Mormon Settlement in Arizona | Page 4

West
The Author would ask earliest appreciation by the reader that this work
on "Mormon Settlement in Arizona" has been written by one entirely
outside that faith and that, in no way, has it to do with the doctrines of a
sect set aside as distinct and peculiar to itself, though it claims
fellowship with any denomination that follows the teachings of the
Nazarene. The very word "Mormon" in publications of that
denomination usually is put within quotation marks, accepted only as a
nickname for the preferred and lengthier title of "Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints." Outside the Church, the word, at least till
within a decade or so, has been one that has formed the foundation for
much of denunciation. There was somewhat of pathos in the remark to
the Author by a high Mormon official, "There never has been middle
ground in literature that affected the Mormons--it either has been
written against us or for us." From a religious standpoint, this work is
on neutral ground. But, from the standpoint of western colonization and
consequent benefit to the Nation, the Author trusts the reader will join
with him in appreciation of the wonderful work that has been done by
these people. It is this field especially that has been covered in this
book.
Occasionally it will be found that the colonizers have been referred to
as "Saints." It is a shortening of the preferred title, showing a lofty
moral aspiration, at least. It would be hard to imagine wickedness
proceeding from such a designation, though the Church itself assuredly
would be the first to disclaim assumption of full saintliness within its
great membership. Still, there might be testimony from the writer that
he has lived near the Mormons, of Arizona for more than forty years
and in that time has found them law-abiding and industrious, generally
of sturdy English, Scotch, Scandinavian or Yankee stock wherein such
qualities naturally run with the blood. If there be with such people the
further influence of a religion that binds in a union of faith and in
works of the most practical sort, surely there must be accomplishment
of material and important things.

Pioneers in Agriculture
In general, the Mormon (and the word will be used without quotation
marks) always has been agricultural. The Church itself appears to have
a foundation idea that its membership shall live by, upon and through
the products of the soil. It will be found in this work that Church
influence served to turn men from even the gold fields of California to
the privations of pioneer Utah. It also will be found that the Church,
looking for extension and yet careful of the interests of its membership,
directed the expeditions that penetrated every part of the Southwest.
There was a pioneer Mormon period in Arizona, that might as well be
called the missionary period. Then came the prairie schooners that bore,
from Utah, men and women to people and redeem the arid southland
valleys. Most of this colonization was in Arizona, where the field was
comparatively open. In California there had been religious persecution
and in New Mexico the valleys very generally had been occupied for
centuries by agricultural Indians and by native peoples speaking an
alien tongue. There was extension over into northern Mexico, with
consequent travail when impotent governments crumbled. But in
Arizona, in the valleys of the Little Colorado, the Salt, the Gila and the
San Pedro and of their tributaries and at points where the white man
theretofore had failed, if he had reached them at all, the Mormons set
their stakes and, with united effort, soon cleared the land, dug ditches
and placed dams in unruly streams, all to the end that farms should
smile where the desert had reigned. It all needed imagination and vision,
something that, very properly, may be called faith. Sometimes there
was failure. Occasionally the brethren failed to live in unity. They were
human. But, at all times, back of them were the serenity and judgment
and resources of the Church and with them went the engendered
confidence that all would be well, whatever befell of finite sort. It has
been said that faith removes mountains. The faith that came with these
pioneers was well backed and carried with it brawn and industry.
"Mormon Settlement in Arizona" should not carry the idea that Arizona
was settled wholly by Mormons. Before them came the Spaniards, who
went north of the Gila only as explorers and missionaries and whose

agriculture south of that stream assuredly was not of enduring value.
There were trappers, prospectors, miners, cattlemen and farmers long
before the wagons from Utah first rolled southward, but the fact that
Arizona's agricultural development owes enormously to Mormon effort
can be appreciated in considering the establishment and development