It is with very great pleasure that I have listened to the
instructions and counsels of my brethren at this Conference. In fact,
the season of Conference is a period of reflection with me. It is
eighteen years ago yesterday when the first October Conference was
held in this valley under the shade of a hay stack, and it served an
abundant means of shading all that attended. As we are here assembled
now, it would require an extensive hay stack to create a shade
sufficient to accommodate the assembly, and there is but a very small
representation here from the settlements of the Territory, though
there are considerable numbers from some of them—trains of fifty or
sixty wagons loaded with persons to attend Conference. Those of us who
are in this city, and who have not had the privilege of traveling
through the settlements, can form very little comprehension of the
extent, strength, and population of the Territory, and of the amount
of labor, toil, and the results of that toil and labor which are
progressing throughout.
President Young has devoted a large portion of his time since last
Conference, associated with a number of Elders, in traveling and
visiting the Saints. He has visited, perhaps, one-half of them, after
traveling about eighteen hundred miles. Our Territory is said to be
sparsely set tled, but our location renders it necessary that wherever
a settlement exists it shall be of considerable size, in order to
carry out the necessary arrangements for protection and cultivation.
It is seldom that a small settlement can do this successfully. I have
been pleased with the suggestions offered by President Hyde in
relation to the better cultivation of the soil; for when we go to the
expense of taking out water, of keeping up dams, making requisite
canals, repairing tunnels and smaller ditches and water sects, it
would seem really sound policy that every foot of land thus watered,
in order to make it effective, should be cultivated in the best
possible manner. If the Lord had seen proper to send rains from heaven
to water our lands sufficiently and gratuitously as in other places,
we might spread over the land and cultivate the soil without so much
labor on our part. If the suggestions which have been made are duly
considered and applied throughout the Territory, the result will be
the production of from one to three times more of the necessaries of
life on the same area.
So far as the unity of the people is concerned, I have felt to rejoice
the past season; I have accompanied the President this summer, except
when on his last trip to Cache Valley, during which I was on a journey
to the South with Elder Amasa Lyman. We held twenty-four
meetings. It is really an expressive and singular incident that we
live to visit so many climates inhabited by Saints in so short a time.
We passed near the snow region in July, went directly into a
semi-torrid zone to see the effects of all the changes in this variety
of climate, thermometer at Washington 110 degrees in the shade, all within
our own borders. Our settlements may be compared to a thrifty tree,
throwing out annually a new growth more extended and more vigorous.
While President Young and company passed on south, Elders F. D.
Richards and A. M. Musser took another direction through the new
counties of Sevier, Piute, and Kane, through a chain of new
settlements never before visited, only in part, by some of the Twelve,
visiting on their route some 600 families. It is really astonishing to
reflect that such an extent of settlements have been thrown out. We
have been gratified very much with the efforts and exertions made by
our brethren who were sent on missions to our cotton region in opening
and enlarging the settlements there. They have met with many
difficulties of which their northern brethren have very little
conception. The soil along their streams in many places is composed of
such loose material that it is almost impossible to carry a water
ditch through it for irrigation, the soil of the banks dissolving in
the water like sugar in coffee; dams are washed away by frequent
bursting of clouds. You may take the best fields in the vicinity of
St. George, and the annual expense of keeping up their canals and dams
for irrigation has been 15 dollars per acre, and yet the courage,
energy, perseverance, and diligence of the brethren have not failed,
but they continue to construct dams, and contend with the natural
obstacles that lie in their way to the permanent improvement of the
country. This perseverance, which will eventually bring forth an
abundant supply of the needful staples which can be successfully
produced in that climate, is very commendable; to support themselves
by producing their own breadstuff is true political economy.
Notwithstanding the number of mechanics sent there, they have not
sufficient to supply the wants of the people. There are many towns
without a blacksmith, plasterer, mason, or carpenter. A considerable
number of these could find employment and make themselves good homes
in many of the southern settlements. We would direct the minds of the
brethren to this item.
There is much land that can be cultivated in wheat with flood water
that cannot be made to produce cotton, in consequence of drouth later
in the season. The raising of bread this year has not interfered to
any great extent with the culture of cotton, the supply of which has
been greater than last year; and two-thirds of breadstuff necessary
has been produced to supply the inhabitants, the other third must be
brought from the north. Many vineyards have come into bearing, and
extensive new vineyards have been planted, and the efforts at
cultivating more breadstuffs have proven successful; and if the
brethren continue their efforts, an ample supply will be produced for
home consumption without materially lessening the breadth cultivated
in cotton and vines. While my brethren are contending with these
obstacles I sympathize with them, and rejoice when I see them
victorious. As I passed through the mineral lots in St. George I saw
their barren aspect, and saw the men working on them to conquer those
combined chemical elements which eat up everything that grows, and
though the rocks and fences of sandstones were dissolving before them, yet men are conquering this soil and making it produce.
Nearly three-fourths of all the fruit trees planted in St. George have
been unsuccessful, yet the place is looking like the Garden of Eden,
showing that perseverance, faith, and energy will conquer everything.
It is a delightful and pleasant locality. I name these things because
we are interested in them, and wish the brethren to realize that those
brethren on that mission have spent the accumulated property of many
years, and many of them are successful; some are yet struggling to
make a start, and it is with them as the old adage has it, while the
grass grows the cow starves; but they are not discouraged; their eyes
look bright, their spirit is determined, and I was pleased to hear
Elder Snow speak of the good spirit they felt, and that they were
determined to overcome. A people possessed of such great energy, aided
by the ready cooperation of their brethren in the north, are bound to
conquer that desert, and not only make it blossom as the rose, but
make one of the most delightful regions of the earth. I would suggest
to all persons who go there to fulfil what is required of them, and
not forget that it is necessary to carry the staff of life with them,
that those that are there, and those that are going, may be provided
with ample supplies of bread; it is better to have a little over when
the next harvest comes than to go two or three weeks without bread.
May the blessings of God be upon Zion, and may her cords be lengthened
and her stakes strengthened, that she may be blessed continually with
that wisdom, knowledge, and intelligence that guide the head and
inspire the body. We are improving in everything; we must continue to
improve until the light of life shines throughout the whole earth; for
our business is to be like a city set upon a hill, or a candle set
upon a table, to illuminate the earth, and bring all to a knowledge of
the truth, life, and peace. May God enable us to be so is my prayer,
in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
- George A. Smith