Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1880.djvu/76

74 profitable and is being worked. The estimated product of the mines of the Territory up to the end of 1875 was $21,000,000; since January, 1876, it has been, in round numbers, $24,000,000, or $6,000,000 yearly, made up of gold, silver, lead, and copper. Silver takes precedence, considerably more than half the value named being in that metal. Lead ranks second, and copper the lowest in the value of its production.

The number of miles of railroad opened during the past year is reported at 792, which tends to show the rapidly developing business interests of the Territory.

The relations with the Indians are reported as in general satisfactory, many of them having abandoned their tribal relations and engaged in farming and stock-raising.

The conduct of those at the Uintah Agency during the White River troubles has been specially commended by the agent at that place.

The governor in his report dwells at length on the social condition of the Territory as resulting from the teachings of “the Church of the Latter-Day Saints,” and invites attention to the constant violation of law in the practice of polygamy. With a law of Congress forbidding polygamy and prescribing penalties, which law has by the Supreme Court of the United States been adjudged constitutional, the practice has been and continues to be tolerated in the Territory, though elsewhere in the country it would speedily meet the punishment prescribed.

Polygamy is not only tolerated in Utah, but, because of the power and influence of the organization in which it is practiced, it is made the shibboleth to position and power. Besides being in direct violation of law, it tends toward a union of church and state too intimate to accord with the spirit of our institutions.

The governor urges that time will not prove the remedy for the evil, which can be reached and averted only by a rigid execution of the laws.

The enactment of additional laws to secure the enforcement of the act approved July 1, 1862, to prevent and punish the practice of polygamy in the Territories of the United States and other places, is earnestly commended to the attention of Congress.

The governor reports a steady advance of the Territory in population and wealth. Grazing, to which the country is well adapted, is the foremost interest. The number of cattle in the Territory is estimated at 540,000, and of sheep at 375,000.

Owing to the lack of confidence in the possibility of successful agriculture at so great an elevation as 5,000 to 7,000 feet above the level of the sea, this industry advances but slowly. In some portions of the Territory fine crops have been produced without irrigation. This, however, can be expected only in the more favorable seasons, but with a