History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

304 IN THE VALLEY OF THE GREAT SALT LAKE.
Some men don't want to go after gold, but they are
the very men to go." 45
Thus the threatened migration was stayed; a few
companies departed, 46 and were asked in all kindness
never to return. "If they have a golden god in their
hearts," said Brigham, "they had better stay were
they are." But the majority of the settlers were
well content to abide in the valley, building up towns,
planting farms, and tending stock in their land of
promise.
45 On the 7th of December, 1848, Brigham writes in his journal: ' Some
few have caught the gold fever; I counselled such, and all the saints, to remain
in the valleys of the mountains, make improvements, build comfortable
houses, and raise grain against the days of famine and pestilence with
which the earth would be visited.
'
46 The gold fever first broke out in June 1848, news of the discovery being
brought by a party of battalion men that arrived from California in that
month. In March 1849, about a dozen families departed or were preparing
to depart for the mines. In March 1851, about 520 of the saints were gathered
at Payson, Utah county, most of them for the purpose of moving to
California. Utah Early Records, MS., 31, 69, 122.