In like manner there may have been some talk among the same class of people--the ignorant and over-zealous Church members--respecting the Indians, and their future union with the Saints in redeeming the land of Zion; a circumstance which led the good people of Clay county and Governor Dunklin, to refer to the charge of the Saints holding illicit communication with the Indians, designing to employ them in taking possession of the land of Zion. Of this charge also history will and does vindicate the Saints. It will, and does say, that they disclaimed holding any such communication; that neither their general principles nor any special commandment from God, and particularly that no action of theirs warranted any suspicion on the subject, much less justified the charge of such a diabolical purpose. After the Saints withdrew from Clay county and at the suggestion of her citizens--including some of the most influential men in western Missouri, some of whom afterwards attained national reputations--located in the sparsely settled counties of Caldwell and Daviess, the situation became somewhat changed. For two years the work of purchasing lands, locating settlements, opening farms, establishing merchantile houses, and preparing for manufacturing and commercial enterprises went steadily on. In Caldwell and adjoining counties, by the autumn of 1838, the Saints had opened two thousand farms, and paid to the general government three hundred and eighteen thousand dollars for land, which at the minimum price for government land would give them over two hundred and fifty thousand acres. [34] One hundred and fifty houses had been erected in Far West; there were four dry goods stores, three family groceries, half a dozen blacksmith's shops, and two hotels. [35] The excavation for a temple 120 by 80 feet had been made, and a large commodious schoolhouse had been erected on the public square. [36] The town of Adam-Ondi-Ahman was also making rapid progress.