Page:History of Utah.djvu/301

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incessantly at work night and clay. It was a city of mucl and logs; the houses had puncheon floors and roofs of straw and dirt, or of turf and willows; they were warm and not unwholesome, but would not en- dure the thaw, rain, and sunshine. ^^

There was a camp at Cutler Park which was moved to Winter Quarters. Great difficulty was experi- enced in getting flour and meal; a little grain was ground at the government mill, and the rest was ob- tained in Missouri, a hundred and fifty miles distant.^^ Brigham kept everybody bus}^, and everything was well organized and systematically executed. ^^ Schools were soon established, officers of the church appointed, and men sent on missions. The whole machinery w^as apparently in as active operation as it had been at Nauvoo. The gathering continued through the sum- first relief experienced was when a bag of potatoes was brought in from Missouri ... It was observed that those who had milk escaped the trouble. ' Home's Migrations, MS., 20.

2' ' The buildings were generally of logs from 12 to 18 feet long, a few were split, and made from lynn and cotton-wood timber; many roofs were made by splitting oak timber into boards, called shakes, about 3 ft long and 6 in. wide, and kept in j)lace by weights and i^oles; others were made of willows, straw, and earth, about a foot thick; some of puncheon. Many cabuis had no floors; there were a few dugouts on the sidehills— the tire- place was cut out at the upper end. The ridge-pole roof was supported by two uprights in the centre and roofed with straw and earth, with chimneys of prairie sod. The doors were made of shakes, with wooden hinges and string latch; the inside of the log houses was daubed with clay; a few had stoves.' Hist. B. Young, MS., 1846, 534. ' The roofs were made of logs laid across with flags spread over them, and earth spread over these. This was partial protection from the rain, but when once it was soaked through in a lieavy storm, we were at the mercy of the rain.' Richards' Bern., MS., 27. In Dec. 1846, at Winter Quarters there were ' 538 log houses and 83 sod houses, inhabited by 3,483 souls, of whom 334 were sick. ' Church Chronology, ,65.

^^ ' .§8,000 was sent by Whitney to St Louis to purchase stones and machin- ery for flouring mills; and through A. H. Perkins a cai-ding machine was ordered from Savannah.' Hist. B. Young, MS., Aug. 30, 1846. 'Sugar and coSee were I63 cts per lb.; domestics and calicoes from 18 to 25 cts; $3 a cwt. for flour,' etc. ; all of which could be purchased in St Louis for a third of these rates. These prices seemed exorbitant to the Mormons, though in reality they were not unreasonable. In transporting the goods from St Louis later, ferriage became so high and prices were .so advanced that the brethren burst forth: 'Woe unto you, Missourians! but we are independent of them and can live without them, for we have thousands of cattle left. '

-^ 'At a meeting of the council July 14th, it was voted that colonies be established on the east side of the river to put in buckwheat, and winter; that a fort be built on Grand Island and a settlement made there; and that Bishop Miller and a company go over the mountains.' Hist. B. Young, MS., 1846, 50.