History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

314 SETTLEMENT AND OCCUPATION OF THE COUNTRY.
the principal features. In November the town was
laid out. 26 The name of Manti was suggested by
Brigham, who declared that on this spot should be
raised one of the cities spoken of in the book of Mormon,
and here he built with his own hands an adobe
house, which in 1883 was still pointed out to visitors
as one of the curiosities of the place. 27
On Chalk Creek, in Pahvan Valley, south-west of
Manti and about a hundred and fifty miles from Salt
Lake City, a site was chosen by Brigham, in October
1851, for the capital of the territory, and named Fillmore,
in honor of the president. 28 During 1852 the
foundations of the state-house were laid, and many
private buildings erected, the settlement numbering
about seventy families at the close of the year.
In the autumn of 1849, John Bowberry, Cyrus
Tolman, and others set forth from Salt Lake City to
explore the country west of the Jordan Valley, in
search of grazing lands whereon to pasture their
stock. Crossing the mountain range which forms the
western boundary of Cedar and Jordan valleys, 29
they discovered a spot where grass, timber, and water
were abundant, and encamped for the winter on the
banks of a stream now called Emigrant Canon creek.
Beturning in the spring, they made their report to
Brigham, who recommended them to form a settlement
in that neighborhood. To this the men consented.
"By what name will you call it?" asked the
26 Including 110 blocks, each 26 rods square, with eight lots to each block.
Utah Early Records, MS., 111. The site was surveyed by Jesse W. Fox, under
Brigham 's direction. J. B. Maiben, in Utah Sketches, MS., 172.
27
In June 1S52 a fort was completed, the walls being eight feet high and
two feet thick. Dexeret News, July 10, 1852.
28 In the Deseret News of Jan. 24, 1S52, is a letter to Brigham from Anson
Call, one of the first settlers, dated Nov. 24, 1851. 'We have had an addition
of three to our camp since you left; have built a corral according to your
instructions, including about two and a half acres of ground. We found, upon
trial, that the ground was so dry and hard, being also rocky, that it was next
to an impossibility to stockade or picket in our houses with the tools we have
to work with; so we have built our houses in close order, having our doors or
windows on the outside.'
29 Now called the Oquirrh Mountains, Oquirrh being probably an Indian
word.