a thesis by Flora Jane Satt - Shealtiel

Flora Jane Satt—annotated by Miles SaltielHebrew Emigrant Aid Society sent from New York. Part of thiswas payment for a bill of $5,600 he had tendered the Society thepreceding year. This sum was to recover the cost of buildingtwenty fine homes at $280.00 each. Since the colonists found onlytwelve cabins which could not possibly have cost Saltiel even$150.00 apiece, they felt that on this one item alone they shouldreceive some rebate. Two saw-mills were in operation in the immediatevicinity at this time and first-class lumber sold for $22.50per thousand. Now the Jews realized they had no means of forcingSaltiel to fulfil any of his neglected promises, as they themselvespossessed no written agreement, no contract, no bill of sale andnot even a title, deed or lease to the land they were then occupying.That winter they petitioned HEAS for aid and counsel in howto regain their lost money, believing that organization had documentson file which could intimidate Saltiel.The weather was unusually severe that year, with blizzards whichisolated their farms for weeks at a time, below-freezing temperatureswhich froze their hands and feet, unprotected by boots orgloves, and caused much suffering. To add to their misery, smallbands of Ute Indians appeared from time to time, begging foodand the frightened immigrants gave them what little food theyhad.The only recourse open to the desperate Jews was to go to work aslaborers in Saltiel mines. His foremen were glad to hire even theinexperienced Jews as the supply of workers had dwindled evenfurther during the winter months. They promised the Jews $1.50for the day shift and $2.50 for the night shift, the Cotopaxi andEnterprise Mines being worked constantly and producing well.Despite this the colonists recall they received not a penny in cashfor all the work done in the mines. Instead, they received vouchersfor credit at the General Store owned by Saltiel and Hart. This system,however unfair, did enable them to buy a few sacks of flourand other necessities.RebatesSatt sources this to a letter from Saltielwhich I have not seen. For that matter,neither had the colonists. In any event,these figures are at odds with Schwarz’report which reports $3,360 (not $5,600as stated by Satt) as attributable tohousing and a total expenditure of justunder $10,050 (Schwarz p15). SeeAppendix 1—A note on sourcesIt is not clear why we should accept theestimation of Satt’s sources as to the costof these cabins. See Appendix 3—Allegations. Such sums evidentlyexercised them, but the rebate theysought (from a total of $8,750, not$10,000) could not have beenattributable to them but to HEAS, withwhom Saltiel settled after the colony wasdisbanded. See the sidebar, Smoke andmirrors on page 28, for a fullerdiscussion of this point. This pointapplies all the more as the sums providedby HEAS were intended as loans(Schwarz p16) .Lost moneyIt is not clear what moneys Satt’s sourcesbelieved the pioneers had lost, as Sattreports that they had only ever expendedfiling fees from their own resources. At$50 for each of 22 heads of families (page29), this would be $1,100, around onefifth of the central estimate of the credittaken from Saltiel by the colonists inThe cost of keep on page 26 andAppendix 1. Satt’s references to “force”and “intimidate” speak ill for the attitudeof her sources.Self defence–3: begging tribesmenThis story is of a piece with theimmigrants’ lack of physical presence inthe face of stock and wild animals. Therecord shows that they were keener onpetitioning HEAS or campaigning tointimidate Saltiel, than defending theircrops, supplies or homes.Wages and scripThe $1.50 received by the settlers was thegoing rate for the unskilled labourersthey were. Scrip was not unreasonable,given that the settlers owed Saltiel nearly$6,000 and cash was short in the West.See Appendix 3—Allegations, for afull discussion of this.25