History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

BANKING. 765
ers, and Kimball & Lawrence, than whom few firms
throughout the United States, outside, perhaps, of
Boston, ranked higher as to commercial integrity.
After the founding of Zion's Cooperative Mercantile
Institution, mentioned elsewhere, and the development
of its banking system, the trade and commerce
of Utah assumed a more homogeneous character. 34
In 1883 there wr ere twelve private and five national
banks in operation in Utah, of which six were at the
capital, three at Ogden, two at Logan, and one each
at the several towns of Prove, Corinne, St George,
Richfield, Silver Reef, and Park City. Their aggregate
paid-up capital was estimated at $1,000,000, their
loans at $3,000,000, their deposits at $3,500,000,
and the amount of their exchange business at from
$12,000,000 to $15,000,000. 35
priest, from whom he borrowed $50. With this capital Jennings made his
tirst real start in life, and turning every dollar to account, soon paid off his
debt and laid the basis of his fortune. In 1831 we find him at St Joseph,
where he was married to Jane Walker, a Mormon emigrant girl. In the autumn
of 1852 he arrived at Salt Lake City, having first invested all his means
in three wagon-loads of groceries, from which he realized a considerable profit.
Joining the church, he engaged in business as a butcher, and in 1S55-6 as a
tanner, boot and shoe manufacturer, and saddle and harness maker. In 1856
he was sent on a mission to Carson Valley, and, returning in the summer of
1857, commenced business some three years later as a dry -goods merchant in
Salt Lake City, soon becoming the leading business man in Utah. In 18G4
his purchases in New York and St Louis amounted to $500,0U0, and in Salt
Lake City to $350,000, his business thereafter averaging about $2,000,000
per annum. Mr Jennings assisted in organizing the Utah Central R. R., of
which he became vice-president, and succeeded Brigham as president of the
Utah Southern. He was also one of the founders and directors of the Deseret
National Bank, and a member of the legislature under Governor Doty.
34 Until the advent of the railroad, the prices of all commodities continued
extremely high. At a convention held at the Bowery, S. L. City, Oct. 4,
1864, the price of flour was fixed at $12 per 100 lbs, of wheat, corn, and beans
at $5, $4, and $10 per bushel respectively, of pork at 30 cents, and of dried
apples at 75 cents per lb., all in gold. Deseret News, Oct. 19, 18G4. Bowles
savs that in June of the following year lumber was worth $100 per thousand
feet, sugar 75 to 85 cents, coffee $1 to $1.10^ and tea 3.50 to $5 per lb. Across
the Continent, 101-2. These prices were in currency.
33 Uta h Gazetteer, 18S4, 115. The firm of Hooper, Eldredge, & Co.—W.
H. Hooper, H. S. Eldredge, and L. S. Hills—commenced business at 8.
L. City May 1, 18G9, with a capital of $40,000. They were succeeded by the
Bank of Deseret, incorporated under territorial law Sept. 1, 1871, with a
capital of $100,000, Brigham Young being president, H. S. Eldredge vicepresident,
and W. H. Hooper, W. Jennings, F. Little, and J. Sharp the
remaining directors. L. S. Hills was cashier. This institution was again succeeded
by the Deseret National Bank, organized under the act of >-ov. 1,