Mormon Settlement in Arizona: A Record of Peaceful Conquest of the DesertMcClintock, James H.
History
Mormon Settlement in Arizona: A Record of Peaceful Conquest of the Desert
McClintock, James H.
Arizona -- History -- To 1950; Latter Day Saints -- Arizona -- History
Here there might be notation that of the venerated Salt Lake Pioneers,
the following-named later had residence in Arizona: Edmund Ellsworth,
Charles Shumway, Edson Whipple, Francis M. Pomeroy, Conrad Klineman,
Andrew S. Gibbons and Joseph Matthews.
Of the Pioneers of especial distinction, the following-named were later
visitors to Arizona: Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, Geo. A. Smith,
Erastus Snow, Amasa M. Lyman and Lorenzo D. Young.
Missionaries John Steele and Wm. A. Follett were former Battalion
members.
Rufus C. Allen, who was Private No. 1 of the First Company of the Mormon
Battalion, returned from Chile to become a missionary in the Las Vegas
section and in the Virgin River country. One of Allen's daughters, Mrs.
Rachael Berry of St. Johns, represented Apache County in the House of
Representatives of Arizona's Second State Legislature, in 1915.
Diplomatic Dealings with the Redskins
With the exception of the missionaries and the travelers between Utah and
San Bernardino, the white man had little place in the southern point of
Nevada in the early days. At hand, however, is a tale of the adventures
of Ira Hatch, who was sent into the lonely, barren desert in the hope
that something of missionary value might be done with the Indians. These
Indians, Paiutes, were described as "always ready to attack the weak and
defenseless traveler, including any opportunity to prey upon the animals
of the watchful and strong." Nevertheless missionaries from southern Utah
attempted Christianization. Whatever their degree of success, and though
often in serious danger, they made the redskins understand that,
personally, they were friendly. This missionary effort, it was hoped,
would serve to make safer the through road.
Elder Hatch, in January, 1858, was sent alone into the Muddy Valley, 100
miles from the nearest settlement, Santa Clara. He was among the savages
for two weeks, camped in a broken-down wagon left by one of the Crismons.
His main trouble was in saving food from the Indians, who descended upon
him like locusts and manifested their friendliness by stealing everything
they could carry away. Hatch held the fort, however, translating and
serving as guide for travelers, and occasionally having to threaten with
his pistol redskins who menaced him with their bows and arrows.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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