History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

502 THE GOVERNMENT IN ARMS.
ter of whom, when it was awarded to a Mormon, addressed
a malignant epistle to the president. "I have
no doubt," he declares, "that the time is near at hand
and the elements rapidly combining to bring about a
state of affairs which will result in indiscriminate bloodshed,
robbery, and rapine, and which, in a brief space
of time, will reduce that country to the condition of a
howling wilderness." The remainder of Magraw's
communication, 40 though containing no specific charges,
is in a similar vein.
This despatch was probably the actual reason that
led to the withdrawal of the mail contract, and certainly
among the reasons that led to the Utah war;
for in answer to a resolution asking for details as to
the cause of the expedition, the secretary of state reported
that the only document on record or on file in
his department was the letter of Mr Magraw to the
president. 41
The annual payment on account of Hiram Kimball's
contract amounted only to $23,600 a year, a sum
barely sufficient to defray expenses ; but such a favor,
small as it was, had never before been conferred on a
Mormon citizen. Brigham resolved, therefore, that all
diligence should be used in keeping faith with the government,
and for his own benefit established in connection
with the mail service the B. Y. Express
Carrying Company. In the early spring of 1857 the
snow was still deep on plain and mountain, and to
build stations and provide draught animals, and forage
for the entire distance of more than twelve hundred
miles was no easy task. But Brigham had at his call
the entire community. Summoning the more enterprising
of the brethren, he laid before them his plan,
convinced them that the B. Y. Express would develop
40 See Utah Notes, MS.; Hist. B. Young, MS.; House Ex. Doc, 3othCong.
1st Sess., x. no. 71, pp. 2-3.
"Id., pp. 1-2. In doc. no. 71 are the reports of the secretary of state, of
war, and of the interior, and also that of the attorney-general, relating to the
expedition. Reference is frequently made to them in this and the following
chapter.