History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

LIBRARIES AND NEWSPAPERS. 715
time, 90 contained in 1883 about 4,500 volumes. At
the same date the masonic library, established in 1873,
contained nearly 6,000 volumes, the odd-fellows' about
1,500, and there were smaller libraries in connection
with various literary, benefit, secret, and mutual improvement
societies. 91
Like citizens of the United States elsewhere, the
setolers of Utah have alwa}^s been patrons of newspapers—and
except that their columns are cumbered
with church matters, interesting only to the saints,
their journals compare very favorably with others
published on the Pacific slope. The news is fairly
reliable, but the editorial and other comments must
be taken at the reader's own valuation. In freedom
from journalistic scandal-mongering, they certainly
rank among the foremost, and if sometimes dull, they
are never silly or obscene. As a rule, the Mormon
journals are less rabid in politics and religion than
the gentile newspapers. Of several of the former
mention has already been made. In 1867 was first
published and issued daily the Deseret Evening News,
the weekly having been first issued in 1850. The
Daily Telegraph first appeared on the 4th of July, 1864,
under the parentage of T. B. H. Stenhouse, 92 and in
1869 was removed to Ogden, where it expired during
that year. The Juvenile Instructor, an illustrated Sunday-school
periodical published semi-weekly at Salt
Lake City, was established by George Q. Cannon,
the first number appearing January 1, 1866. The Salt
Lake Daily Herald came into existence in June 1870,
90 The last one in 1882.
91 For mention of such societies, see Contributor, ii. 27-9, 31-2, 61, 92-4,
159, 222, 287, 350; Deseret News, Aug. 7, Nov. 20, 1878; Utah Gazetteer, 1884,
218-25. For further details as to libraries, see /(/., 22S-30; Burton's City oj
the. Saints, 286-7; Deseret News, Aug. 20, 1S62; S. L. C. Tribune, March 15,
Nov. 22, 1S73, Dec. 18, 1875; Reno Gazette, Dec. 6, 1880; Bonanza City (Id.),
Yankee Fork Her., Sept. 25, 1879; observatories, Wheeler's Geoy. Surreys, ii.
7-9, 461-7, 469-71. The office of superintendent of meteorological observations
created by act of 1857 was abolished by act of 1876. Utah Jour. Legist.,
1876, 179-80.
92 The author of Rocky Mountain Saints. His decease occurred in 18S2.