History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

498 THE GOVERNMENT IN ARMS.
now under orders mustered about twenty-five hundred
men. Two thousand head of beef cattle, together
with a huge and unwieldy convoy, were sent in advance,
the trains being larger than in ordinary warfare
would have been required for a force of ten
thousand troops. The price to be paid for the transport
of stores, provisions, and munitions of war was at
the rate of twenty-two cents a pound; and thus it will
be seen that if the Utah war served no other purpose,
it made the fortunes of those who secured the government
contracts. Through a little dexterous manipulation
at Washington, permission was given to the
man who secured the flour contract to furnish Utah
flour, and this he did at a cost of seven cents per
pound, receiving, of course, meanwhile, the money allowed
for freight, and netting in a single year the sum
of $170, 000. 34 The troops remained in the territory
for about four years, and no wonder that they often
asked one of another, "Why were w T
e sent here?
Why are we kept here? What good can we do by
remaining here?" No wonder also that the people
asked, "Were they retained in Utah in order to fill
the purses of the contractors?" 35
Fortunately for the welfare of the expedition, it
happened that the harvest of 1857 was a plentiful one,
and though the crop of 1856 had been a partial fail-
ure, and that of 1855 almost a total failure, 36 there
34 Greeley's Overland Journey, 253. Greeley says that this instance had
become quite notorious at Washington.
33 Stenhouse relates that the man who obtained the flour contract received
an order for his money payable at Camp Floyd, but had the choice of receiving
in lieu army mules at a certain valuation. He chose the latter, and sending
them to California realized a profit of nearly 600 per cent on his money.
Rocky Mountain Saints, 416. For further specimens of sharp practice, see S.
F. Bulletin, June 8, Aug. 20, 22, 30, 1S59.
36 Utah Notes, MS.; Hist. B. Young, MS.; Richards' Incidents in Utah Hist.,
MS., 79-80; Stenhouxe's Rocky Mountain Saints, 291. The failure was caused
by crickets. In a letter to his son in England, Heber writes from S. L. City
Feb. 29, 1S56: 'I have been under the necessity of rationing my family and
also yours to two thirds of a pound of breadstuff per day each; as the last
week is up to-day, we shall commence on half a pound each. This I am under
the necessity of doing. Brother Brigham told me to-day that he had put his
family on half a pound each, for there is scarcely any grain in the country,
and there are thousands that have none at all, scarcely.' This second famine