TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



785 



ces and wealth of the Territory. At the close 

 of 1865 the first forty miles were ready for use, 

 and reported by commissioners appointed by 

 the President of the United States for that pur- 

 pose to be in a " superior condition." By July 

 4, 1866, it is estimated that a hundred miles 

 will be completed ; by the commencement of 

 1867, the road will have advanced two hundred 

 and fifty miles; and by the close of 1867, the 

 Rocky Mountains will in all probability be 

 reached. 



The Legislature was in session during Jan- 

 uary and February. Resolutions endorsing the 

 President's administration were passed almost 

 unanimously, and bills providing for a geologi- 

 cal survey of the State, and making liberal pro- 

 visions to induce emigration, and also resolutions 

 approving the constitutional amendment abol- 

 ishing slavery, pledging the vote of Nebraska 

 to ratify it, if needed. 



An election was held in 1865 for Territorial 

 treasurer and auditor, and a Legislature. Most 

 of the Republican candidates were elected by 

 large majorities. 



New Mexico. The progress of New Mexico 

 is steady, if less rapid than that of several sister 

 Territories, and as a stock-raising country she is 

 destined to hold an important rank. From this 

 region come the greater part of the mules used 

 by overland emigrants to California, and it al- 

 ready possesses several hundred thousand milch 

 cows, and two and a half million sheep. Stock- 

 raising and agriculture are the principal occu- 

 pations of the inhabitants, although gold, silver, 

 and copper mining is prosecuted to a consid- 

 erable extent. The population is about 30,000. 

 In the latter part of 1865 Gen. Robert Mitchell 

 was appointed to succeed Henry Connelly as 

 Territorial Governor. The Territorial Legisla- 

 ture repealed the free negro law, and amended 

 the Peon law so as to make servitude under it 

 entirely voluntary. A convention was ordered 

 to frame a State Constitution. The election of 

 delegates was to take place on the first Monday in 

 March, 1866, and the Constitution will be sub- 

 mitted to the people on the last Monday in the 

 succeeding April, so that the State may apply 

 for admission before the adjournment of the 

 first session of the Thirty-ninth Congress. 



The election for a delegate to Congress re- 

 sulted in the choice of J. F. Chavez, Repub- 

 lican, by a large majority. Of the Legislature 

 elected in October, about three-fourths are Re- 

 publicans. 



Utah. Notwithstanding the difficulties in 

 the path of emigration across the Plains, the 

 population of Utah increased during 1865 about 

 15,000, and at the commencement of 1866 was 

 estimated at 95,000. The new-comers were 

 almost exclusively European converts from the 

 Scandinavian and Celtic stocks. The political 

 status of the Territory is an anomalous one. _ It 

 now possesses three governments, each of which 

 extends over the whole Territory, in form, if 

 not in fact the Territorial Government, organ- 

 ized by virtue of the organic act of Congress ; 

 VOL. v. 50 A. 



the government of the so-called State of Des* 

 eret, of which Brigham Young is Governor- 

 and the government of the Church, of which 

 Brigham Young is first president, and the su- 

 preme head. The Church confines its control 

 not to things eternal and celestial, but extends 

 to all the relations of life and business; to 

 family affairs, and to the fixing of the price of 

 commodities for sale. Nothimg is beneath iu 

 care, and nothing is above its power. This 

 Church has larger and more positive powers 

 than were ever claimed by any other. So 

 far as relates to power, it has, by irrevocable 

 revelation, been placed in the hands of one man. 

 The Territorial Government seems to have lit- 

 tle vitality or power. None but Mormons are 

 sent to the Legislature. If the Governor vetoes 

 laws passed, the Legislature of the State of 

 Deseret can pass them, and Governor Young 

 gives them his sanction, and they are laws for 

 the State, when they failed to be so for the 

 Territory. The laws of the State of Deseret 

 are not published, but kept among the secret 

 archives. That this condition of things can 

 last long seems impossible, and there are grave 

 apprehensions that a collision between the 

 Mormon organization and that of the United 

 States is imminent. The former is at present 

 strongest within the Territory. 



The cultivation of cotton in Southern Utah 

 has been a great success, and several factories 

 are in constant operation making it up into 

 various fabrics. The yarn is very even, and has 

 an excellent appearance. In the same quarter 

 important discoveries of silver and gold mine* 

 have been reported, but, owing to the unde- 

 veloped condition of that part of the Territory, 

 little has been done in working them. 



More than thirty years ago, Joseph Smith 

 prophesied that within a generation the " Saints" 

 would repossess Jackson County, Missouri, and 

 rebuild the Temple. In November a remarka- 

 ble discourse was delivered in Salt Lake City on 

 the subject, in which the statement was made 

 that the time was near at hand for a commence- 

 ment to be made there, and this belief seems to 

 be strongly implanted in the people. The 

 speaker descanted largely upon the beauty and 

 glory of the city which should be built upon 

 the site selected for the Temple, which is about 

 a mile west of Independence, and where the 

 Mormons declare the Garden of Eden was 

 located, and where the first important scenes in 

 the world's drama were enacted. 



Washington. Of this Territory, lying in the 

 extreme northwest corner of the national do- 

 main, little requires to be said beyond the elab- 

 orate account given in our volume for 1864* 

 The population is estimated at 15,000. 

 settled principally along the coast, and its chief 

 productions are wheat and other cereals, and 

 lumber, for which the Puget Sound district is 

 excellently adapted. Its mineral resources are 

 comparatively undeveloped. The Iixlhi-. tribes 

 are few and much scattered, and in general 

 peacefully disposed. They are being located 



