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History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

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764<br />

COMMERCE AND COMMUNICATION.<br />

for his poultry or butter, gravel or adobes, which he<br />

delivered in return for wood, hauled the wood to the<br />

store, and thus, at length, wife and child were clad.<br />

For the tuition <strong>of</strong> his children he would pay, perhaps,<br />

so many dozens <strong>of</strong> eggs per quarter; for admission to<br />

for the services <strong>of</strong> a<br />

the theatre, a score <strong>of</strong> cabbages ;<br />

laborer or mechanic, a certain number <strong>of</strong> watermelons<br />

per day ; and his tithes were usually, but not always,<br />

paid in kind.<br />

In this primitive fashion, until the advent <strong>of</strong> the<br />

railroad, trade was for the most part conducted in<br />

<strong>Utah</strong>; and notwithstanding the wisdom and economic<br />

system <strong>of</strong> their rulers, there were times, as will be rein<br />

embered, when the settlers were really needy. The<br />

country was relieved only by a train <strong>of</strong> fortunate, or<br />

as the settlers believed providential, circumstances.<br />

These were, first, the presence <strong>of</strong> the army <strong>of</strong> <strong>Utah</strong>,<br />

which after disbursing large sums among the community<br />

sold them its substance at nominal rates;<br />

second, the arrival <strong>of</strong> a second army under Colonel<br />

Connor, with the interchange <strong>of</strong> traffic and demand<br />

for labor thereby occasioned; third, the needs <strong>of</strong> the<br />

overland mail and telegraph lines.<br />

In part through such adventitious aid, the merchants<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>Utah</strong>, putting forth their might, built up a<br />

commerce as wonderful in its growth and development<br />

as that <strong>of</strong> any <strong>of</strong> the states on the Atlantic or<br />

Pacific seaboard. As early as 1864 there were several<br />

houses in Salt Lake City that purchased in New<br />

York, St Louis, or Chicago goods to the value <strong>of</strong><br />

$250,000 or more at a time, among them being William<br />

Jennings, 33 Godbe & Mitchell, the Walker Broth-<br />

33 Isaac, the father <strong>of</strong> William Jennings, a wealthy butcher <strong>of</strong> Yardley,<br />

Worcester, England, was better known to fame as one <strong>of</strong> the claimants in the<br />

Jenninirs chaucery suit, in which millions <strong>of</strong> pounds were at stake; but though<br />

he proved himself a lawful claimant, his efforts won for him no substantial<br />

result. .In 1S47 William Jennings, then some 1-4 years <strong>of</strong> age, took ship for<br />

New York, where, during the ensuing winter, he was employed by a porkpacker<br />

at a wage <strong>of</strong> S6 a week. After some adventures, being at one time<br />

robbed <strong>of</strong> his all and glad to find work as a journeyman butcher, and on<br />

another occasion attacked with cholera, which left him with a shattered constitution<br />

and 8200 in debt, he chanced to make the acquaintance <strong>of</strong> a catholic

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