Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow. Eliza R. Snow
of winter,
Bound with frost and wrapped in snow;
Hark! the cry is "Onward, onward!
Camp of Israel, rise and go."
All at once is life and motion—
Trunks, and beds, and baggage fly;
Oxen yoked, and horses harnessed,
Tents rolled up and passing by:
Soon the carriage wheels are moving,
Onward to a woodland dell,
Where at sunset all are quartered—
Camp of Israel, all is well.
Thickly 'round the tents are clustered,
Neighb'ring smokes together blend;
Supper served, the hymns are chanted,
And the evening prayers ascend.
Last of all the guards are stationed—
Heavens! must guards be serving here?
Who would harm the houseless exiles?
Camp of Israel, never fear.
Where is Freedom? Where is Justice?
Both have from this nation fled;
And the blood of martyred Prophets
Must be answered on it's head!
Therefore, to your tents, O Jacob!
Like our Father Abra'm dwell;
God will execute His purpose—
Camp of Israel, all is well.
March 1st, 1846.
CHAPTER XVI.
Garden Grove.—Pisgah.—Severe sickness.—Death of Elder Huntington.—Lorenzo called to preside.—Condition of the Saints.—A dilemma.—Lorenzo's policy.—How he succeeded.—A ludicrous and enjoyable entertainment.—Births.—Death.—Life incidents.—President Young's call.—Appointments.—Another wife.—Arrives in the Valley.—Ordained into the Quorum of the Twelve.—Builds a log house.
We moved slowly forward. As this was the breaking up of winter, travel with teams was exceedingly difficult, especially as our teams were not suitably provided for; the animals lived mostly on browse (buds and twigs of trees, which were felled for this purpose), and, consequently, were weak and poor.
At a locality which we named Garden Grove, we made a halt, and commenced an improvement by building a few log huts, etc. This was done, more especially, for the benefit of those who would follow—a few remaining to cultivate the ground and prepare a resting place for the weary Saints, while the main body of the camp moved forward to another halting place, which we named Pisgah.
Now to my brother's journal: At this place I was taken seriously and dangerously ill with a burning fever, which so affected my brain that I was delirious many days, lying at the point of death. While in this condition, Elder Phineas Richards, the father of Apostle F. D. Richards, assisted by other kind brethren, took me from my bed, wrapped in a sheet—placed me in a carriage, drove to a stream of water, and baptized me in the name of the Lord, for my recovery. The fever immediately abated, and through kind, unwearied nursing and attention, by my faithful, loving wives, and my dear sister, E. R. S. Smith, aided and sanctified through the power and blessing of God, I was delivered from suffering and restored to health. The sickness was the result of extreme hardships and exposures consequent on the journey.
Elder William Huntington was called to preside over the settlement in Pisgah, which position he filled until, as many others in that location, he was removed by death, and his mortal remains consigned to the silent grave. After his death, Elder Charles C. Rich was appointed to fill the vacancy. In the following Spring, 1847, Elder Rich left for the Bluffs, to join the main body of emigrants, and I succeeded him as president of Pisgah.
By this time the Saints in Pisgah were in a very destitute condition, not only for food and clothing, but also for teams and wagons to proceed on their journey. Several families were entirely out of provision, and dependent on the charity of their neighbors, who, in most cases, were illy prepared to exercise that virtue. But, above all this, a sweeping sickness had visited the settlement, when there were not sufficient well ones to nurse the sick; and death followed in the wake, and fathers, mothers, children, brothers, sisters and dearest friends fell victims to the destroyer, and were buried with little ceremony, and some destitute of proper burial clothes. Thus were sorrow and mourning added to destitution. (Here the journal closes for the present.)
What a dilemma! And who better calculated to cope with it than Lorenzo Snow? With an indomitable energy—a mind fruitful in expedients, and a firmness of purpose that never yielded to discouragement, he proved himself equal to an emergency which would have terrified men of ordinary abilities.
In the first place he moved to arouse and combine the energies of the people—organized the brethren in companies, making selections of suitable men, some to proceed to the Gentile settlements to obtain work for provisions and clothing, others to put in crops at home and look after the families of those who were called away—to repair wagons, making new ones out of old, and to manufacture chairs, barrels, tubs, churns, baskets and such other articles as could be disposed of to advantage in the neighboring settlements.
In creating the desirable and necessary union and perfecting these arrangements, he met with much opposition from some who professed to be Latter-day Saints, in consequence of their ignorance and selfishness; but through the blessings of the Lord, he succeeded in having his plans successfully executed.
He sent Elders Dana and Cambell, two intelligent and judicious brethren, to the State of Ohio and other parts of the country, to solicit aid, to invite rich Gentiles to contribute to the wants of the Saints and assist them in their journey westward. They succeeded in gathering funds amounting to about six hundred dollars. The arrangements entered into resulted in supplying the people with abundance of food and clothing, besides facilitating the exodus of those who wished to proceed on the journey as early as practicable.
Now the journal speaks: I had the pleasure of taking a wagon load of provisions up to the Bluffs, and in behalf of the Saints of Pisgah, presenting it to President Brigham Young as a New Year's gift, who manifested a warm feeling of gratitude for this kind token of remembrance.
During the long winter months, I sought to keep up the spirits and courage of the Saints in Pisgah, not only by inaugurating meetings for religious worship and exercises, in different parts of the settlement, but also by making provisions for, and encouraging proper amusements of various kinds. These entertainments corresponded with our circumstances, and, of course, were of a very unpretentious and primitive character; their novel simplicity and unlikeness to anything before witnessed, added greatly to the enjoyment. They were truly exhibitions of ingenuity.
As a sample, I will attempt a description of one, which I improvised for the entertainment of as many as I could reasonably crowd together in my humble family mansion, which was a one-story edifice, about fifteen by thirty, constructed of logs, with a dirt roof and ground floor, displaying at one end a chimney of modest height, made of turf cut from the bosom of Mother Earth. Expressly for the occasion we carpeted the floor with a thin coating of clean straw, and draped the walls with white sheets drawn from our featherless beds.
How to light our hall suitably for the coming event was a consideration of no small moment, and one which levied a generous contribution on our ingenuity. But we succeeded. From the pit where they were buried, we selected the largest and fairest turnips—scooped out the interior, and fixed short candles in them, placing them at intervals around the walls, suspending others to the ceiling above, which was formed of earth and cane. Those lights imparted a very peaceable, quiet, Quakerlike influence, and the light reflected through those turnip rinds imparted a very picturesque appearance.
During