126 SETTLEMENT OF SALT LAKE VALLEY. 



main body arrived. A piece of ground was selected, consecrated 

 by prayer, broken up, and planted; and thus, in 1847, was formed 

 the nucleus of what, in 1850, was admitted as a Territory of the 

 Union, and which bids fair ere long to present itself at the door of 

 the national legislature for admission as one of the States of the 

 confederacy. 



In a short time after the arrival of the pioneer company, ground 

 was surveyed and laid out into streets and squares for a large 

 city ; a fort or enclosure was erected, of houses made of logs and 

 sun-dried brick, opening into a large square, the entrance to which 

 was defended by gates, and formed a tolerably secure fortification 

 against Indian attacks. In October following, an addition of be- 

 tween three and four thousand was made to their number, by the 

 emigration of such as had been left behind, and the fort was neces- 

 sarily enlarged for their accommodation. Agricultural labours 

 were now resumed with renewed spirit ; ploughing and planting 

 continued throughout the whole winter and until the July follow- 

 ing, by which time a line of fence had been constructed, enclosing 

 upward of six thousand acres of land, laid down in crops, besides 

 a large tract of pasture land. During the winter, and spring, 

 the inhabitants were much straitened for food; and game being 

 very scarce in the country, they were reduced to the neces- 

 sity of digging roots from the ground, and living upon the hides 

 of animals which they had previously made use of for roofing their 

 cabins, but which were now torn ofi" for food. But this distress 

 only continued until the harvest, since which time provisions of all 

 kinds have been abundant. 



This year, (1848,) a small grist-mill was erected, and two saw- 

 mills nearly completed. The following winter and spring, a settle- 

 ment was commenced on the banks of the Weber River, a bold, clear 

 stream which breaks through the Wahsatch Mountains, forty miles 

 north of the city, and discharges its waters into the Salt Lake. 



Upon Ogden Creek, an affluent of the Weber, a city has since 

 (1850) been laid out, and called Ogden City, and is already sur- 

 rounded by a flourishing agricultural population. 



In the autumn, another large immigration arrived under the 

 president, Brigham Young, which materially added to the strength 

 of the colony. Building and agriculture were prosecuted with 

 renewed vigour. Numerous settlements continued to be made 

 wherever water could be found for irrigation. A handsome coun- 

 cil-house was commenced, to be built of red sandstone procured 



