A Study in Scarlet Part II

Chapter 2

The Flower Of Utah

This is not the place to commemorate the tri-

als and privations endured by the immigrant Mor-

mons before they came to their final haven. From

the shores of the Mississippi to the western slopes

of the Rocky Mountains they had struggled on with

a constancy almost unparalleled in history. The

savage man, and the savage beast, hunger, thirst,

fatigue, and disease-every impediment which Na-

ture could place in the way-had all been overcome

with Anglo-Saxon tenacity. Yet the long journey

and the accumulated terrors had shaken the hearts

of the stoutest among them. There was not one

who did not sink upon his knees in heartfelt prayer

when they saw the broad valley of Utah bathed in

the sunlight beneath them, and learned from the

lips of their leader that this was the promised land,

and that these virgin acres were to be theirs for

evermore.

Young speedily proved himself to be a skilful

administrator as well as a resolute chief. Maps

were drawn and charts prepared, in which the fu-

ture city was sketched out. All around farms were

apportioned and allotted in proportion to the stand-

ing of each individual. The tradesman was put to

his trade and the artisan to his calling. In the town

streets and squares sprang up, as if by magic. In the

country there was draining and hedging, planting

and clearing, until the next summer saw the whole

country golden with the wheat crop. Everything

prospered in the strange settlement. Above all, the

great temple which they had erected in the centre

of the city grew ever taller and larger. From the

first blush of dawn until the closing of the twilight,

the clatter of the hammer and the rasp of the saw

was never absent from the monument which the

immigrants erected to Him who had led them safe

through many dangers.

The two castaways, John Ferrier and the little

girl who had shared his fortunes and had been

adopted as his daughter, accompanied the Mor-

mons to the end of their great pilgrimage. Little

Lucy Ferrier was borne along pleasantly enough

in Elder Stangerson's waggon, a retreat which she

shared with the Mormon's three wives and with his