History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

592
POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND INSTITUTIONAL.
nature/ 8 were removed to Salt Lake City. When
news arrived of the approach of the army of Utah,
the Carson Mormons were ordered, as we have seen,
to return to Zion and aid in its defence, though a
few remained in the valley. In 1859 the gentile
inhabitants, after several fruitless appeals to congress,
formally declared their independence, 49 and demanded
admission as a territory. Two years later
the request was granted, and the territory of Nevada
was cut off from Utah, its eastern limit being fixed
at the thirty-ninth meridian, but extended by act of
1862 to the thirty-eighth, and by act of 1866 to the
thirty-seventh meridian. Reluctantly the Mormons
relinquished these portions of the public domain.
In Eagle and Washoe valleys they had also established
small settlements in 1854 and 1855, remaining
until recalled in 1857, at which latter date, as will be
remembered, the colony at San Bernardino in California
was also abandoned. During the Mormon
occupation the county of San Bernardino was cut off
from that of Los Angeles, the former assuming its
proportion of the liabilities. A city was built, with
substantial dwellings, saw and grist mills, and sur-
48 A letter of James B. Crane, dated Washington, Jan. 17, 1859, and of
which copies will be found in Waite's The Mormon Prophet, 31-5, and Tucker's
Mormonism, 226-9, gives a detailed account of the Carson-valley troubles.
The letter, which is somewhat bitter in tone, was written with a view to the
admission of Nevada as a territory. Life and property were somewhat insecure
in Carson valley about this date, and vigilance committees were constantly
on the alert. See Sac. Union, Aug. 26, 1857, June 17, 22, July 2,
Aug. 2, Dec. 21, 1858, June 1, 1859, Sept. 24, 1860. On the 14th of June,
1858, William Thoriugton, better known as 'Lucky Bill,' Luther Olds,
William Edwards, and four others were arrested by a party of 30 men, and
tried for the murder of a Frenchman named Godier, at Honey Lake. Lucky
Bill was hanged, Olds was released on payment of $1,000 fine and promising
to leave the valley never to return, and Edwards probably escaped by
bribing his captors. The rest were released. Van Sickles' Utah Desperadoes,
MS. ; Placerville Tri-weekly Register, June 24, 1858; Popular Tribunals, thia
series.
49 The declaration contains a number of charges against the Mormons,
which will be found in Remy's Jour, to G. S. L. City, i. 493-4. On May 6,
1856, joint resolutions of the California legislature were read in the U. S.
senate, setting forth that a large number of settlers in Carson valley had, for
good reasons, petitioned congress that this portion of Utah be attached to
California, and had asked the cooperation of the California legislature, that
the latter body accpiiesced, and urged the passage of a law to that effect.
Cong. Globe, 1855-6, 1089.