History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

762 COMMERCE AND COMMUNICATION.
burse large dividends, it is probable that at least two
thirds of the settlers patronize them at this day. 28
The progress and development of trade in Utah
from the days of 1848, when probably the entire cash
capital of the community did not amount to $3,000,
present some interesting and anomalous features. At
first, as we have seen, the Mormons desired to avoid
all traffic with the outside world; but as emigrants
passed over their roads and through their settlements,
goods were exchanged with advantage to both sides.
It was not until two years after the pioneers entered
the valley that the first store was opened at an adobe
house, in the seventeenth ward of Salt Lake City,
by the firm of Livingston & Kinkead, 29 whose stock
was worth some $20,000. In 1850 the firm of Holliday
& Warner established a branch of their business
in the capital, through their agent, William H.
Hooper, who opened a store in a building erected for
school purposes, on the block occupied by Brigham
Young, thence removing to the structure later occupied
by^ the museum. 30
Soon the unerring scent of commerce discovered
the direction which business must take, and Main
28 For further details as to commerce in Utah, and the development of the
cooperative system, see lIollister ,
s Bes. and Attract, of Utah, 48-52, 67-9;
TuUidge's Maq., Apr. 1881, passim; Contributor, iv. 182; F/biun's Utah, 11-
13; S. L. C. Tribune, Jan. 4, 1872; S. L. Herald, in S. F. Call, Feb. 24, 1872;
S. F. Alta, Apr. 10, 27, May 13, 1872; S. F. Bulletin, Feb. 22/1872; S. F.
Chronicle, Oct. 6, 1873; S. F. Post, Apr. 12, 1875; for commercial law, Utah
Gazetteer, 18S4, 273-7.
29 Bichards' Beminiscences, MS., 31. At this date the firm occupied what
was considered the most convenient house in the city. Later it was pulled
down. In the Deseret News of Sept. 28, 1854, it is stated that Capt. Grant of
Fort Hall was the first outsider who brought goods to the Utah market for
sale, offering sugar and coffee at $1 a pint, calico at 50 to 75 cents a yard,
and other articles in proportion. Livingston & Kinkead, who came with the
intention of trading for five years, realizing a certain net profit, and then returning
to Egypt, which they did, sold coffee and sugar at 40 cents a pound
(a little more than a pint), calico at 25 cents a yard, etc. At this date there
were few eastern, or, as they were termed, states goods in the market; and
if we can believe Beadle's Life in Utah, 197, the firm took in 810,000 in gold
the first day their store was opened. As this amount then probably represented
almost the entire floating capital of the Mormons, the statement must
be taken for what it is worth.
30 In 1851 David Smith and E. N. Cook, bound for Oregon with a large
band of stock from St Joseph, stopped at Salt Lake City lor three weeks,
trading dry goods, etc. , for additional cattle. Clark's Sijhts, MS. ,11.