Taylor, fifty-one years old, got a prize because he had more children than any man present; namely, thirty-six. Nor was Elder Woodruff forgotten on this occasion. He received a prize because he had baptized and had been instrumental in bringing into the Church a great number of souls, something like two thousand. He tells us in his journal that there was a foot-race by William Barnes, eighty-nine; Elias Adams, eighty-six; and Thomas Edmunds, likewise eighty-six years of age. He says Brother Edmunds won.

On the second of September, that year, he said he took part in blessing a number of missionaries and of setting apart Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith for a short mission to Missouri to visit the Whitmer families and places of note in the travels of the Church.

The October conference of that year was held in the Tabernacle and at its close there began the organization of a general Zion's Board of Trade, of which the Apostles were made honorary members. Local organizations of the same character were effected in different parts of the Church. The purpose of this organization was to promote the temporal welfare of the people and aid them in acquiring the best markets for their produce by co-operative effort. On the 25th of that month Elder Woodruff records his visit with Senator McCrary of Kentucky and Mr. Hooper of Mississippi and other prominent gentlemen to the Smelting Works of Mr. L. E. Holden. Upon their return these gentlemen called upon President Taylor.

On the 28th of November, Elder Orson Hyde died at his home in Spring City, San Pete County, at the age of seventy-three. This left but one of the first quorum of the Twelve Apostles living; namely, Elder Orson Pratt. On the 30th Elder Woodruff attended the funeral. Proceedings of which are found in the Deseret News of Dec. 5th, 1878.

Closing his long description of the scenes of a remarkable dream which he gives in detail at this time, he uses the following words: "I saw a short distance from the Missouri River, where I stood, twelve men dressed in the robes of the Temple. They stood in a square near by and I was given to understand that they represented the twelve gates of the new Jerusalem. Their hands were uplifted while they were consecrating the ground; and later they laid the corner-stones of the house of God. I saw myriads of angels hovering over them, and above their heads there was a pillar-like cloud. I heard the most beautiful singing in the words: 'Now is established the Kingdom of our God and His Christ, and He shall reign forever and forever, and the Kingdom shall never be thrown down, for the Saints have overcome.' I saw people coming from the river and from distant places to help build the Temple. It seemed as though there were hosts of angels helping to bring material for the construction of that building. Some were in Temple robes, and the pillar-like cloud continued to hover over the spot.

"Later I found myself in the Ogden Tabernacle, where I was calling upon the people to listen to the beautiful strains of music there. I rolled over in my bed and heard the clock of the City Hall strike twelve." This was December 16, 1877.