History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

328 EDUCATION AND MANUFACTURES.
was not unheeded; but the supply of home-manufactured
goods did not, of course, keep pace with the demand.
Such commodities as were not the products
of home industry were, for the most part, obtained by
barter with passing emigrants, or were brought in
wagon trains by way of Kanesville; 19 though already
traffic had been opened with regions far to the westward
on either side of the Sierra Nevada. 20
According to the United States census returns for
the year 1850, the population of the valley of Great
Salt Lake mustered 11,354 persons, of whom about
53 per cent were males, and 6,000 residents of Salt
There were 16,333 acres under culti-
Lake City. 21
vation, on which were raised 128,711 bushels of grain.
The value of live-stock was estimated at $546,698,
and of farming implements at $84,288. At the close
of 1852, the total population was variously estimated
at from 25,000 to 30,000, 22 of whom perhaps 10,000
resided in the metropolis. The assessed value of
a shoestring (if we cannot begin higher).' 'When we have manufactured an
article, sell it for cash or its equivalent, as low, or lower, than it can be
bought for at the stores. ' In the fifth general epistle is the following: ' Beach
and Blair have opened a general manufacturing establishment; . . . are now
making molasses and vinegar. Several grain and lumber mills have been
erected in the various settlements, . . . chairs and various articles of furniture
are multiplying,. . .two
or three threshing-machines have been in successful
operation.' Hist. B. Young, MS., 1851, 24. 'We are going in extensively
for home manufactures. My own family alone have this season manufactured
over 500 yds of cloth, and the home-made frequently makes its appearance in
our streets'—a great blessing, 'if it will prove an inducement to the people
to depend and rely upon their own resources for their own supplies.' Id.,
1852, 16.
19 On May 1, 1851, the first train of merchandise for the season arrived in
the city, laden partly with sugar, coffee, and calicoes. Utah Early Records,
MS., 127.
20 On Nov. 19, 1848, Capt. Grant of the Hudson's Bay Company arrived
from Fort Hall with pack-horses laden with skins, groceries, and other goods.
On April 17, 1851, a small party arrived from Fort Hall in search of provisions
and Indian trading goods. On the 10th of the same month, Col Reese
sent ten or twelve wagon-loads of flour to Carson Valley for trading purposes.
Id., 39, 125, 127.
21 The returns were made under the direction of Brigham Young, who
was appointed census agent. Utah Early Records, MS., 112; Deseret News,
Oct. 5, 1S50.
22 Early in 1853 the Deseret Almanac places the number at 30,000, while
in Orson Pratt's Seer it is given at 30,000 to 35,000. Olshausen's Mormonen,
192. At this date it was estimated at 25,000 by the gentiles. Burton's City
of the Saints, 357. Probably the Mormons exaggerated, as they desired to