History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

694 SETTLEMENTS, SOCIETY, AND EDUCATION.
As Paris is said to be France, so it has been said of
Salt Lake City that it is Utah, for there the com-
though all the camps were scantily supplied, their wants were at once relieved.
During this season sufficient grain had been raised to last with economy until
the following harvest, and meanwhile other settlements had been started, one
25 miles up the river from Allen, to which was given the name of Woodruff,
and one 50 miles south of Woodruff, which was called Forest Dale, the
name Ballinger being now changed to Brigham City, and Allen to St Joseph.
In this year, also, the colonies of eastern Arizona were divided into two presidencies,
those on the Little Colorado being west of the dividing line. According
to a stake report, dated Aug. 31, 1878, there were at Sunset 114 souls, at
Brigham City 230, at St Joseph and Woodruff each 07, and including other
small settlements, a total of 587. The harvest of 1878 was severely damaged
by floods, but that of 1879 was a bountiful one. In 1S80 the crops again suffered
from excessive rains and freshets. Settlements on the Little Colorado.
MS. The St Joseph stake at Pima, Ar., was organized in Feb. 18S3, the
place being first settled in 1879 by families from eastern Arizona. St David
was founded in 1878, Philemon C. Merrill being the first settler; Curtis in
1881 by the Curtis family; Graham, so named from the peak a few miles to
the south, in 1881; Thatcher, named after Apostle Moses Thatcher, in 1SS2,
by John M. Moody; Central, in the same year, by Joseph Cluff and others;
McDonald, named in honor of A. F. McDonald, pi'esident of the Maricopa
stake, by Henry J. Home and others; Layton, named after President C.
Layton, by John and Adam Welker, Ben. Peel, and a few others. All these
settlements are in Arizona. The Mesa settlement, belonging to the Maricopa
stake, was founded by companies from Bear Lake co., Id., and S. L. co.,
Utah. Leaving S. L. City immediately after the death of Brigham Young,
they reached Salt River in Jan. 187S, and soon afterward began the construction
of a canal to the present site of the town. After a year's labor, only a
small stream of water was obtained, barely sufficient for planting gardens, as
the ditch was cut through a very difficult formation. The settlers persevered,
however, their labors diminishing as their numbers increased, and in 1SS5 a
canal had been built carrying 5,000 inches of water, at a cost of $43,000. Lehi,
formerly Jonesville, also near Salt River, was founded in 1S77 by a party of
7 1 settlers. In the autumn of this year a few members of the company became
dissatisfied with the location, and set forth for San Pedro River, where they
founded the settlement of St David, so named by Prest A. F. McDonald after
David Patten, whom the Mormons regard as a martyr. Maricopa Stake, MS.
In the Gila Valley the settlers bought squatter claims of Mexicans, and in
18S5 had constructed over 00 miles of cauals from 8 to 10 feet wide, besides
a number of smaller ditches. The soil is a fertile, sandy loam, producing
two crops or more a year, excellent for grapes and fruit, and of fair quality
for all farm products. Sorghum produces three cuttings from one planting,
and lucern is cut five or six times a year. Not more than five per cent of the
land is arable, the remainder being grazing-land. Ma,rtineau ,
s Settlements in
Arizona, MS. For monogamic settlements in Montana, see Galveston Xeics,
Dec. 1, 1884. In the fall of 1877 Elder John Morgan led a colony of saints
from the southern states to Pueblo, Colorado, where they wintered. In
March of the following year, James G. Stuart, being ordered to visit the colonists-,
found them living as best they could, and working at whatever they
could find to do. Mainly through the elder's efforts, two settlements were
founded, to which were afterward given the names of Ephraim and Manassa.
Stuart's Colonization in Colorado, MS. In 18S4 the Mormons established a
colony at Las Cruces, Sonora, Mex. At the same time their leaders issued
a proclamation stating that no general migration to Mexico was intended.
The Mexican Financier, Jan. 31, 1SS5. In La Nuevn Era, Paso del Norte,
Chihuahua, Apr. 8, 1SS5, p. 2, it is stated that 200 Mormons had established
a colony at Corralitos, Galeana, in that state.