Page:Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow monochrome.djvu/172

 of all their property. They journeyed westward, some locating themselves in one place and some in another, according to their means and circumstances. The major part went into the State of Missouri, many of whom located in Caldwell County. This occurred in the year 1838.

The attention of the reader will now be directed to that branch of the Church which located in Jackson County. Here we shall be under the necessity of relating troubles of a more serious character. The land being only one dollar and a quarter per acre, the Saints, though generally poor, were enabled, many of them, to make very extensive purchases. By industry and perseverance large farms were soon opened, orchards planted, mills and public buildings erected, institutions for education formed, a printing press established, the foundation for a Temple laid, and beautiful private dwellings began to appear in all directions upon those broad and beautiful prairies. To the settler having but little capital, it is presumed no country was ever discovered possessing so many advantages as that which the Saints here occupied. It is described in the following language by one of the members of the colony: "Unlike the timbered States in the east, except upon the rivers and water courses, which were verdantly dotted with trees; from one to three miles wide, as far as the eye can glance, the beautiful rolling prairies lay spread around like a sea of meadows. The timber is a mixture of oak, hickory, box, elder, and bass wood, together with the addition of cotton wood, bullon wood, pecon, soft and hard maple, upon the bottoms. The shrubbery was beautiful, and consisted in part of plums, grapes, crab apples and persimmons. The prairies were decorated with a growth of flowers that seemed as gorgeous and grand as the brilliancy of stars in the heavens, and exceed description. The soil is rich and fertile, from three to ten feet deep, and generally composed of a rich black mould, intermingled with clay and sand. It produces in abundance wheat, corn and many other commodities, together