Brigham Young, in after years, thus spoke of Smith's exhibition of miraculous healing during the year after their arrival in Illinois: "Joseph commenced in his own house and dooryard, commanding the sick, in the name of Jesus Christ, to arise and be made whole, and they were healed according to his word. He then continued to travel from house to house, healing the sick as he went."* Any attempt to reconcile this statement by Young with the previously cited testimony about the mortality of the place would be futile. * "Life of Brigham Young" (Cannon & Son, publishers), p. 32. The growth of the town, however, was more rapid than that of any of the former Mormon settlements. The United States census shows that the population of Hancock County, Illinois, increased from 483 in 1830 to 9946 in 1840. Statements regarding the population of Nauvoo during the Mormon occupancy are conflicting and often exaggerated. In a letter to the elders in England, printed in the Times and Seasons of January, 1841, Smith said, "There are at present about 3000 inhabitants in Nauvoo." The same periodical, in an article on the city, on December 15, 1841, said that it was "a densely populated city of near 10,000 inhabitants." A visitor, describing the place in a letter in the Columbus (Ohio) Advocate of March, 1842, said that it contained about 7000 persons, and that the buildings were small and much scattered, log cabins predominating. The Times and Seasons of October, 1842, said, "It will be no more than probably correct if we allow the city to contain between 7000 and 8000 houses, with a population of 14,000 or 15,000," with two steam mills and other manufacturing concerns in operation. W. W. Phelps estimated the population in 1844 at 14,000, almost all professed Mormons. The Times and Seasons in 1845 said that a census just taken showed a population of 11,057 in the city and one third more outside the city limits. As soon as the Mormons arrived, Nauvoo was laid out in blocks measuring about 180 by 200 feet, with a river frontage of more than three miles. An English visitor to the place in 1843 wrote "The city is of great dimensions, laid out in beautiful order; the streets are wide and cross each other at right angles, which will add greatly to its order and magnificence when finished. The city rises on a quick incline from the rolling Mississippi, and as you stand near the Temple you may gaze on the picturesque scenery round. At your side is the Temple, the wonder of the world; round about and beneath you may behold handsome stores, large mansions, and fine cottages, interspersed with varied scenery."* * Mackay's "The Mormons," p. 128.