History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

WINTER QUARTERS. 249
incessantly at work night and day. It was a city of
mud and logs; the houses had puncheon floors and
roofs of straw and dirt, or of turf and willows; they
were warm and not unwholesome, but would not endure
the thaw, rain, and sunshine. 27
There was a camp at Cutler Park which was moved
to Winter Quarters. Great difficulty was experienced
in getting flour and meal; a little grain was
ground at the government mill, and the rest was obtained
in Missouri, a hundred and fifty miles distant. 23
Brigham kept everybody busy, and everything was
well organized and systematically executed. 29
Schools
were soon established, officers of the church appointed,
and men sent on missions. The whole machinery was
apparently in as active operation as it had been at
Nauvoo. The gathering continued through the sum-
first relief experienced was when a bag of potatoes was brought in from
Missouri. . .It was observed that those who had milk escaped the trouble.'
Home's Migrations, MS., 20.
27 ' The buildings were generally of logs from 12 to 18 feet long, a few
were split, and made from lynn and cotton-wood timber; many roofs were
made by splitting oak timber into boards, called shakes, about 3 ft long and
6 in. wide, and kept in place by weights and poles; others were made of
willows, straw, and earth, about a foot thick; some of puncheon. Many
cabins had no floors; there were a few dugouts on the sidehills—the fireplace
was cut out at the upper end. The ridge-pole roof was supported by
two uprights in the centre and roofed with straw and earth, with chimneys
of prairie sod. The doors were made of shakes, with wooden hinges and
string latch; the inside of the log houses was daubed with clay; a few had
' stoves.' Hist. B. Young, MS., 1846, 534. The roofs were made of logs laid
across with flags spread over them, and earth spread over these. This was
partial protection from the rain, but when once it was soaked through in a
heavy storm, we were at the mercy of the rain.' Richards' Rem., MS., 27. In
Dec. 1846, at Winter Quarters there were ' 538 log houses and 83 sod houses,
inhabited by 3,483 souls, of whom 334 were sick.' Church Chronology, 65.
28 ' $8,000 was sent by Whitney to St Louis to purchase stones and machinery
for flouring mills; and through A. H. Perkins a carding machine was
ordered from Savannah.' Hist. B. Young, MS., Aug. 30, 1846. 'Sugar and
coffee were 16§ cts per lb.; domestics and calicoes from 18 to 25 cts; $3 a cwt.
for flour,' etc. ; all of which could be purchased in St Louis for a third of these
rates. These prices seemed exorbitant to the Mormons, though in reality
they were not unreasonable. In transporting the goods from St Louis later,
ferriage became so high and prices were so advanced that the brethren burst
forth: 'Woe unto you, Missourians! but we are independent of them and
can live without them, for we have thousands of cattle left.'
29 'At a meeting of the council July 14th, it was voted that colonies be
established on the east side of the river to put in buckwheat, and winter;
that a fort be built on Grand Island and a settlement made there; and that
Bishop Miller and a company go over the mountains. ' Hist. B. Young, MS.
1846, 50.
,