Page:History of Utah.djvu/342

 ViAU. 19

being rapidly broken up by the removal of the houses on to the city lots. The city was divided into nine- teen bishops' wards ;^ the ten-acre blocks were divided into allotments of an acre and a quarter, the five-acre lots in similar proportion, each building facing the garden of the one adjoining, the space of twenty feet left between the houses and the surrounding fence being afterward planted with trees and shrubbery.^

The need of a circulating medium had been felt ever since the valley had been settled.^ Their cur- rency was blankets, grain, and seeds; and even after gold-dust was brought in by the miners great incon- venience was experienced in its use, and many re- fused to take it, as there was a waste in weighing it. To meet this emergency, bank bills for one dollar

often without their daily bread, as we have seen. The following is probably much nearer the truth: ' The houses are small, principally of brick (adobe), built up only as temporary abodes, until the more urgent and important mat- ters of enclosure and cultivation are attended to; but I never saw anything to surpass the ingenuity of arrangement with which they are fitted up, and the scrupulous cleanliness with which they are kept. There were tradesmen and artisans of all descriptions, but no regular stores or workshops, except forges. Still, from the shoeing of a horse to the mending of a watch there was no dif- ficulty in getting it done, as cheap and as well put out of hand as in any other city in America. ' Kelly's Excursion to California, 226.

' The bishops were David Fairbanks, John Lowry, Christopher Williams, William Hickenlooper, William J. Perkins, Addison Everett, Seth Taft, David Pettigrew, Benjamin Covey, Edward Hunter, John Murdock, Abraham 0. Smoot, Isaac Higbee, Joseph L. Hey wood, James Hendrix, Benjamin Brown, Orville S. Cox, and Joel H. Johnson. Utah Early Records, MS., 47-8, 69. The valley is settled for 20 miles south and 40 miles north, and divided into 19 wards. Hist. B. Youvg, MS., 1849, 57.

^ At a council held Feb. 17, 1849, the committee on fencing reported that the enclosure termed the big field would include 291 ten-acre lots, 460 five- acre lots, the church farm of 800 acres, and 17 acres of fractional lots, the whole requiring 5,240 rods of fencing, of which it was recommended that 3,216 should be of adobes, 663 of adobes or stone, and 1,361 of ditch, posts, and rails. 'When the Mormons first arrived they did not quarrel for best lands, but cultivated a whole district in common, dividing the harvest according to work done, seed supplied, and need of family. On dividing the town into lots, each received his plat, and so with fields, for south of the town lay a field of 6 square miles, cultivated in common; this was divided into 5- acre square lots and given to beads of families, by lot or distribution, in tracts of one to eight lots each. After the distribution some began to speculate with their lots, but to this the church objected, saying that none should sell his land for more than first cost and improvements, for it belonged to God, and was merely held in use by the holder. Still, secret speculations occurred. ' Olshausen's Mormonen, 166-7.

' ' Owing to the absence of small change, the tax collector was instructed to give due-bills for sums less than a dollar, and redeem them when presented in suflicient amount.' Hist. B. Young, MS., 1849, 23.