CIVIL GOVERNMENT — STATE OF DESERET. 127 



from the neighbouring mountain, and two grist-mills and three 

 saw-mills, added to those already in operation. The winter of this 

 year was much more severe than the preceding one, and snow fell 

 on the plain to the depth of ten inches. 



In the following spring (1849) a settlement was commenced, and 

 a small fort built near the mouth of the Timpanogas or Provaux, 

 an affluent of Lake Utah, about fifty miles south of the city. 

 During this summer, large crops of grain, melons, potatoes, and 

 corn were raised, and two more saw-mills erected. 



The colony had now become firmly established, and all fear of 

 its ability to sustain itself were, from the overflowing abundance 

 of the harvest, set at rest. Nothing could be more natural than 

 that the people should turn their attention to the formation 

 of a system of civil government. Hitherto they had been under 

 the guidance of their ecclesiastical leaders only, and justice had 

 been administered upon principles of equity simply, enforced by 

 the government of the church alone. This would answer very 

 well while the community remained small, and consisted only of 

 those who acknowledged the binding force of spiritual rule in 

 matters purely temporal also. But, as the colony increased, it was 

 not to be expected that it would continue to consist solely of mem- 

 bers of the church, willing to submit to such a jurisdiction, without 

 the sanctions of an organized civil government. 



A convention was therefore called " of all the citizens of that 

 portion of Upper California lying east of the Sierra Nevada 

 mountains, to take into consideration the propriety of organizing 

 a Territorial or State government." 



The convention met at Great Salt Lake City, on the 5th of 

 March, 1849, and on the 10th adopted a constitution, which was to 

 remain in force until the Congress of the United States should 

 otherwise provide for the government of the territory. 



It "ordained and established a free and independent govern- 

 ment, by the name of the State of Deseret;" fixed the bounda- 

 ries of the new State ; provided for the election of governor, sena- 

 tors, representatives, and judges : all of whom, as well as the 

 other officers created by it, were required to take an oath to sup- 

 port the constitution of the United States. On the 2d of July, 

 the legislature, created by the organic law, met, elected a delegate 

 to Congress, and adopted a memorial to that body, in which, among 

 other things, they state that "the inhabitants of the State of 

 Deseret, in view of their own security, and for the preservation of 



