President's Office,
Gt. Salt Lake City,
July 24th, 1867.
President Erastus Snow,
St. George, Washington Co:
Dear Brother:
Enclosed please find my programme of travel from this city to Bear Lake Valley. As you see, we intend to leave here on Monday morning, September 2nd. We hope that you will be up in time to join us before starting. We intend to be at Provo to dedicate their new Meeting House on the 24th of August.
We have had very warm weather this summer, and the crops throughout this county and Davis and Weber look very promising; and we will have a pretty good crop of fruit. We hear, that in Cache Valley, the grasshoppers are committing havoc on their crops, and in some places entire fields are eaten off. From Bear Lake the reports are favorable for a good crop. In San Pete the crops are backward, though if they have had as warm weather there as we have had here the grain must have been greatly benefitted. We have heard of no new Indian outbreak in San Pete, and we trust that the vigilance of the brethren will be such that the Indians will gain no new advantage of them. I got a telegram this morning from Brother Dame at Parowan stating that the Indians had made a raid on their stock, but they had succeeded in recapturing it. You will doubtless hear the particulars long before this reaches you. Where the brethren are vigilant they can ward off these attacks with great advantage and teach the Indians a lesson that will do more toward bringing about a peace than any amount of presents; for when they find they cannot make a raid without endangering their lives and meeting a severe repulse they will then be willing to come to terms and bury the hatchet, whilst every successful attempt they make to drive off our stock, emboldens them, and they think they can commit depredations with impunity.
Brother Henry W. Lawrence and some other brethren arrived a day or two ago from the Plains; they report the capture, by the Indians, of a number of mules, belonging to Brothers Streeper, Randall, Stoddard and Lot Smith. This occurred below Julesburg. The brethren had camped at a Station alongside the Rail Road and supposed they were perfectly safe, as trains were running along constantly, but there were some hills not far distant from which seven mounted Indians emerged and stampeded and ran off the animals. When the brethren obtained animals to go in pursuit the Indians were beyond their reach. So far as heard from, the train your son is in, was getting along very well. The stealing of these animals will make all our people more vigilant, probably, than they otherwise would have been. The Indians are in small bands; they are constantly on the alert and wherever they see a chance they are sure to avail themselves of it.
Our missionaries reached New York in safety and they sailed for Europe a few days ago. Brigham Junr. and his family, and John W reached New York in safety, and I expect they are en-route to the Rail Road terminus. It is very likely they will return with the freight trains.
Brigham W. Kimball, who has been very low in health, is now on his way here. His brother, Heber P. went to Philadelphia after him. The doctor told Heber that if he moved him he would not live twenty-four hours; but, at last account he had reached the terminus, his health having improved all the way. Sister Vilate Kimball's health is very poor; she is suffering from impaired health originating in the shock caused by the news of her son Brigham's precarious condition.
We had a ball in the Theatre on the 4th of July, and another on the 16th; the parquette was floored over, which makes the Theatre a very fine dancing hall. Everything passed off finely, the building being much cooler and the dancing more agreeable than one would have imagined, considering the very hot weather prevailing at the time. We expect to hold another ball there on the 24th, and a children's party on the 27th, which will probably wind up the dancing season in that building.
You have doubtless heard the rumors of the discovery of a gold mine on Willow Creek near the upper crossing of the Sweetwater. The Specimens of gold brought in are purer than any that has been found in the neighboring Territories. A great many of our floating population made a rush for the mines as soon as the news of their discovery transpired, quite a number of whom, I understand, are coming back quite crestfallen; and from what I hear, they would prefer having it understood that they have been on a trading expedition or hunting stock rather than gold hunting. The reports are that they who were there first and made the discovery, have got very good claims. There are no placer digging and they are (the) only kind poor men can work to advantage.
With love in which Presidents Kimball & Wells and Bro. Geo. Q. join, and praying the Lord to bless you continually, I remain,
Your Brother,
Brigham Young.
P.S. I received a letter from you which had been written to you by Bro. G. Spencer. That is an affair about which I wish I could never think, and about which I wish I had never heard. But men will act independent and they must endure the consequences of their actions. I can give no encouragement to any man who was engaged in that transaction, and can only say let them remain as they are.