THE MORMON LAND SYSTEM IN UTAH. 



189 



I was a young man then growing, and I never 

 worked so hard as we had to do then, and I was con- 

 tinually hungry during that winter; it seemed to me 

 that I was hungry to the end of toes and ringers. I 

 was an orphan, but I had an aunt, and she said on 

 my birthday : "George, we will have all we can eat 

 to-day, as it is your birthday. You invite your young 

 friends to come in and partake with us. " 1 looked 

 forward to the anticipation of having a good square 

 meal on that morning. I mention this because it is an 

 interesting point to know that I did eat air I could, 

 but I was hungry ten minutes afterward. The 

 stomach having become contracted by having so 

 small an amount of food, the system was starved and 

 it required more than one meal to satisfy nature. 



THISTLE TOPS AS GREENS. 



When spring came the thistles began to grow up. 

 Our fields produced a great many thistles. I have 

 gone out with the boys in mid-day when the 

 horses had come in and pulled the thistle tops for 

 greens. It is a fact that the distention of the stomach 

 caused by eating these thistles allayed the hunger we 

 felt, and with the milk from the cows we soon grew 

 fat. These crickets devoured most of our crops. I 

 had no responsibility upon me, but I have often 

 thought of the feelings of the men that had families 

 under these circumstances; but there was unbounded 

 courage. Every man felt he would stay there, no 

 matter what the consequences might be. To us who 

 lived in Utah about that time it seemed there was a 

 visitation of Providence to save us. Sea gulls came 

 by hundreds and by thousands, and before the crops 

 were entirely destroyed these gulls devoured the in- 

 sects, so that our fields were entirely freed from them. 

 Whenever I see a boy pointing a gun at a gull I feel 

 that I ought to knock his gun up. The bird has be- 

 come sacred to me. I have gone along ditches in the 

 morning and have seen lumps of these crickets vom- 

 ited up by these gulls, so that they could begin again 

 killing them. 



The drying of this country at that time was some- 

 thing dreadful. It seemed as though the land was 

 dead. I remember seeing it illustrated in the case 

 of a grave that was dug. 1 was there at the time. It 

 is now in the part of the town covered by inhabitants 

 and it seems the ground has not been disturbed for 

 ages. We dug a ditch, and so dry was it that when 

 we turned the water in (some of you gentlemen have 

 perhaps visited Salt Lake City and seen where the 

 great cooperative store stands) and there a ditch 

 was dug to convey the water to the fort, which was 

 about a half mile, and it took two days for it to run 

 that distance, the ground was so thirsty. 



THE UTAH OF TO-DAY. 



Now great results have followed, and I can say to- 

 day that Utah is proud to have the opportunity of 



participating in a Congress of this character. We 

 feel the questions to be brought before this Congress 

 are of the greatest importance, not only to this por- 

 tion of America, but to the entire Union. Every man 

 in this entire republic ought to be interested in this 

 question which will be discussed, I hope, so freely and 

 profitably in our Congress. It is a matter which affects 

 not only the West alone, but the East, and in fact it 

 may be said to affect humanity, and everything 

 should be done in our deliberation to reach the united 

 action so that whatever we resolve upon will be ac- 

 ceptable to the whole people and members of Con- 

 gress. 



I am glad that these deliberations take this wide 

 course. I would like to see every person who takes 

 an interest in irrigation, whether they live in the arid 

 regions or the heaven-watered regions, and I hope 

 every man will express himself with the utmost free- 

 dom, that there may be a unity of sentiment and a 

 unity of action. 



We in Utah have proved that the small holdings 

 are the best for the people. Our pioneers, when they 

 went into that country, arranged in the first place 

 that men at the head of a household should receive a 

 city lot. The city was divided into blocks of ten 

 acres, containing eight lots of one and a quarter acres 

 each. I remember applying for a lot and was told 

 that I was not a married man and could not have the 

 land. Outside the city the first lots were five-acre 

 lots, later ten-acre lots, and later twenty-acre lots. 

 Mechanics were expected to have ten acres. Those 

 who were engaged in business drew ten acres if their 

 families were large enough. It was not a law, but 

 was suggested. Laws were then made that no man 

 should manipulate land, so that every man in the 

 community should have a sufficient quantity to supply 

 his wants and to enable him to raise what he wanted, 

 but could have nothing for manipulation. We had to 

 set our faces against the manipulation of land and 

 the manipulation of water. We dread above every- 

 thing large companies coming in and making canals 

 and taxing our people for the water. We do not 

 think that is , necessary. We have proved that 

 water can be taken out and that it can be used by 

 the poor man by a proper combination of efforts by 

 being united. We have proved this and also that 

 large tracts of land are not necessary for the public 

 good. Therefore, I think I express the feeling of our 

 people and the satisfaction of our people in Utah. 

 But I make this statement in proof: Our conditions 

 are different than those surrounding California, Colo- 

 rado, Arizona, Montana, etc. I do not wish in mak- 

 ing this remark to be understood that we oppose 

 other measures. I only wish to say that it has been 

 proven to us to be attended with the best results. 



Ladies and gentlemen of this Irrigation Congress, 

 I thank you for the honor you have done Utah in 

 selecting me as the temporary chairman of this con- 

 gress. 



