History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

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THE LIBRARY. 325
In 1850, by vote of congress, twenty thousand dollars
were appropriated for the building of a state-house, and
the sum of five thousand dollars was appropriated for
the foundation of a library in Salt Lake City. The
delegate from Utah was authorized to make a selection
of books, and several thousand volumes were forwarded
from the east during this and the following year. 12
Rooms were prepared in the council-house for their
reception, and many periodicals, both Mormon and
gentile, were added to the stock of reading matter.
Among the former was the Millennial Star, already
mentioned, and the Frontier Guardian, published
bi-monthly at Kanesville, Iowa, between February
1849 and March 1852, and afterward as a weekly
paper under the style of the Frontier Guardian and
z
Iowa Sentinel
have been taught successfully. First General Epistle of the Twelve, in Utah
Early Records, MS., 74, and Frontier Guardian, May 30, 1849. 'German
books were bought in order that the elders might learn that language. ' Hist.
B. Young, MS., 1849, 3.
12 Dr Bernhisel was appointed by the president of the U. S. as special
agent to expend the U. S. appropriation of $5,000. Hist. B. Young, MS., 80.
Many valuable donations of maps, papers, etc., were received. Contributor,
270; Gunnison's The Mormons, S3-, Utah Early Records, MS., 130; Millennial
Star, xii. 330-1. William C. Staines was appointed librarian. Deseret Neivs,
Feb. 21, 1852.
13 Of the Frontier Guardian, brief mention has already been made. The
first number, published Feb. 7, 1849, with Orson Hyde as editor and proprietor,
will bear comparison with many of the leading newspapers in eastern or European
cities. In the prospectus Mr Hyde states that 'it will be devoted to the
news of the day, to the signs of the times, to religion and prophecy, both ancient
and modern; to literature and poetry; to the arts and sciences, together
with all and singular whatever the spirit of the times may dictate. ' Published,
as was the Guardian, on the extreme frontier of the states, Mr Hyde was
enabled to furnish the latest news from Salt Lake City, and many valuable
items have been gleaned from its pages. Glancing at them for the first time,
one asks, How did he contrive to bring out his newspaper in such creditable
shape, at a place which one year before was only an encampment of emigrants
en route for the valley? During this year, however, Kanesville—later Florence—had
made very rapid progress, due, in part, to the migration to California.
Glancing over the first numbers of the Guardian, we find advertised for
sale dry goods, groceries, provisions, hardware, clothing, and most of the
commodities needed by emigrants. There was a hotel, a fashionable tailor, a
lawyer, a doctor, and of course a tabernacle, which served for -;ocial parties
and religious worship. Provisions rose to very high rates, th*" »gh not to the
prices demanded in Salt Lake City. On Feb. 7, 1849, flour, beef, and pork
were selling at Kanesville for about $2 per 100 lbs. On May 1, 1850, flour
was worth §6 to $6.50, beef $3.50 to $4.50, and pork $5 to $6. Potatoes had
risen meanwhile from 25 cents to $1, corn from 20 cents to $2.25, and wheat
from 50 cents to $1.75, per bushel. On March 4, 1852, appeared the first num.