4.3. MEXICO. .........................................................................................................................................4

4.4. CALIFORNIA.................................................................................................................................5

4.5. WASHOE........................................................................................................................................8

4.6. MR. PEPPER.................................................................................................................................10

4.7. HORACE GREELEY'S RIDE TO PLACERVILLE....................................................................10

4.8. TO REESE RIVER. .......................................................................................................................12

4.9. GREAT SALT LAKE CITY.........................................................................................................14

4.10. THE MOUNTAIN FEVER.........................................................................................................15

4.11. "I AM HERE.".............................................................................................................................16

4.12. BRIGHAM YOUNG...................................................................................................................17

4.13. A PIECE IS SPOKEN.................................................................................................................19

4.14. THE BALL..................................................................................................................................20

4.15. PHELP'S ALMANAC.................................................................................................................21

4.16. HURRAH FOR THE ROAD!.....................................................................................................21

4.17. VERY MUCH MARRIED..........................................................................................................25

4.18. THE REVELATION OF JOSEPH SMITH. ................................................................................27

Her decks are crowded with excited passengers, who instantly undertake to "look after" their trunks and

things; and what with our smashing against each other, and the yells of the porters, and the wails over lost

baggage, and the crash of boxes, and the roar of the boilers, we are for the time being about as unhappy a lot

Great jam, in which I find a sweet young lady, with golden hair, clinging to me fondly, and saying, "Dear

Confusion so great that I seek refuge in a stateroom which contains a single lady of fortyfive summers, who

When the gong sounds for breakfast we are fairly out on the sea, which runs roughly, and the Ariel rocks

wildly. Many of the passengers are sick, and a young naval officer establishes a reputation as a wit by

carrying to one of the invalids a plate of raw salt pork, swimming in cheap molasses. I am not sick; so I roll

The next day and the next pass by in a serene manner. The waves are smooth now, and we can all eat and

sleep. We might have enjoyed ourselves very well, I fancy, if the Ariel, whose capacity was about three

hundred and fifty passengers, had not on this occasion carried nearly nine hundred, a hundred, at least of

whom were children of an unpleasant age. Captain Semmes captured the Ariel once, and it is to be deeply

regretted that that thrifty buccaneer hadn't made mincemeat of her, because she is a miserable tub at best,

and hasn't much more right to be afloat than a second hand coffin has. I do not know her proprietor, Mr. C.

Vanderbilt. But I know of several excellent mill privileges in the State of Maine, and not one of them is so

I had far rather say a pleasant thing than a harsh one; but it is due to the large number of respectable ladies

and gentleman who were on board the steamer Ariel with me that I state here that the accommodations on

that steamer were very vile. If I did not so state, my conscience would sting me through life, and I should

The proprietor apparently thought we were undergoing transportation for life to some lonely island, and the

very waiters who brought us meals, that any warden of any penitentiary would blush to offer convicts,

As a specimen of the liberal manner in which this steamer was managed I will mention that the purser (a very

pleasant person, by the way) was made to unite the positions of purser, baggage clerk, and doctor; and I one

day had a lurking suspicion that he was among the waiters in the diningcabin, disguised in a white jacket

I have spoken my Piece about the Ariel, and I hope Mr. Vanderbilt will reform ere it is too late. Dr. Watts

says the vilest sinner may return as long as the gasmeters work well, or words to that effect. . . . .

We were so densely crowded on board the Ariel that I cannot conscientiously say we were altogether happy.

And seavoyages at best are a little stupid. On the whole I should prefer a voyage on the Erie Canal, where

there isn't any danger, and where you can carry picturesque scenery along with youso to speak.

On the ninth day we reach Aspinwall in the Republic of Granada. The President of New Granada is a Central

American named Mosquero. I was told that he derived quite a portion of his income by carrying passengers'

valises and things from the steamer to the hotels in Aspinwall. It was an infamous falsehood. Fancy A.

Lincoln carrying carpetbags and things! and indeed I should rather trust him with them than Mosquero,

because the former gentleman, as I think some one has before observed, is "honest."

I intrust my bag to a speckled native, who confidentially gives me to understand that he is the only strictly

honest person in Aspinwall. The rest, he says, are niggerswhich the colored people of the Isthmus regard

I examine the New Grenadian flag, which waves from the chamberwindow of the refreshment saloon. It is

Take half of a cotton shirt, that has been worn two months, and dip it in molasses of the Day Martin brand.

Then let the flies gambol over it for a few days, and you have it. It is an emblem of Sweet Liberty.

At the Howard House the man of sin rubbeth the hair of the horse to the bowels of the cat, and our girls are

We have a quadrille, in which an English person slips up and jams his massive brow against my stomach. He

apologizes, and I say, "all right, my lord." I subsequently ascertained that he superintended the shipping of

Great excitement. One of our passengers intoxicated and riotous in the street. Openly and avowedly desires

In case they do come on, agrees to make it lively for them. Is quieted down at last, and marched off to prison,

by a squad of Grenadian troops. Is musical as he passes the hotel, and smiling sweetly upon the ladies and

children on the balcony, expresses a distinct desire to be an Angel, and with the Angels stand. After which he

The natives amass wealth by carrying valises, then squander it for liquor. My native comes to me as I sit on

the veranda of the Howard House smoking a cigar, and solicits the job of taking my things to the cars next

morning. He is intoxicated, and has been fighting, to the palpable detriment of his wearing apparel; for he has

We go to bed. Eight of us are assigned to a small den upstairs, with only two lame apologies for beds.

Mosquitoes and even rats annoy us fearfully. One bold rat gnaws at the feet of a young Englishman in the

party. This was more than the young Englishman could stand, and rising from his bed he asked us if New

Grenada wasn't a Republic? We said it was. "I thought so," he said. "Of course I mean no disrespect to the

United States of America in the remark, but I think I prefer a bloated monarchy!" He smiled sadlythen

handing his purse and his mother's photograph to another English person, he whispered softly. "If I am eaten

up, give them to Me mothertell her I died like a true Briton, with no faith whatever in the success of a

My native comes bright and early to transport my carpet sack to the railway station. His clothes have suffered

still more during the night, for he comes to me now dressed only in a small rag and one boot.

At last we are off. "Adios, Americanos!" the natives cry; to which I pleasantly reply, "ADOUS! and long may

The cars are comfortable on the Panama railway, and the country through which we pass is very beautiful.

But it will not do to trust it much, because it breeds fevers and other unpleasant disorders, at all seasons of the

There are mud huts all along the route, and halfnaked savages gaze patronizingly upon us from their

doorways. An elderly lady in spectacles appears to be much scandalized by the scant dress of these people,

and wants to know why the Select Men don't put a stop to it. From this, and a remark she incidentally makes

about her son, who has invented a washing machine which will wash, wring, and dry a shirt in ten minutes, I

infer that she is from the hills of Old New England, like the Hutchinson family.

The Central American is lazy. The only exercise he ever takes is to occasionally produce a Revolution. When

his feet begin to swell and there are premonitory symptoms of gout, he "revolushes" a spell, and then serenely

These Central American Republics are queer concerns. I do not of course precisely know what a last year's

calf's ideas of immortal glory may be, but probably they are about as lucid as those of a Central American in

And yet I am told they are a kindly people in the main. I never met but one of thema CostaRican; on

board the Ariel. He lay sick with fever, and I went to him and took his hot hand gently in mine. I shall never

forget his look of gratitude. And the next day he borrowed five dollars of me, shedding tears as he put it in his

At Panama we lose several of our passengers, and among them three Peruvian ladies, who go to Lima, the

The Senoritas who leave us at Panama are splendid creatures. They learned me Spanish, and in the soft

moonlight we walked on deck and talked of the land of Pizarro. (You know old Piz. conquered Peru! and

although he was not educated at West Point, he had still some military talent.) I feel as though I had lost all

my relations, including my grandmother and the cooking stove when these gay young Senoritas go away.

They do not go to Peru on a Peruvian bark, but on an English steamer. Off to Acapulco.

We make Acapulco, a Mexican coast town of some importance, in a few days, and all go ashore.

The pretty peasant girls peddle necklaces made of shells and oranges, in the streets of Acapulco, on steamer

days. They are quite naive about it. Handing you a necklace they will say, "Me give you presENT, Senor,"

and then retire with a low curtsey. Returning, however, in a few moments, they say quite sweetly, "You give

me presENT, Senor, of quarter dollar!" which you at once do unless you have a heart of stone.

Acapulco was shelled by the French a year or so before our arrival there, and they effected a landing. But the

gay and gallant Mexicans peppered them so persisently and effectually from the mountains near by that they

Napoleon has no right in Mexico. Mexico may deserve a licking. That is possible enough. Most people do.

But nobody has any right to lick Mexico except the United States. We have a right, I flatter myself, to lick

In our boat is an inebriated United States official, who flings his spectacles overboard, and sings a flippant

and absurd song about his grandmother's spotted calf, with his rifolloltidderyido. After which he

crumbles, in an incomprehensible manner, into the bottom of the boat, and howls dismally.

We reach Manzanillo, another coast place, twentyfour hours after leaving Acapulco. Manzanillo is a little

Mexican village, and looked very wretched indeed, sweltering away there on the hot sands. But it is a port of

some importance, nevertheless, because a great deal of merchandise finds its way to the interior from there.

The white and green flag of Mexico floats from a red steamtug (the navy of Mexico, by the way, consists of

two tugs, a disabled raft, and a basswood lifepreserver), and the Captain of the Port comes off to us in his

small boat, climbs up the side of the St. Louis, and folds the healthy form of Captain Hudson to his breast.

There was a wharf, but the enterprising Mexican peasantry, who subsist by poling merchandise ashore in

dugouts, indignantly tore it up. We take on here some young Mexicans, from Colima, who are going to

California. They are of the better class, and one young man (who was educated in Madrid) speaks English

rather better than I write it. Be careful not to admire any article of an educated Mexican's dress, because if

you do he will take it right off and give it to you, and sometimes this might be awkward.

"It is yours!" he exclaimed, quickly unbuckling it; and I could not induce him to take it back again.

I am glad I did not tell his sister, who was with him and with whom I was lucky enough to get acquainted,

what a beautiful white hand she had. She might have given it to me on the spot; and that, as she had soft eyes,

a queenly form, and a half million or so in her own right, would have made me feel bad.

Reports reach us here of highhanded robberies by the banditti all along the road to the City of Mexico. They

steal clothes as well as coin. A few days since the mail coach entered the city with all the passengers

We reach San Francisco one Sunday afternoon. I am driven to the Occidental Hotel by a kindhearted

hackman, who states that inasmuch as I have come out there to amuse people, he will only charge me five

dollars. I pay it in gold, of course, because greenbacks are not current on the Pacific coast.

Many of the citizens of San Francisco remember the Sabbath day to keep it jolly; and the theatres, the circus,

I "compromise," and go to the Chinese theatre, thinking perhaps there can be no great harm in listening to

The Chinaman at the door takes my ticket with the remark, "Ki hihi ki! Shoolah!"

The Chinese play is "continued," like a Ledger story, from night to night. It commences with the birth of the

hero or heroine, which interesting event occurs publicly on the stage; and then follows him or her down to the

Sometimes a Chinese play lasts six months. The play I am speaking of had been going on for about two

months. The heroine had grown up into womanhood, and was on the point, as I inferred, of being married to a

young Chinaman in spangled pantaloons and a long black tail. The bride's father comes in with his arms full

of teachests, and bestows them, with his blessing, upon the happy couple. As this play is to run four months

longer, however, and as my time is limited, I go away at the close of the second act, while the orchestra is

The doorkeeper again says, "Ki hihi ki! Shoolah!" adding, this time however, "Chowwow." I agree with

him in regard to the ki hi and hi ki, but tell him I don't feel altogether certain about the chowwow.

Stockton is a beautiful town, that has ceased to think of becoming a very large place, and has quietly settled

down into a state of serene prosperity. I have my boots repaired here by an artist who informs me that he

studied in the penitentiary; and I visit the lunatic asylum, where I encounter a vivacious maniac who invites

John Phoenix was once stationed at Stockton, and put his mother aboard the San Francisco boat one morning

Forward to Sacramentowhich is the capital of the State, and a very nice old town.

They had a flood here some years ago, during which several blocks of buildings sailed out of town and had

never been heard from since. A Chinaman concluded to leave in a wash tub, and actually set sail in one of

those fragile barks. A drowning man hailed him piteously, thus: "Throw me a rope, oh throw me a rope!" To

which the Chinaman excitedly cried, "No have gothow can do?" and went on, on with the howling current.

He was never seen more; but a few weeks after his tail was found by some Sabbathschool children in the

I go to the mountain towns. The sensational mining days are over, but I find the people jolly and hospitable

At Nevada I am called upon, shortly after my arrival, by an athletic scarletfaced man, who politely says his

"Yes, sirat my bar, I keep the well known and highly respected coffeehouse down the street."

"I know it, sir. That isn't the point. The point is this: I pay out money for good liquors, and it is people's own

fault if they don't drink them. There are the liquorsdo as you please about drinking them, BUT YOU

His enormous body (which Puck wouldn't put a girdle around for forty dollars) shook gleefully while I read

Years ago Mr. Blaze was an agent of the California Stage Company. There was a formidable and

wellorganized opposition to the California Stage Company at that time, and Mr. Blaze rendered them such

signal service in his capacity of agent that they were very sorry when he tendered his resignation.

"You are some sixteen hundred dollars behind in your accounts, Mr. Blaze," said the President, "but in view

of your faithful and efficient services we shall throw off eight hundred dollars off that amount."

Mr. Blaze seemed touched by this generosity. A tear stood in his eye and his bosom throbbed audibly.

"You WILL throw off eight hundred dollarsyou WILL?" he at last cried, seizing the President's hand and

"Well, sir," said Mr. Blaze, "I'm a gentleman, I AM, you bet! And I won't allow no Stage Company to surpass

me in politeness. I'LL THROW OFF THE OTHER EIGHT HUNDRED, AND WE'LL CALL IT SQUARE!

I get back to San Francisco in a few weeks, and am to start home Overland from here.

The distance from Sacramento to Atchison, Kansas, by the Overland stage route, is 2200 miles, but you can

happily accomplish a part of the journey by railroad. The Pacific Railroad id completed twelve miles to

Folsom, leaving only 2188 miles to go by stage. This breaks the monotony; but as it is midwinter and as there

are well substantiated reports of the Piute savages being in one of their sprightly moods when they scalp

people, I do not I may say that I do not leave the Capital of California in a lighthearted and joyous manner.

But "leaves have their time to fall," and I have my time to leave, which is now.

We ride all day and all night, and ascend and descend some of the most frightful hills I ever saw. We make

Johnson's Pass, which is 6752 feet high, about two o'clock in the morning, and go down the great Kingsbury

grade with locked wheels. The driver, with whom I sit outside, informs me, as we slowly roll down this

fearful mountain road, which looks down on either side into an appalling ravine, that he has met accidents in

his time, and cost the California Stage Company a great deal of money; "because," he says, "juries is agin us

on principle, and every man who sues us is sure to recover. But it will never be so agin, not with ME, you

It was frightfully dark. It was snowing withal, and notwithstanding the brakes were kept hard down, the

"Why, you see," he replied, "that corpses never sue for damages, but maimed people do. And the next time I

have a overturn I shall go round and keerfully examine the passengers. Them as is dead I shall let alone; but

them as is mutilated I shall finish with the kingbolt! Dead folks don't sue. They ain't on it."

We reach Carson City about nine o'clock in the morning. It is the capital of the silverproducing territory of

They shoot folks here somewhat, and the law is rather partial than otherwise to firstclass murderers.

I visit the territorial Prison, and the Warden points out the prominent convicts to me thus:

But shooting isn't as popular in Nevada as it once was. A few years since they used to have a dead man for

breakfast every morning. A reformed desperado told my that he supposed he had killed men enough to stock

a graveyard. "A feeling of remorse," he said, "sometimes comes over me! But I'm an altered man now. I

hain't killed a man for over two weeks! What'll yer poison yourself with?" he added, dealing a resonant blow

There used to live near Carson City a notorious desperado, who never visited town without killing somebody.

He would call for liquor at some drinkinghouse, and if anybody declined joining him he would at once

commence shooting. But one day he shot a man too many. Going into the St. Nicholas drinkinghouse he

asked the company present to join him in a North American drink. One individual was rash enough to refuse.

With a look of sorrow rather than anger the desperado revealed his revolver, and said, "Good God! MUST I

kill a man every time I come to Carson?" and so saying he fired and killed the individual on the spot. But this

was the last murder the bloodthirsty miscreant ever committed, for the aroused citizens pursued him with

I lecture in the theatre at Carson, which opens out of a drinking and gambling house. On each side of the door

where my tickettaker stands there are monteboards and sweatcloths, but they are deserted tonight, the

Five years ago there was only a ponypath over the precipitous hills on which now stands the marvelous city

of Virginia, with its population of twelve thousand persons, and perhaps more. Virginia, with its stately

warehouses and gay shops; its splendid streets, paved with silver ore; its banking houses and farobanks; its

attractive coffeehouses and elegant theatre, its music halls and its three daily newspapers.

Virginia is very wild, but I believe it is now pretty generally believed that a mining city must go through with

a certain amount of unadulterated cussedness before it can settle down and behave itself in a conservative and

seemly manner. Virginia has grown up in the heart of the richest silver regions in the world, the El Dorado of

the hour; and of the immense numbers who are swarming thither not more than half carry their mother's Bible

or any settled religion with them. The gambler and the strange woman as naturally seek the new sensational

town as ducks take to that element which is so useful for making cocktails and bathing one's feet; and these

people make the new town rather warm for a while. But by and by the earnest and honest citizens get tired of

this ungodly nonsense and organize a Vigilance Committee, which hangs the more vicious of the pestiferous

crowd to a sourapple tree; and then come good municipal laws, ministers, meetinghouses, and a tolerably

sober police in blue coats with brass buttons. About five thousand ablebodied men are in the mines

underground, here; some as far down as five hundred feet. The Gould and Curry Mine employs nine hundred

men, and annually turns out about twenty million dollars' worth of "demnition gold and silver," as Mr.

There are many other mines here and at Gold Hill (another startling silver city, a mile from here), all of which

do nearly as well. The silver is melted down into bricks of the size of common house bricks; then it is loaded

into huge wagons, each drawn by eight and twelve mules, and sent off to San Francisco. To a young person

fresh from the land of greenbacks this careless manner of carting off solid silver is rather a startler. It is

related that a young man who came Overland from New Hampshire a few months before my arrival became

so excited about it that he fell in a fit, with the name of his Uncle Amos on his lips! The hardy miners

supposed he wanted his uncle there to see the great sight, and faint with him. But this was pure conjecture,

I visit several of the adjacent mining towns, but I do not go to Aurora. No, I think not. A lecturer on

psychology was killed there the other night by the playful discharge of a horsepistol in the hands of a

degenerate and intoxicated Spaniard. This circumstance, and a rumor that the citizens are "agin" literature,

I had pointed out to me at a restaurant a man who had killed four men in street broils, and who had that very

day cut his own brother's breast open in a dangerous manner with a small supper knife. He was a gentleman,

however. I heard him tell some men so. He admitted it himself. And I don't think he would lie about a little

The theatre at Virginia will attract the attention of the stranger, because it is an unusually elegant affair of the

kind, and would be so regarded anywhere. It was built, of course, by Mr. Thomas Maguire, the Napoleonic

manager of the Pacific, and who has built over twenty theatres in his time and will perhaps build as many

more, unless somebody stops himwhich, by the way, will not be a remarkably easy thing to do.

As soon as a mining camp begins to assume the proportions of a city, at about the time the whiskeyvender

draws his cork or the gambler spreads his green cloth, Maguire opens a theatre, and with a hastilyorganized

I had no sooner achieved my room in the garret of the International Hotel than I was called upon by an

intoxicated man who said he was an Editor. Knowing how rare it was for an Editor to be under the blighting

influence of either spiritous or malt liquors, I received this statement doubtfully. But I said:

I heard him pacing unsteadily up and down the hall outside. In ten minutes he returned, and said:

Pepper was indeed his name. He had been out to see if he could remember it; and he was so flushed with his

success that he repeated it joyously several times, and then, with a short laugh he went away.

I had often heard of a man being "so drunk that he didn't know what town he lived in," but here was a man so

I saw him no more, but I heard from him. For he published a notice of my lecture, in which he said I had A

When Mr. Greeley was in California ovations awaited him at every town. He had written powerful leaders in

the "Tribune" in favor of the Pacific railroad, which had greatly endeared him to the citizens of the Golden

At one town the enthusiastic populace tore his celebrated white coat to pieces, and carried the pieces home to

The citizens of Placerville prepared to fete the great journalist, and an extra coach, with extra relays of horses,

was chartered to the California Stage Company to carry him from Folsom to Placervilledistance, forty

miles. The extra was in some way delayed, and did not leave Folsom until late in the afternoon. Mr. Greeley

was to be feted at 7 o'clock that evening by the citizens of Placerville, and it was altogether necessary that he

should be there by that hour. So the Stage Company said to Henry Monk, the driver of the extra: "Henry, this

great man must be there by 7 tonight." And Henry answered, "The great man shall be there."

The roads were in an awful state, and during the first few miles out of Folsom slow progress was made.

"Sir," said Mr. Greeley, "are you aware that I MUST be at Placerville at 7 o'clock tonight?"

But the speed was not increased, and Mr. Greeley chafed away another half hour; when, as he was again

about to remonstrate with the driver, the horses suddenly started into a furious run, and all sorts of

"That is right, my good fellow!" cried Mr. Greeley. "I'll give you ten dollars when we get to Placerville. Now

Crack, crack! went the whip, and again "that voice" split the air. "Git up! Hi yi! G'long! Yipyip!"

And on they tore over stones and ruts, up hill and down, at a rate of speed never before achieved by stage

Mr. Greeley, who had been bouncing from one end of the coach to the other like an indiarubber ball,

"Doon'ton'ton't youuu think weeee shall get there by seven if we doon'ton't go so fast?"

It was becoming serious. Already the journalist was extremely sore from the terrible jolting, and again his

"I've got my orders!" Fresh horses. Forward again, faster than before. Over rocks and stumps, on one of

"I've got my orders! I work for the California Stage Company, _I_ do. That's wot I WORK for. They said, 'git

this man through by seving.' An' this man's goin' through. You bet! Gerlong! Whoo ep!"

Another frightful jolt, and Mr. Greeley's bald head suddenly found its way through the roof of the coach,

At Mud Springs, a village a few miles from Placerville, they met a large delegation of the citizens of

Placerville, who had come out to meet the celebrated editor, and escort him into town. There was a military

company, a brass band, and a sixhorse wagon load of beautiful damsels in milkwhite dresses representing

all the States in the Union. It was nearly dark now, but the delegation were amply provided with torches, and

The citizens met the coach in the outskirts of Mud Springs, and Mr. Monk reined in his foamcovered steeds.

"HE WAS, A FEW MILES BACK!" said Mr. Monk; "yes," he added, after looking down through the hole

which the fearful jolting had made in the coachroof"yes, I can see him! He is there!"

"Mr. Greeley," said the Chairman of the Committee, presenting himself at the window of the coach, "Mr.

Greeley, sir! We are come to most cordially welcome you, sirwhy, God bless me, sir, you are bleeding at

"I've got my orders!" cried Mr. Monk. "My orders is as follers: Get him there by seving! It wants a quarter to

"But, sir," exclaimed the Committeeman, seizing the off leader by the reins"Mr Monk, we are come to

escort him into town! Look at the procession, sir, and the brass bands, and the people, and the young women,

"I'VE GOT MY ORDERS!" screamed Mr. Monk. "My orders don't say nothin' about no brass bands and

young women. My orders says, 'git him there by seving!' Let go them lines! Clear the way there! Whooep!

KEEP YOUR SEAT, HORACE!" and the coach dashed wildly through the procession, upsetting a portion of

the brass band, and violently grazing the wagon which contained the beautiful young women in white.

Years hence, grayhaired men, who were little boys in this procession, will tell their grandchildren how this

stage tore through Mud Springs, and how Horace Greeley's bald head ever and anon showed itself, like a wild

Mr. Monk was on time. There is a tradition that Mr. Greeley was very indignant for a while; then he laughed,

Mr. Monk himself is still in the employ of the California Stage Company, and is rather fond of relating a

story that has made him famous all over the Pacific coast. But he says he yields to no man in his admiration

There are eight passengers of us inside the coachwhich, by the way, isn't a coach, but a Concord covered

Among the passengers is a genial man of the name of Ryder, who has achieved a widespread reputation as a

strangler of unpleasant bears in the mountain fastnesses of California, and who is now an eminent Reese

We ride night and day, passing through the land of the Piute Indians. Reports reach us that fifteen hundred of

these savages are on the Rampage, under the command of a red usurper named Buffalo Jim, who seems to be

a sort of Jeff Davis, inasmuch as he and his followers have seceded from the regular Piut organization. The

seceding savages have announced that they shall kill and scalp all palefaces [which makes our face pale, I

reckon] found loose in that section. We find the guard doubled at all the stations where we change horses, and

our passengers nervously examine their pistols and readjust the long glittering knives in their belts. I feel in

my pockets to see if the key which unlocks the carpetbag containing my revolvers is all rightfor I had

rather brilliantly locked my deadly weapons up in that article, which was strapped with the other baggage to

the rack behind. The passengers frown on me for this carelessness, but the kindhearted Ryder gives me a

small doublebarrelled gun, with which I narrowly escape murdering my beloved friend Hingston in cold

blood. I am not used to guns and things, and in changing the position of this weapon I pulled the trigger

When this wicked rebellion first broke out I was among the first to stay at homechiefly because of my

utter ignorance of firearms. I should be valuable to the Army as a BrigadierGeneral only so far as the moral

When this wicked rebellion first broke out I was among the first to stay at home chiefly because of my utter

ignorance of firearms. I should be valuable to the army as a Brigadier General only so far as the moral

However, we pass safely through the land of the Piutes, unmolested by Buffalo James. This celebrated savage

can read and write, and is quite an orator, like Metamora, or the last of the Wampanoags. He went on to

Washington a few years ago and called Mr. Buchanan his Great Father, and the members of the Cabinet his

dear Brothers. They gave him a great many blankets, and he returned to his beautiful hunting grounds and

went to killing stage drivers. He made such a fine impression upon Mr. Buchanan during his sojourn in

Washington that that statesman gave a young English tourist, who crossed the plain a few years since, a letter

of introduction to him. The great Indian chief read the English person's letter with considerable emotion, and

Mr. Ryder knows me only as "Mr. Brown," and he refreshes me during the journey by quotations from my

"Ward says he likes little girls, but he likes large girls just as well. Haw, haw, haw! I should like to see the

Big Creek is a straggling, wild, little village; and the house in which I had the honor of speaking a piece had

no other floor than the bare earth. The roof was of sagebrush. At one end of the building a huge wood fire

blazed, which, with halfadozen tallowcandles, afforded all the illumination desired. The lecturer spoke

from behind the drinking bar. Behind him long rows of decanters glistened; above him hung pictures of

racehorses and prizefighters; and beside him, in his shirtsleeves and wearing a cheerful smile, stood the

barkeeper. My speeches at the Bar before this had been of an elegant character, perhaps, but quite brief.

They never extended beyond "I don't care if I do," "No sugar in mine," And short gems of a like character.

I had a good audience at Big Creek, who seemed to be pleased, the barkeeper especially; for at the close of

any "point" that I sought to make he would deal the counter a vigorous blow with his fist, and exclaim, "Good

Back to Austin. We lose our way, and hitching our horses to a tree, go in search of some human beings. The

night is very dark. We soon stumble upon a campfire, and an unpleasantly modulated voice asks us to say

our prayers, adding that we are on the point of going to Glory with our boots on. I think perhaps there may be

some truth in this, as the mouth of a horsepistol almost grazes my forehead, while immediately behind the

butt of that deathdealing weapon I perceive a large man with black whiskers. Other large men begin to

assemble, also with horsepistols. Dr. Hingston hastily explains, while I go back to the carriage to say my

prayers, where there is more room. The men were miners on a prospecting tour, and as we advanced upon

I must not forget to say that my brave and kindhearted friend Ryder of the mail coach, who had so often

alluded to "Ward" in our ride from Virginia to Austin, was among my hearers at Big Creek. He had

discovered who I was, and informed me that he had debated whether to wollop me or give me some rich

How was I to be greeted by the Mormons? That was rather an exciting question with me. I had been told on

the plains that a certain humorous sketch of mine (written some years before) had greatly incensed the Saints,

and a copy of the Sacramento "Union" newspaper had a few days before fallen into my hands in which a Salt

Lake correspondent quite clearly intimated that my reception at the new Zion might be unpleasantly warm. I

ate my dinner moodily and sent out for some cigars. The venerable clerk brought me six. They cost only two

dollars. They were procured at a store near by. The Salt Lake House sells neither cigars nor liquors.

Dr. Hingston "thanks God he never wrote against the Mormons," and goes out in search of a brother

Englishman. Comes back at night and says there is a prejudice against me. Advises me to keep in. Has heard

The next day is Sunday, and we go to the Tabernacle, in the morning. The Tabernacle is located on street,

and is a long rakish building of adobe, capable of seating some twentyfive hundred persons. There is a wide

platform and a rather large pulpit at one end of the building, and at the other end is another platform for the

choir. A young Irishman of the name of Sloan preaches a sensible sort of discourse, to which a Presbyterian

could hardly have objected. Last night this same Mr. Sloan enacted a character in a rollicking Irish farce at

the theatre! And he played it well, I was told; not so well, of course, as the great Dan Bryant could; but I

The Mormons, by the way, are preeminently an amusementloving people, and the Elders pray for the

success of their theatre with as much earnestness as they pray for anything else. The congregation doesn't

startle us. It is known, I fancy, that the heads of the Church are to be absent today, and the attendance is

slim. There are no ravishingly beautiful women present, and no positively ugly ones. The men are fair to

middling. They will never be slain in cold blood for their beauty, nor shut up in jail for their homeliness.

There are some good voices in the choir today, but the orchestral accompaniment is unusually slight.

Sometimes they introduce a full brass and string band in Church. Brigham Young says the devil has

monopolized the good music long enough, and it is high time the Lord had a portion of it. Therefore

trombones are tooted on Sundays in Utah as well as on other days; and there are some splendid musicians

there. The Orchestra in Brigham Young's theatre is quite equal to any in Broadway. There is a youth in Salt

Mr. Stenhouse relieves me of any anxiety I had felt in regard to having my swanlike throat cut by the

Danites, but thinks my wholesale denunciation of a people I had never seen was rather hasty. The following

is the paragraph to which the Saints objected. It occurs in an "Artemus Ward" paper on Brigham Young,

"I girded up my Lions and fled the Seen. I packt up my duds and left Salt Lake, which is a 2nd Soddum and

Germorer, inhabited by as theavin' onprincipled a set of retchis as ever drew Breth in eny spot on the Globe."

I had forgotten all about this, and as Elder Stenhouse read it to me "my feelings may be better imagined than

described," to use language I think I have heard before. I pleaded, however, that it was a purely burlesque

sketch, and that this strong paragraph should not be interpreted literally at all. The Elder didn't seem to see it

I go back to my hotel and go to bed, and I do not get up again for two weary weeks. I have the mountain fever

(so called in Utah, though it closely resembles the oldstyle typhus) and my case is pronounced dangerous. I

don't regard it so. I don't, in fact, regard anything. I am all right, MYSELF. My poor Hingston shakes his

head sadly, and Dr. Williamson, from Camp Douglas, pours all kinds of bitter stuff down my throat. I drink

his health in a dose of the cheerful beverage known as jalap, and thresh the sheets with my hot hands. I

address large assemblages, who have somehow got into my room, and I charge Dr. Williamson with the

murder of Luce, and Mr. Irwin, the actor, with the murder of Shakspeare. I have a lucid spell now and then, in

one of which James Townsend, the landlord, enters. He whispers, but I hear what he says far too distinctly:

"This man can have anything and everything he wants; but I'm no hand for a sick room. I NEVER COULD

That was cheering, I thought. The noble Californian, Jerome Davis he of the celebrated ranch sticks by me

like a twin brother, although I fear that in my hot frenzy I more than once anathematised his kindly eyes.

Nursers and watchers, Gentile and Mormon, volunteer their services in hoops and rare wines are sent to me

from all over the city, which, if I can't drink, the venerable and excellent Thomas can, easy.

I lay there in this wild, broiling way for nearly two weeks, when one morning I woke up with my head clear

and an immense plaster on my stomach. The plaster had OPERATED. I was so raw that I could by no means

say to Dr. Williamson, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant". I wished he had lathed me before he

plastered me. I was fearfully weak. I was frightfully thin. With either one of my legs you could have cleaned

the stem of a meerschaum pipe. My backbone had the appearance of a clothesline with a quantity of English

walnuts strung upon it. My face was almost gone. My nose was so sharp that I didn't dare stick it into other

people's business for fear it would stay there. But by borrowing my agent's overcoat I succeeded in producing

I have been looking at Zion all day, and my feet are sore and my legs are weary. I go back to the Salt Lake

House and have a talk with landlord Townsend about the State of Maine. He came from that bleak region,

having skinned his infantile eyes in York county. He was at Nauvoo, and was forced to sell his entire

property there for 50 dollars. He has thrived in Utah, however, and is much thought of by the Church. He is

an Elder, and preaches occasionally. He has only two wives. I hear lately that he has sold his property for

25,000 dollars to Brigham Young, and gone to England to make converts. How impressive he may be as an

expounder of the Mormon gospel, I don't know. His beefsteaks and chickenpies, however, were firstrate.

James and I talk about Maine, and cordially agree that so far as pine boards and horsemackerel are

concerned, it is equalled by few and excelled by none. There is no place like home, as Clara, the Maid of

Milan, very justly observes; and while J. Townsend would be unhappy in Maine, his heart evidently beats

I heard the love of home oddly illustrated in Oregon, one night, in a country barroom. Some welldressed

men, in a state of strong drink, were boasting of their respective places of nativity.

"I," said one, "was born in Mississippi, where the sun ever shines and the magnolias bloom all the happy year

"And I," said another, "was born in KentuckyKentucky, the home of impassioned oratory: the home of

"And I," said another, "was born in Virginia, the home of Washington: the birthplace of statesmen: the State

"And I," said a yellowhaired and sallowfaced man, who was not of this party at all, and who had been

quietly smoking a short black pipe by the fire during their magnificent conversation"and I was born in the

There is no mistake about that, and there is a good prospect of my staying here for some time to come. The

The Doctor looks glum, and speaks of his illstarred countryman, of Sir. J. Franklin, who went to the Arctic

A good thing happened down here the other day, said a miner from New Hampshire to me. "A man of Boston

dressin' went through there, and at one of the stations there wasn't any mules. Says the man who was fixed

out to kill in his Boston dressin', 'Where's them mules?' Says the driver, 'Them mules is into the sage brush.

You go catch 'emthat's wot YOU do.' Says the man of Boston dressin', 'Oh no!' Says the driver! 'Oh, yes!'

and he took his long coachwhip and licked the man of Boston dressin' till he went and caught them mules.

It didn't strike me as much of a joke to pay a hundred and seventyfive dollars in gold fare, and then be

horsewhipped by stagedrivers, for declining to chase mules. But people's ideas of humor differ in regard to

Sitting in a New England country store one day I overheard the following dialogue between two brothers:

"Show! Hund'd an' fifty for that kickin' spavin'd critter! Who'd you sell her to?"

"Wot!" exclaimed brother No. 1, "did you railly sell that kickin' spavin'd critter to mother? Wall, you AIR a

A SensationArrival by the Overland Stage of two Missouri girls, who had come unescorted all the way

through. They are going to Nevada territory to join their father. They are pretty, but, merciful heavens! how

they throw the meat and potatoes down their throats. "This is the first squar' meal we've had since we left

"Wall, don't make fun of our clothes in the papers. We air goin' right through in these here clothes, WE air!

Brigham Young sends word I may see him tomorrow. So I go to bed singing the popular Mormon hymn:

At two o'clock the next afternoon Mr. Hiram B. Clawson, Brigham Young's soninlaw and chief business

manager, calls for me with the Prophet's private sleigh, and we start for that distinguished person's block.

I am shown into the Prophet's chief office. He comes forward, greets me cordially, and introduces me to

Brigham Young is 62 years old, of medium height, and with sandy hair and whiskers. An active, iron man,

with a clear sharp eye. A man of consummate shrewdnessof great executive ability. He was born in the

State of Vermont, and so by the way was Heber C. Kimball, who will wear the Mormon Belt when Brigham

Brigham Young is a man of great natural ability. If you ask me, How pious is he? I treat it as a conundrum,

and give it up. Personally he treated me with marked kindness throughout my sojourn in Utah.

His power in Utah is quite as absolute as that of any living sovereign, yet he uses it with such consummate

He was an Elder at the first formal Mormon "stake" in this country, at Kirtland, Ohio, and went to Nauvoo

with Joseph Smith. That distinguished Mormon handed his mantle and the Prophet business over to Brigham

Smith did a more flourishing business in the Prophet line than B.Y. does. Smith used to have his little

Revelation almost every day sometimes two before dinner. B.Y. only takes one once in a while.

The gateway of his block is surmounted by a brass American eagle, and they say ("they say" here means

antiMormons) that he receives his spiritual dispatches through this piece of patriotic poultry. They also say

that he receives revelations from a stuffed white calf that is trimmed with red ribbons and kept in an iron box.

I don't suppose these things are true. Rumor says that when the Lion House was ready to be shingled,

Brigham received a message from the Lord stating that the carpenters must all take hold and shingle it, and

not charge a red cent for their services. Such carpenters as refused to shingle would go to hell, and no

postponement on account of the weather. They say that Brigham, whenever a train of emigrants arrives in

Salt Lake City, orders all the women to march up and down before his block, while he stands on the portico

He is an immensely wealthy man. His wealth is variously estimated at from ten to twenty millions of dollars.

He owns saw mills, grist mills, woollen factories, brass and iron foundries, farms, brickyards, and

superintends them all in person. A man in Utah individually owns what he grows and makes, with the

exception of a onetenth part: that must go to the Church; and Brigham Young, as the first President, is the

Church's treasurer. Gentiles, of course, say that he abuses this blind confidence of his people, and speculates

with their money, and absorbs the interest if he doesn't the principle. The Mormons deny this, and say that

whatever of their money he does use is for the good of the Church; that he defrays the expenses of emigrants

from far over the seas; that he is foremost in all local enterprises tending to develop the resources of the

Nobody seems to know how many wives Brigham Young has. Some set the number as high as eighty, in

which case his children must be too numerous to mention. Each wife has a room to herself. These rooms are

large and airy, and I suppose they are supplied with all the modern improvements. But never having been

invited to visit them I can't speak very definitely about this. When I left the Prophet he shook me cordially by

the hand, and invited me to call again. This was flattering, because if he dislikes a man at the first interview

he never sees him again. He made no allusion to the "letter" I had written about his community. Outside

guards were pacing up and down before the gateway, but they smiled upon me sweetly. The veranda was

crowded with Gentile miners, who seemed to be surprised that I didn't return in a wooden overcoat, with my

Nobody seems to know how many wives Brigham Young has. Some set the number as high as eighty, in

which case his children must be too numerous to mention. Each wife has a room to herself, These rooms are

large ans airy, and I suppose they are supplied with all the modern improvements. But never having been

invited to visit them, I can't speak very definitely about this. When I left the Prophet he shook me cordially by

the hand, and invited me to call again. This was flattering, because if he dislikes a man at the first interview

he never sees him again. He made no allusion to the "letter" I had written about his community. Outside

guards were pacing up and down before the gateway, but they smiled upon me sweetly. The verandah was

crowded with Gentile miners, who seemed to be surprised that I didn't return in a wooden overcoat, with my

I go to the Theatre tonight. The play is Othello. This is a really fine play and was a favourite of G.

Washington, the father of his country. On this stage, as upon all stages, the good old conventionalities are

strictly adhered to. The actors cross each other at oblique angles from L.U.E. to R. I. E. on the slightest

provocation. Othello howls, Iago scowls, and the boys all laugh when Roderigo dies. I stay to see charming

I was an actor once, myself. I supported Edwin Forrest at a theatre in Philadelphia. I played a pantomimic

part. I removed the chairs between scenes, and I did it so neatly that Mr. F. said I would make a

The parquette of the theatre is occupied exclusively by the Mormons and their wives and children. They

wouldn't let a Gentile in there any more than they would a serpent. In the side seats are those of President

Young's wives who go the play, and a large and varied assortment of children. It is an odd sight to see a jovial

old Mormon file down the parquette aisle with ten or twenty robust wives at his heels. Yet this spectacle may

be witnessed every night the theatre is opened. The dress circle is chiefly occupied by the officers from Camp

Douglas and the Gentile Merchants. The upper circles are filled by the private soldiers and Mormon boys. I

feel bound to say that a Mormon audience is quite as appreciative as any other kind of an audience. They

prefer comedy to tragedy. Sentimental plays, for obvious reasons, are unpopular with them. It will be

remembered that when C. Melnotte, in the Lady of Lyons, comes home from the wars, he folds Pauline to his

heaving heart and makes several remarks of an impassioned and slobbering character. One night when the

Lady of Lyons was produced here, an aged Mormon arose and went out with his twentyfour wives, angrily

stating that he wouldn't sit and see a play where a man made such a CUSSED FUSS OVER ONE WOMAN.

The prices of the theatre are: Parquette, 75 cents; second and third upper circles, 25 cents. In an audience of

two thousand persons (and there are almost always that number present probably a thousand will pay in cash,

and the other thousand in grain and a variety of articles; all of which will command money however.

Brigham Young usually sits in the middle of the parquette, in a rockingchair, and with his hat on. He does

not escort his wives to the theatre. They go alone. When the play drags he either falls into a tranquil sleep or

walks out. He wears in winter time a green wrapper, and his hat in the style introduced into this country by

Louis Kossuth, Esq. the liberator of Hungaria. I invested a dollar in the liberty of Hungaria nearly fifteen

The night of the "comic oration" is come, and the speaker is arranging his back hair in the star dressingroom

of the theatre. The orchestra is playing selections from the Gentile opera of "Un Ballo in Maschera," and the

house is full. Mr. John F. Caine, the excellent stage manager, has given me an elegant drawingroom scene

[In Iowa, I once lectured in a theatre, and the heartless manager gave me a dungeon scene.]

I can only say that I was never listened to more attentively and kindly in my life than I was by this audience

20 bushels of wheat. 5 bushels of corn. 4 bushels of potatoes. 2 bushels of oats. 4 bushels of salt. 2 hams. 1

live pig (Dr. Hingston chained him in the boxoffice.) 1 wolfskin. 5 pounds of honey in the comb. 16

strings of sausages2 pounds to the string. 1 catskin. 1 churn (two families went in on this; it is an

ingenious churn, and fetches butter in five minutes by rapid grinding.) 1 set of children's undergarments,

One man undertook to pass a dog (a cross between a Scotch terrier and a Welsh rabbit) at the boxoffice, and

another presented a Germansilver coffinplate, but the Doctor very justly repulsed them both.

The Mormons are fond of dancing. Brigham and Heber C. dance. So do Daniel H. Wells, and the other heads

of the Church. Balls are opened with prayer, and when they break up a benediction is pronounced.

I am invited to a ball at Social Hall, and am escorted thither by Brothers Stenhouse and Clawson.

Social Hall is a spacious and cheerful room. The motto of "Our Mountain Home" in brilliant evergreen

capitals adorns one end of the hall, while at the other a platform is erected for the musicians, behind whom

there is room for those who don't dance to sit and look at the festivities. Brother Stenhouse, at the request of

President Young, formally introduces me to company from the platform. There is a splendor of costumery

about the dancers I had not expected to see. Quadrilles only are danced. The mazourka is considered sinful.

The Saints address each other here, as elsewhere, as Brother and Sister. "This way, Sister!" "Where are you

going, Brother?" I am called Brother Ward. This pleases me, and I dance with renewed vigor.

The Prophet has some very charming daughters, several of whom are present tonight.

The Prophet is more industrious than graceful as a dancer. He exhibits, however, a spryness of legs quite

remarkable in a man at his time of life. I didn't see Heber C. Kimball on the floor. I am told he is a loose and

reckless dancer, and that many a lilywhite toe has felt the crushing weight of his cowhide monitors.

The old gentleman is present, however, with a large number of wives. It is said he calls them his "heifers."

I go away at the early hour of two in the morning. The moon is shining brightly on the snowcovered streets.

There is an eccentric Mormon at Salt Lake City of the name of W.W. Phelps. He is from Cortland, State of

New York, and has been a Saint for a good many years. It is said he enacts the character of the Devil, with a

peagreen tail, in the Mormon initiation ceremonies. He also published an almanac, in which he blends

astronomy with short moral essays, and suggestions in regard to the proper management of hens. He also

contributes a poem, entitled "The Tombs," to his almanac for the current year, from which I quote the last

Now, I know that poets and tinpedlars are "licensed," but why does W.W.P. advise us to sleep in the barn

with the ostlers? These are the most dismal tombs on record, not except the Tomb of the Capulets, the Tombs

Under the head of "OLD Sayings," Mr. P. publishes the following. There is a modesty about the last "saying"

"The Lord does good and Satan evil, said Moses. Sun and moon, see me conquer, said Joshua. Virtue exalts a

woman, said David. Fools and folly frolic, said Solomon. Judgments belong to God, said Isaiah. The path of

the just is plain, said Jeremiah. The soul that sins dies, said Ezekiel. The wicked do wicked, said Daniel.

Ephraim fled and hid, said Hosea. The Gentiles war and waste, said Joel. The second reign is peace and

plenty, said Amos. Zion is the house of the gods, said Obadiah, A fish saved me, said Jonah. Our Lion will be

terrible, said Micah. Doctor, cure yourself, said the Saviour. Live to live again, said W.W. Phelps."

TIME, Wednesday afternoon, February 10. The Overland Stage, Mr. William Glover on the box, stands

before the veranda of the Salt Lake House. The genial Nat Stein is arranging the waybill. Our baggage (the

Overland passenger is allowed twentyfive pounds) is being put aboard, and we are shaking hands, at a rate

altogether furious, with Mormon and Gentile. Among the former are Brothers Stenhouse, Caine, Clawson and

Townsend; among the latter are Harry Riccard, the bighearted English mountaineer (though once he wore

white kids and swallowtails in Regent Street, and in boyhood went to school with Miss Edgeworth, the

novelist), the daring explorer Rood, from Wisconsin; th e Rev. James McCormick, missionary, who

distributes pasteboard tracts among the Bannock miners; and the pleasing child of gore, Captain D. B. Stover,

We go away on wheels, but the deep snow compels us to substitute runners twelve miles out.

There are four passengers of us. We pierce the Wahsatch mountains by Parley's canyon.

A snowstorm overtakes us as the night thickens, and the wind shrieks like a brigade of stronglunged

maniacs. Never mind. We are well covered up our cigars are good. I have on deerskin pantaloons, a

deerskin overcoat, a beaver cap and buffalo overshoes; and so, as I tersely observed before, Never mind. Let

us laugh the winds to scorn, brave boys! But why is William Glover, driver, lying flat on his back by the

roadside; and why am I turning a handspring in the road; and why are the horses tearing wildly down the

Wahsatch mountains? It is because William Glover has been thrown from his seat, and the horses are running

away. I see him fall off and it occurs to me I had better get out. In doing so, such is the velocity of the sleigh,

Far ahead I hear the runners clash with the rocks, and I see Dr. Hingston's lantern (he always would have a

lantern), bobbing about like the binnacle light of an oyster sloop, very loose in a choppy sea. Therefore I do

William G. is not hurt, and together we trudge on after the runaways in the hope of overtaking them, which

We are soon on the road again, all serene; though I believe the Doctor did observe that such a thing would not

We reach Weber station, thirty miles from Salt Lake City and wildly situated at the foot of the grand Echo

Canyon, at 3 o'clock the following morning. We remain over a day here with James Bromley, agent of the

Overland Stage line, and who is better known on the plains than Shakspeare is; although Shakspeare has done

a good deal for the stage. James Bromley has seen the Overland line grow up from its ponyicy; and as

FitzGreen Halleck happily observes, none know him BUT TO LIKE HIS STYLE. He was intended for an

I part with this kindhearted gentleman, to whose industry and ability the Overland line owes much of its

success, with sincere regret; and I hope he will soon get rich enough to transplant his charming wife from the

Forward to Fort Bridger, in an open sleigh. Night clear, cold, and moonlit. Driver Mr. Samuel Smart.

Through Echo Canyon to Hanging Rock Station. The snow is very deep, there is no path, and we literally

shovel our way to Robert Pollock's station, which we achieve in the Course of Time. Mr. P. gets up and

kindles a fire, and a snowy nightcap and a pair of very bright black eyes beam upon us from the bed. That is

Mrs. Robert Pollock. The log cabin is a comfortable one. I make coffee in my French coffeepot, and let

loose some of the roast chickens in my basket. (Tired of fried bacon saleratus breadthe principle bill of

fare at the stations we had supplied ourselves with chicken, boiled ham, onions, sausages, sea bread,

canned butter, cheese, honey, an example all Overland traders would do well to follow.) Mrs. Pollock tells

me where I can find cream for the coffee, and cups and saucers for the same, and appears so kind, that I regret

On to Yellow Creek Station. Then Needle Rocka desolate hut on the Desert, house and barn in one

building. The stationkeeper is a miserable, toothless wretch, with shaggy yellow hair, but says he's going to

To Bear River. A pleasant Mormon named Myers this station, and he gives us a firstrate breakfast, Robert

Curtis takes the reins from Mr. Smart here, and we get on to wheels again. Begin to see groups of trees a

Pass Quaking Asp Springs and Muddy to Fort Bridger. Here are a group of white buildings, built round a

plaza, across the middle of which runs a creek. There are a few hundred troops here under the command of

Major Gallergher, a gallant officer and a gentleman, well worth knowing. We stay here two days.

We are on the road again, Sunday the 14th, with a driver of the highly floral name of Primrose. At 7 the next

morning we reach Green River Station, and enter Idaho Territory. This is the Bitter Creek division of the

Overland route, of which we had heard so many unfavorable stories. The division is really well managed by

Mr. Stewart, though the country through which it stretches is the most wretched I ever saw. The water is

liquid alkali, and the roads are soft sand. The snow is gone now, and the dust is thick and blinding. So

We reach the summit of the Rocky Mountains at midnight on the 17th. The climate changes suddenly, and

the cold is intense. We resume runners, have a breakdown, and are forced to walk four miles.

I remember that one of the numerous reasons urged in favor of General Fremont's election to the Presidency

in 1856 was his finding the path across the Rocky Mountains. I wrung my frostbitten hands on that dreadful

night, and declared that for me to deliberately go over that path in midwinter was a sufficient reason for my

election to any lunatic asylum, by an overwhelming vote. Dr. Hingston made a similar remark, and wondered

Another sensation. Not comic this time. One of our passengers, a fairhaired German boy, whose sweet ways

had quite won us all, sank on the snow, and saidLet me sleep. We knew only too well what that meant, and

tried hard to rouse him. It was in vain. Let me sleep, he said. And so in the cold starlight he died. We took

him up tenderly from the snow, and bore him to the sleigh that awaited us by the roadside, some two miles

away. The new moon was shining now, and the smile on the sweet white face told how painlessly the poor

boy had died. No one knew him. He was from the Bannock mines, was illclad, had no baggage or money,

and his fare was paid to Denver. He had said that he was going back to Germany. That was all we knew. So

at sunrise the next morning we buried him at the foot of the grand mountains that are snowcovered and icy

all the year round, far away from the Faderland, where it may be, some poor mother is crying for her darling

We strike the North Platte on the 18th. The fare at the stations is daily improving, and we often have antelope

steaks now. They tell us of eggs not far off, and we encourage (by a process not wholly unconnected with

At Elk Mountain we encounter a religious driver named Edward Whitney, who never swears at the mules.

This has made him distinguished all over the plains. This pious driver tried to convert the Doctor, but I am

mortified to say that his efforts were not crowned with success, Fort Halleck is a mile from Elk, and here are

some troops of the Ohio 11th regiment, under the command of Major Thomas L. Mackey.

On the 20th we reach Rocky Thomas's justly celebrated station at 5 in the morning, and have a breakfast of

hashed blacktailed deer, antelope steaks, ham, boiled bear, honey, eggs, coffee, tea, and cream. That was the

squarest meal on the road except at Weber. Mr. Thomas is a Baltimore "slosher," he informed me. I don't

know what that is, but he is a good fellow, and gave us a breakfast fir for a lord, emperor, czar, count, A

better couldn't be found at Delmonicp's or Parker's. He pressed me to linger with him for a few days and

shoot bears. It was with several pangs that I declined the generous Baltimorean's invitation.

To Virginia Dale. Weather clear and bright. Virginia Dale is a pretty spot, as it ought to be with such a pretty

name; but I treated with no little scorn the advice of a hunter I met there, who told me to give up "literatoor,"

Bannock on the brain! That is what is the matter now. Wagonload after wagonload of emigrants, bound to

the new Idaho gold regions, meet us every hour. Canvascovered and drawn for the most part by fine large

mules, they make a pleasant panorama, as they stretch slowly over the plains and uplands. We strike the

South Platte Sunday, 21st, and breakfast at Latham, a station of onehorse proportions. We are now in

Colorado ("Pike's Peak"), and we diverge from the main route here and visit the flourishing and beautiful city

of Denver. Messrs, Langrish Dougherty, who have so long and so admirably catered to the amusement lovers

of the Far West, kindly withdrew their dramatic corps for a night, and allow me to use their pretty little

We go to the mountains from Denver, visiting the celebrated goldmining towns of Black Hawk and Central

City. I leave this queen of all the territories, quite firmly believing that its future is to be no less brilliant than

I had almost forgotten to mention that on the way from Latham to Denver Dr. Hingston and Dr. Seaton (late a

highly admired physician and surgeon in Kentucky, and now a prosperous gold miner) had a learned

discussion as to the formation of the membranes of the human stomach, in which they used words that were

over a foot long by actual measurement. I have never heard such splendid words in my life; but such were

their grandiloquent profundity, and their farreaching lucidity, that I understood rather less about it when

Back to Latham again over a marshy road, and on to Nebraska by the main stageline.

Col. Chivington is a Methodist clergyman, and was once a presiding elder. A thoughtful, earnest man, an

eloquent preacher, a sincere believer in the war, he, of course brings to his new position a great deal of

enthusiasm. This, with his natural military tact, makes him an officer of rare ability; and on more occasions

than one he has led his troops against the enemy with resistless skill and gallantry. I take the liberty of calling

the President's attention to the fact that this brave man ought to have long ago been a brigadiergeneral.

Col. Chivington vanquished the rebels with his brave Colorado troops, in New Mexico last year, as most

people know. At the commencement of the action, which was hotly contested, a shell from the enemy

exploded near him, tearing up the ground, and causing Captain Rogers to swear in an awful manner.

"Captain Rogers," said the Colonel, " gentlemen do not swear on a solemn occasion like this. We may fall,

but falling in a glorious cause, let us die as Christians, not as rowdies, with oaths upon our lips. Captain

Another shell, a sprightlier one than its predecessor, tears the earth fearfully in the immediate vicinity of Col.

"Why, G d Their souls to h ," he roared, "they've put my eyes out AS CAPTAIN ROGERS WOULD

But the Colonel's eyes were not seriously damaged, and he went in. Went in, and came out victorious.

We reach Julesberg, Colorado, the 1st of March. We are in the country of the Sioux Indians now, and

encounter them by the hundred. A Chief offers to sell me his daughter (a fair young Indian maiden) for six

Meals which have hitherto been 1 dol. Are now 75 cents. Eggs appear on the table occasionally, and we hear

of chickens farther on. Nine miles from here we enter Nebraska territory. Here is an occasionally fenced

farm, and the ranches have barrooms. Buffalo skins and buffalo tongues are on sale at most of the stations.

We reach South Platte on the 2d, and Fort Kearney on the 3d. The 7th Iowa Calvary are here, under the

command of Captain Wood. At Cottonwood, a days ride back, we had taken aboard Major O'Brien,

Meals are now down to 50 cents, and a good deal better than when they were 1 dol.

KANSAS, 105 miles from Atchison. Atchison! No traveller by sea ever longed to set his foot on shore as we

longed to reach the end of our dreary coachride over the wildest part of the whole continent. How we talked

Atchison, and dreamed Atchison, for the next fifty hours! Atchison, I shall always love you. You were

evidently mistaken, Atchison, when you told me that in case I "lectured" there, immense crowds would

throng to the hall; but you are very dear to me. Let me kiss you for your maternal parent!

We are passing through the reservation of the Otoe Indians, who long ago washed the warpaint from their

We rattle leisurely into Atchison on a Sunday evening. Lights gleam in the windows of milkwhite churches,

and they tell us, far better than anything else could, that we are back to civilization again.

An overland journey in winter is a better thing to have done than to do. In the spring, however, when the

grass is green on the great prairies, I fancy one might make the journey a pleasant one, with his own outfit

It is at Great Salt Lake City as it is at Boston. If I go out to tea at the Wilkinses in Boston, I'm pretty sure to

find Mr. Wilkins all smiles and Sunshine, or Mrs. Wilkins all gentleness and politeness. I am entertained

delightfully, and after tea little Miss Wilkins shows me her photograph album, and plays the march from

"Faust" on the piano for me. I go away highly pleased with my visit; and yet the Wilkinses may fight like cats

and dogs in private. I may no sooner have struck the sidewalk than Mr. W. will be reaching for Mrs. W's

This is the City of Saints. Apparently, the Mormon women are happy. I saw them at their best, of courseat

balls, teaparties and the like. They were like other women as far as my observation extended. They were

hooped, and furbelowed, and shod, and white collard, and bejewelled; and like women all over the world,

The Mormon girl is reared to believe that the pluralitywife system as it is delicately called here is strictly

right; and in linking her destiny with a man who has twelve wives, she undoubtedly considers she is doing

her duty. She loves the man, probably, for I think it is not true, as so many writers have stated, that girls are

forced to marry whomsoever "the Church" may dictate. Some parents no doubt advise, connive, threaten, and

in aggravated cases incarcerate here, as some parents have always done elsewhere, and always will do as long

How these dozen or twenty wives get along without heartburnings and hairpullings I can't see.

There are instances on record, you know, where a man don't live in a state of uninterrupted bliss with ONE

wife. And to say that a man can possess twenty wives without having his special favorite, or favorites, is to

say that he is an angel in bootswhich is something I have never been introduced to. You never saw an

The Mormon woman is early taught that man, being created in the image of the Saviour, is far more godly

than she can ever be, and that for her to seek to monopolize his affections is a species of rank sin. So she

shares his affections with five or six or twenty other women, as the case may be.

A man must be amply able to support a number of wives before he can take them. Hence, perhaps, it is that so

many old chaps in Utah have young and blooming wives in their seraglios, and so many young men have

I had a man pointed out to me who married an entire family. He had originally intended to marry Jane, but

Jane did not want to leave her widowed mother. The other three sisters were not in the matrimonial market

for the same reason; so this gallant man married the whole crowd, including the girl's grandmother, who had

lost all her teeth, and had to be fed with a spoon. The family were in indigent circumstances, and they could

not but congratulate themselves on securing a wealthy husband. It seemed to affect the grandmother deeply,

for the first words she said on reaching her new home were: "Now, thank God! I shall have my gruel reg'lar!"

The name of Joseph Smith is worshipped in Utah; and, "they say," that although he had been dead a good

many years, he still keeps on marrying women by proxy. He "reveals" who shall act as his earthly agent in

A few years ago I read about a couple being married by telegraph the young man was in Cincinatti and the

young woman was in New Hampshire. They did not see each other for a year afterwards. I don't see what fun

I have somewhere stated that Brigham Young is said to have eighty wives. I hardly think he has so many. Mr.

Hyde, the backslider, says in his book that "Brigham always sleeps by himself, in a little chamber behind his

office;" and if he has eighty wives I don't blame him. He must be bewildered. I know very well that if I had

eighty wives of my bosom I should be confused, and shouldn't sleep anywhere. I undertook to count the long

stockings, on the clothesline, in his back yard one day, and I used up the multiplication table in less than

In this book I am writing chiefly of what I saw. I saw plurality at its best. I have shown the silver lining of

this great social cloud. That back of this silver lining the cloud must be thick and black, I feel quite sure. But

to elaborately denounce, at this late day, a system we all know must be wildly wrong, would be simply to

I have not troubled the reader with extracts from Mormon documents. The Book of Mormon is ponderous,

but gloomy, and at times incoherent; and I will not, by any means, quote from that. But the Revelation of

Joseph Smith in regard to the absorbing question of plurality or polygamy may be of sufficient interest to

Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand to

know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; as also Moses,

David, and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and

concubines: Behold! and lo, I am the Lord thy God, and will answer thee as touching this matter: therefore

prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you; for all those who

have this law revealed unto them must obey the same; for behold! I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting

covenant, and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be

permitted to enter into my glory; for all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was

appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as was instituted from before the foundations of the

world; and as pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant, it was instituted for the fulness of my glory;

and he that receiveth a fulness thereof, must and shall abide the law, or he shall be damned, saith the Lord

And verily I say unto you, that the conditions of this law are these: All covenants, contracts, bonds,

obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations or expectations, that are not made, and

entered into, and sealed, by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for

all eternity, and that, too, most holy, by revelation and commandment, through the medium of mine anointed,

whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power (and I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold

this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys

of this priesthood are conferred), are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the

dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead.

Behold! Mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion. Will I accept of an

offering, saith the Lord, that is not made in my name? Or will I receive at your hands that which I have not

appointed? And will I appoint unto you, saith the Lord, except it be by law, even as I and my Father ordained

unto you, before the world was? I am the Lord thy God, and I give unto you this commandment, that no man

shall come unto the Father but by me, or by my word, which is my law, saith the Lord; and everything that is

in the world, whether it be ordained of men, by thrones, or principalities, or powers, or things of name,

whatsoever they may be, that are not by me, or by my word, saith the Lord, shall be thrown down, and shall

not remain after men are dead, neither in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your God; for what soever

things remaineth are by me, and whatsoever things are not by me, shall be shaken and destroyed.

Therefore, if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by me, nor by my word, and he

covenant with her so long as he is in the world, and she with him, their covenant and marriage is not of force

when they are dead, and when they are out of the world; therefore they are not bound by any law when they

are out of the world: therefore when they are out of the world, they neither marry nor are given in marriage,

but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are

worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory; for these angels did not abide my law,

therefore they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately, and singly, without exaltation, in their saved

condition, to all eternity, and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God for ever and ever.

And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife, and make a covenant with her for time and for all

eternity, if that covenant is not by me or by my word, which is my law, and is not sealed by the Holy Spirit of

promise, through him whom I have anointed and appointed unto this power, then it is not valid, neither of

force when they are out of the world, because they are not joined by me, saith the Lord, neither by my word;

when they are out of the world, it cannot be received there, because the angels and the gods are appointed

there, by whom they cannot pass; they cannot, therefore, inherit my glory, for my house is a house of order,

And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and

everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto

whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood, and it shall be said unto them, Ye shall

come forth in the first resurrection; and if it be after the first resurrection, in the next resurrection; and shall

inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths, then shall it be

written in the Lamb's Book of Life that he shall commit no murder, whereby to shed innocent blood; and if ye

abide in my covenant, and commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, it shall be done unto them in

all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them in time and through all eternity; and shall be of full

force when they are out of the world, and they shall pass by the angels and the gods, which are set there, to

their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness

Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting,

because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they

Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my law, ye cannot attain to this glory; for straight is the gate,

and narrow the way, that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find

it, because ye receive me not in the world, neither do ye know me. But if ye receive me in the world, then

shall ye know me, and shall receive your exaltation, that where I am, ye shall be also. This is eternal life to

know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. I am he. Receive ye, therefore, my

law. Broad is the gate, and wide the way that leadeth to the death, and many there are that go in thereat,

Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man marry a wife according to my word, and they are sealed by the Holy

Spirit of promise according to mine appointment, and he or she shall commit any sin or transgression of the

new and everlasting covenant whatever, and all manner of blasphemies; and if they commit no murder,

wherein they shed innocent blood, yet they shall come forth in the first resurrection, and enter into their

exaltation; but they shall be destroyed in the flesh, and shall be delivered unto the buffetings of Satan, unto

The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which shall not be forgiven in the world nor out of the world, is in

that ye commit murder, wherein ye shed innocent blood, and assent unto my death, after ye have received my

new and everlasting covenant, saith the Lord God: and he that abideth not this law can in no wise enter into

I am the Lord thy God, and will give unto thee the law of my holy priesthood, as was ordained by me and my

Father before the world was. Abraham received all things, whatsoever he received, by revelation and

commandment, by my word, saith the Lord, and hath entered into his exaltation, and sitteth upon his throne.

Abraham received promises concerning his seed, and of the fruit of his loinsfrom whose loins ye are, viz.,

my servant Josephwhich were to continue so long as they were in the world; and as touching Abraham and

his seed out of the world, they should continue; both in the world and out of the world should they continue

as innumerable as the stars; or, if ye were to count the sand upon the seashore, ye could not number them.

This promise is yours also because ye are of Abraham, and the promise was made unto Abraham, and by this

law are the continuation of the works of my Father, wherein he glorifieth himself. Go ye, therefore, and do

the works of Abraham; enter ye into my law, and ye shall be saved. But if ye enter not into my law, ye cannot

God commanded Abraham, and Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to wife. And why did she do it? Because this

was the law, and from Hagar sprang many people. This, therefore, was fulfilling, among other things, the

promises. Was Abraham, therefore, under condemnation? Verily, I say unto you, NAY; for the Lord

commanded it. Abraham was commanded to offer his son Isaac; nevertheless it was written, Thou shalt not

kill. Abraham, however, did not refuse, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.

Abraham received concubines, and they bare him children, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness,

because they were given unto him, and he abode in my law; as Isaac, also, and Jacob, did none other things

than that which they were commanded; and because they did none other things than that which they were

commanded, they have entered into their exaltation, according to the promises, and sit upon thrones; and are

not angels, but are gods. David also received many wives and concubines, as also Solomon and Moses my

servant, as also many others of my servants, from the beginning of creation until this time, and in nothing did

David's wives and concubines were given unto him of me by the hand of Nathan my servant, and others of

the prophets who had the keys of this power; and in none of these things did he sin against me, save in the

case of Uriah and his wife; and, therefore, he hath fallen from his exaltation, and received his portion; and he

shall not inherit them out of the world, for I gave them unto another, saith the Lord.

I am the Lord thy God, and I gave unto thee, my servant Joseph, by appointment, and restore all things; ask

what ye will, and it shall be given unto you, according to my word; and as ye have asked concerning adultery,

verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man receiveth a wife in the new and everlasting covenant, and if she be with

another man, and I have not appointed unto her by the holy anointing, she hath committed adultery, and shall

be destroyed. If she be not in the new and everlasting covenant, and she be with another man, she has

committed adultery; and if her husband be with another woman, and he was under a vow, he hath broken his

vow, and hath committed adultery; and if she hath not committed adultery, but is innocent, and hath not

broken her vow, and knoweth it, and I reveal it unto you, my servant Joseph, then shall you have power, by

the power of my holy priesthood, to take her, and give her unto him that hath not committed adultery, but

hath been faithful; for he shall be made ruler over many; for I have conferred upon you the keys and power of

the priesthood, wherein I restore all things and make own unto you all things in due time.

And verily, verily, I say unto you, that whatsoever you seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and

whatsoever you bind on earth, in my name and by my word, saith the Lord, it shall be eternally bound in the

heavens; and whosesoever sins you remit on earth, shall be remitted eternally in the heavens; and

And again, verily, I say, whomsoever you bless, I will bless, and whomsoever you curse, I will curse, saith

And again, verily, I say unto you, my servant Joseph, that whatsoever you give on earth, and to whomsoever

you give any one on earth, by my word and according to my law, it shall be visited with blessings and not

cursings, and with my power, saith the Lord, and shall be without condemnation on earth and in heaven, for I

am the Lord thy God, and will be with thee even unto the end of the world, and through all eternity; for verily

I seal upon you your exaltation, and prepare a throne for you in the kingdom of my Father, with Abraham

your father. Behold! I have seen your sacrifices, and will forgive all your sin; I have seen your sacrifices, in

obedience to that which I have told you; go, therefore, and I make a way for your escape, as I accepted the

Verily, I say unto you, a commandment I give unto mine handmaid, Emma Smith, your wife, whom I have

given unto you, that she stay herself, and partake of that which I commanded you to offer unto her; for I did

it, saith the Lord, to prove you all, as I did Abraham, and that I might require an offering at your hand by

covenant and sacrifice; and let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those that have been given unto my

servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me; and those who are not pure, and have said they

were pure, shall be destroyed, saith the Lord God; for I am the Lord thy God, and ye shall obey my voice; and

I give unto my servant Joseph, that he shall be made ruler over many things, for he hath been faithful over a

And I command mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph and to none else.

But if she will not abide this commandment, she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord, for I am the Lord thy

God, and will destroy her if she abide not in my law: but if she will not abide this commandment, then shall

my servant Joseph do all things for her, as he hath said; and I will bless him, and multiply him, and give unto

him an hundredfold in this world, of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, houses and lands, wives and

children, and crowns of eternal lives in the eternal worlds. And again, verily I say, let mine handmaid forgive

my servant Joseph his trespasses, and then shall she be forgiven her trespasses, wherein she hath trespassed

against me; and I, the Lord thy God, will bless her, and multiply her, and make her heart to rejoice.

And again, I say, let not my servant Joseph put his property out of his hands, lest an enemy come and destroy

himfor Satan seeketh to destroyfor I am the Lord thy God, and he is my servant; and behold! and lo, I

am with him, as I was with Abraham thy father, even unto his exaltation and glory.

Now, as touching the law of the priesthood, there are many things pertaining thereunto. Verily, if a man be

called of my Father, as was Aaron, by mine own voice, and by the voice of him that sent me, and I have

endowed him with the keys of the power of this priesthood, if he do anything in my name, and according to

my law, and by my word, he will not commit sin, and I will justify him. Let no one, therefore, set on my

servant Joseph, for I will justify him: for he shall do the sacrifice which I require at his hands, for his

And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood; if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse

another, and the first give her consent; and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to

no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery, for they are given unto him; for he cannot

commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him, and to none else; and if he have ten virgins given unto

him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is

he justified. But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has

committed adultery, and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth,

according to my commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the

foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men; for

And again, verily, verily, I say unto you, if any man have a wife who holds the keys of this power, and he

teaches unto her the law of my priesthood as pertaining to these things, then shall she believe and administer

unto him, or she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord your God; for I will destroy her; for I will magnify my

name upon all those who receive and abide in my law. Therefore it shall be lawful in me, if she receive not

this law, for him to receive all things whatsoever I, the Lord his God, will give unto him, because she did not

believe and administer unto him according to my word; and she then becomes the transgressor, and he is

exempt from the law of Sarah, who administered unto Abraham according to the law, when I commanded

Abraham to take Hagar to wife. And, now as pertaining to this law, verily, verily, I say unto you I will reveal

more unto you hereafter, therefore let this suffice for the present. Behold! I am Alpha and Omega. AMEN.