Explanatory Notes
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Apparatus Notes
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CHAPTER 13
[begin page 88]

CHAPTER 13

We had a fine supper, of the freshest meats and fowls and vegetables—a great variety and as great abundance. We walked about the streets some, afterward, and glanced in at shops and stores; and there was fascination in surreptitiously staring at every creature we took to be a Mormon. This was fairy-land to us, to all intents and purposes—a land of enchantment, and goblins, and awful mystery. We felt a curiosity to ask every child how many mothers it had, and if it could tell them apart; and we experienced a thrill every time a dwelling-house door opened and shut as we passed, disclosing a glimpse of human heads and backs and shoulders—for we so longed to have a good satisfying look at a Mormon family in all its comprehensive ampleness, disposed in the customary concentric rings of its home circle.

By and by the Acting Governor of the Territoryexplanatory note introduced us to other “Gentiles,” and we spent a sociable hour with them. “Gentiles” are people who are not Mormonsexplanatory note. Our fellow-passenger, Bemis, took care of himself, during this part of the evening, and did not make an overpowering success of it, either, for he came into our room in the hotel about eleven o’clock, full of cheerfulness, and talking loosely, disjointedly and indiscriminately, and every now and then tugging out a ragged word by the roots that had more hiccups than syllables in it. This, together with his hanging his coat on the floor on one side of a chair, and his vest on the floor on the other side, and piling his pants on the floor just in front of the same chair, and then contemplating the general result with superstitious awe, and finally pronouncing it “too many for him” and going to bed with his boots on, led us to fear that something he had eaten had not agreed with him.

But we knew afterward that it was something he had been drinking. It was the exclusively Mormon refresher, “valley tan.”explanatory note Valley [begin page 89] tan (or, at least, one form of valley tan) is a kind of whisky, or first cousin to it; is of Mormon invention and manufactured only in Utah. Tradition says it is made of (imported) fire and brimstone. If I remember rightly no public drinking saloons were allowed in the kingdom by Brigham Youngexplanatory note, and no private drinking permitted among the faithful, except they confined themselves to “valley tan.”explanatory note

effects of “valley tan.”

Next day we strolled about everywhere through the broad, straight, level streets, and enjoyed the pleasant strangeness of a city of fifteen thousand inhabitants with no loafers perceptible in it; and no visible drunkards or noisy people; a limpid stream rippling and dancing through every street in place of a filthy gutter; block after block of trim dwellings, built of “frame” and sunburned [begin page 90] brick—a great thriving orchard and garden behind every one of them, apparently—branches from the street stream winding and sparkling among the garden beds and fruit trees—and a grand general air of neatness, repair, thrift and comfort, around and about and over the whole. And everywhere were workshops, factories, and all manner of industries; and intent faces and busy hands were to be seen wherever one looked; and in one’s ears was the ceaseless clink of hammers, the buzz of trade and the contented hum of drums and fly-wheels.

The armorial crest of my own State consisted of two dissolute bears holding up the head of a dead and gone cask between them and making the pertinent remark, “United, We Stand—(hic!)—Divided, We Fall.” It was always too figurative for the author of this book. But the Mormon crest was easy. And it was simple, unostentatious, and fitted like a glove. It was a representation of a Golden Beehive, with the bees all at workexplanatory note!

one crest.
the other.

The city lies in the edge of a level plain as broad as the State of Connecticut, and crouches close down to the ground under a curving wall of mighty mountainsexplanatory note whose heads are hidden in the clouds, and whose shoulders bear relics of the snows of winter all the summer long. Seen from one of these dizzy heights, twelve or fifteen miles off, Great Salt Lake City is toned down and diminished till it is suggestive of a child’s toy-village reposing under the majestic protection of the Chinese wall.

On some of those mountains, to the southwest, it had been raining [begin page 91] every day for two weeks, but not a drop had fallen in the city. And on hot days in late spring and early autumn the citizens could quit fanning and growling and go out and cool off by looking at the luxury of a glorious snow-storm going on in the mountains. They could enjoy it at a distance, at those seasons, every day, though no snow would fall in their streets, or anywhere near them.

Salt Lake City was healthy—an extremely healthy cityexplanatory note. They declared there was only one physician in the place and he was arrested every week regularly and held to answer under the vagrant act for having “no visible means of support.” [They always give you a good substantial article of truth in Salt Lake, and good measure and good weight, too. Very often, if you wished to weigh one of their airiest little commonplace statements you would want the hay scales.]

the vagrant.

[begin page 92] We desired to visit the famous inland sea, the American “Dead Sea,” the great Salt Lake—seventeen miles, horseback, from the city—for we had dreamed about it, and thought about it, and talked about it, and yearned to see it, all the first part of our trip; but now when it was only arm’s length away it had suddenly lost nearly every bit of its interest. And so we put it off, in a sort of general way, till next day—and that was the last we ever thought of it. We dined with some hospitable Gentiles; and visited the foundation of the prodigious templeexplanatory note; and talked long with that shrewd Connecticut Yankee, Heber C. Kimballexplanatory note (since deceased), a saint of high degree and a mighty man of commerce. We saw the “Tithing-House,”explanatory note and the “Lion House,”explanatory note and I do not know or remember how many more church and government buildings of various kinds and curious names. We flitted hither and thither and enjoyed every hour, and picked up a great deal of useful information and entertaining nonsense, and went to bed at night satisfied.

The second day, we made the acquaintance of Mr. Street (since deceased)explanatory note and put on white shirts and went and paid a state visit to the king. He seemed a quiet, kindly, easy-mannered, dignified, self-possessed old gentleman of fifty-five or sixty, and had a gentle craft in his eye that probably belonged there. He was very simply dressed and was just taking off a straw hat as we entered. He talked [begin page 93] about Utah, and the Indians, and Nevada, and general American matters and questions, with our Secretaryemendation and certain government officials who came with usexplanatory note. But he never paid any attention to me, notwithstanding I made several attempts to “draw him out” on Federalemendation politics and his high-handedemendation attitude toward Congressexplanatory note. I thought some of the things I said were rather fine. But he merely looked around at me, at distant intervals, something as I have seen a benignant old cat look around to see which kitten was meddling with her tail. By and by I subsided into an indignant silence, and so sat until the end, hot and flushed, and execrating him in my heart for an ignorant savage. But he was calm. His conversation with those gentlemen flowed on as sweetly and peacefully and musically as any summer brook. When the audience was ended and we were retiring from the presence, he put his hand on my head, beamed down on me in an admiring way and said to my brother:

“Ah—your child, I presume? Boy, or girl?”

Editorial Emendations CHAPTER 13
  Secretary (C)  ●  secretary (A) 
  Federal (C)  ●  federal (A) 
  high-handed (C)  ●  high handed (A) 
Explanatory Notes CHAPTER 13
 the Acting Governor of the Territory] In 1906 Clemens mistakenly recalled that Frank Fuller “was acting Governor, and he gave us a very good time during those two or three days that we rested in Great Salt Lake City” (AD, 11 Apr 1906, CU-MARK, in MTA , 2:350). The acting governor (as Orion noted at this time in his newspaper letter) was actually the territorial secretary, Francis H. Wootton, standing in for Governor Alfred Cumming, a secessionist who had departed for his native Georgia in May (see the note at 552.40–553.2). Wootton, also a secessionist, had already tendered his resignation, preferring not to serve under Lincoln, but he could not leave until his replacement, Frank Fuller, arrived, which he did on 10 September, a month after the [begin page 592] Clemens brothers had gone on to Carson City. Clemens and Fuller did not meet until 1862, after which they became lifelong friends (OC, 1; “Departure of the Governor,” Salt Lake City Deseret News, 22 May 61, 96; “Affairs in Utah,” New York Times, 8 July 61, 2; L2 , 5; Bancroft 1882–90, 21:604–5).
 “Gentiles” are people who are not Mormons] Because they identified themselves with the Hebrews of the Old Testament, Mormons early applied this biblical term to all non-Mormons (Arrington and Bitton, 128).
 the exclusively Mormon refresher, “valley tan.”] Burton claimed that this local whiskey made from wheat, “being generally pure,” was better than what “sold under the name of cognac” (Burton, 388). Edward P. Hingston, who visited Salt Lake City with Artemus Ward in 1864, pronounced it “the vilest whisky I remember tasting” (Hingston, 457). The term originally referred to leather tanned in the Salt Lake Valley, but came to apply to anything manufactured in Utah, including crockery, medicines, furniture, and gold coin (Bancroft 1882–90, 21:540 n.44).
 no public drinking saloons were allowed . . . and no private drinking . . . except . . . “valley tan.”] Beer was also produced and privately consumed. At this time the Mormons emphasized temperance rather than abstinence, although by the end of the century alcohol use was virtually prohibited. Hingston noted that Brigham Young himself owned a distillery and sold valley tan at a “properly appointed office, where it is only to be bought wholesale by those who are permitted to purchase, and who must take it to their own homes for private consumption” (Hingston, 457–58; Bush, 64 n. 48; McCue, 70–71; Burton, 388).
 Brigham Young] Young (1801–77) was born in Vermont, raised in New York, and, as a young man, trained as a carpenter and painter. In 1831 he converted to Mormonism, whose founder, Joseph Smith, he met the following year. He rose quickly in the church ranks, becoming, after Smith’s murder in 1844, the second prophet of the church and later its president. He was largely responsible for organizing and leading the Mormon exodus to Utah, begun in 1846. After serving as the first governor of Utah Territory from 1851 to 1858, he was obliged to give up all civil office, but still exercised nearly unquestioned authority among Mormons, warranting Mark Twain’s description of him as an “absolute monarch” (87.3–4) (Arrington 1985, 413–17; Jenson, 1:8–14; Kimball 1981, 206).
 

The armorial crest of my own State . . . was always too figurative . . . a Golden Beehive . . . all at work] The Missouri state and Utah territorial seals are pictured below. The Missouri motto acknowledged [begin page 593] the importance of preserving the Union, despite the longstanding conflict between slave and free states. (The Missouri Compromise of 1820 admitted Missouri to the Union as a slave state.) The beehive was a favorite Mormon emblem, signifying both the virtue of industry and the overall social order they sought to create, after a passage in the Book of Mormon: “And they did also carry with them Deseret, which, by interpretation, is a honey bee” ( Book of Mormon 1866, Ether 1:3 [Ether 2:3]; Carter, 4:67–70; Houck, 3:269–71).

 The city lies in the edge of a level plain as broad as the State of Connecticut . . . under a curving wall of mighty mountains] At the time, Salt Lake City occupied the northern edge of the valley, which extends roughly twenty-four miles north to south, and eighteen miles east to west. Connecticut is roughly sixty by ninety miles. The valley is surrounded by mountains, the tallest rising more than seven thousand feet above the valley floor.
 Salt Lake City was healthy—an extremely healthy city] A commonplace: Burton, for example, claimed that its “climate of arid heat and dry cold is eminently suited to most healthy and to many sickly constitutions: children and adults have come from England, apparently in a dying state, and have lived to be strong and robust men” (Burton, 337).
 the foundation of the prodigious temple] The Mormons began the temple at Salt Lake City in 1853, but suspended work in 1858 in anticipation of hostilities with federal troops (see the note at 548.26–31). Construction resumed in October 1861, shortly after the Clemenses left, and was completed in 1893. The foundation measured 186½ by 99 feet and consisted of footings 16 by 8 feet, designed to support [begin page 594] walls at least 6 feet thick and 167½ feet high, with towers rising 15 to 43 feet higher. The building material was syenite (rock composed primarily of feldspar), quarried in the mountains and transported twenty miles by teams of horses and oxen (Rich, 307–8; House of the Lord , 12–13; “The Temple,” Salt Lake City Deseret News, 18 Dec 61, 196).
 that shrewd Connecticut Yankee, Heber C. Kimball] Heber Chase Kimball (1801–68) was born in Vermont and grew up there and in New York, where he became a Mormon in 1832. Rising rapidly in the church ranks, he led the first two Mormon missions to England. He was among the first Mormon settlers of Utah in 1847, and from then until his death was second only to Young in the church hierarchy. He served as chief justice, lieutenant governor, and ex-officio president of the senate of the provisional state of Deseret (1849–50), and as a member of the legislative council under the territorial government of Utah (1851–59). His widespread business interests included farming, ranching (cattle, sheep, and horses), milling, freighting, real-estate investment, and the vigorous promotion of domestic manufacture (Jenson, 1:34–37; Kimball 1981, 197–98, 206, 219–25; Esshom, 986–87).
 the “Tithing-House,”] Devout Mormons began tithing (giving a tithe, or one-tenth, of their income to the church) in the late 1830s. The Salt Lake City Tithing Office and Deseret Store was a long narrow building with “cellars, store-rooms, receiving-rooms, pay-rooms, and writing offices” on Main Street, across from the building site of the temple (Burton, 302–3). There Mormons brought their tithes, either in coin or in produce and materials, which were then displayed for sale or distributed to the poor (Arrington and Bitton, 210; Cameron, 205, 227).
 the “Lion House,”] So called after a sculpted lion over its entrance, it was one of a complex of buildings owned by Young, and it served as home for many of his wives and children. It contained a separate room for each wife, as well as a communal kitchen, dining room (large enough to seat fifty), nursery, schoolroom, and prayer room. Built in 1856 for sixty-five thousand dollars, it was located near the Tithing Office (Arrington 1985, 170; Burton, 301–2; Cameron, 227).
 Mr. Street (since deceased)] James Street (d. 1867), whose experiences as an agent of the Overland Telegraph Company Mark Twain discusses in chapter 14, went to California in the early 1850s. He engaged in business in the southern part of the state, and later worked on the construction of a telegraph line between Los Angeles and San Francisco (“Death of James Street,” San Francisco Alta California, 7 Jan 67, 2). Street may have accompanied the Clemens brothers on their visit to Young, although he is not named in Young’s office journal for that day (see the next note). It has been suggested that the Clemenses did not meet Street in Salt Lake City, but only at Camp Floyd after leaving the city (Rogers 1961, 47). In 1874, however, Clemens wrote Street’s [begin page 595] daughter, “I remember your father very well indeed. His courtesies to us in Salt Lake City were of so pleasant a nature that even the fourteen years that have rolled by since have not sufficed to obliterate the memory of them” (SLC to Miss Street, 1 Dec 74, ViU).
 

He talked about Utah . . . with our Secretary and certain government officials who came with us] Young’s office journal for 7 August 1861 reads as follows:

Br William Clayton, read the pony dispatch to some of the members of the club; Prest Young Heber & Wells were present.

Br. Wm. Clayton, introduced: Mr Clements Secy of the Territory of Nevada who was on his way to Carson, also accompanied by his Brother & Capt G. T. Hicher & Secy. Wootten of this Ter. and three one other gentlemen. Capt G. T. Hincher

They conversed with Pres. Young & Wells principally about this Territory, situation of Big Cotton wood Lake, the health of the Country. Opinion of Mr Bridger who said he would be willing to give $5000 for the first bushel of wheat raised in this barren Country. The improvements in the Valley far exceeded their expectations, after the conversation they politely took their leave. (Young, entry for 7 Aug 61, used by permission)

William Clayton (1814–79), originally from Lancashire, England, went to Utah with Young in 1847 and became his clerk. Heber C. Kimball (see the note at 92.9–10) and Daniel Hanmer Wells (1814–91) were Young’s first and second counselors, respectively; the three together were known as the First Presidency. Captain G. T. Hicher has not been identified; Secretary Wootton was the acting governor of Utah Territory (see the note at 88.14) (Kimball 1981, 45; Jenson, 1:36, 62, 717–18; Arrington and Bitton, 339). The “Opinion of Mr Bridger” refers to frontiersman and scout James Bridger (1804–81), who, according to an eyewitness in 1847, “considered it important not to bring a large population into the Great Basin until it was ascertained that grain could be raised; he said he would give one thousand dollars for a bushel of corn raised in the Basin” (Arrington 1985, 141, 458 n. 58).

 

I made several attempts to “draw him out” on Federal politics and his high-handed attitude toward Congress] Orion may have had explicit orders from the State Department to inquire into Mormon intentions following the secession of the Southern states. His letter to the Democrat indicated that he, rather than his brother, attempted to “draw out” the Mormon officials. Orion did not report Young’s comments, but quoted the following speech of Kimball’s:

It’s my opinion you won’t see peace any more; the United States will go all to pieces, and the Mormons will take charge of and rule all the country; republicanism will be overthrown, but I won’t say what will take its place, nor when, nor at what time the Mormons will commence their rule. You are going to have trouble in Nevada. But mind, I am a Union man, we are Union men, we are going to stand by the country. Now, tell it just as I say it. (OC, 1)

At the time of Clemens’s visit, Young had done nothing that showed a particularly “high-handed attitude toward Congress.” The phrase is [begin page 596] probably a vestigial reference to material Mark Twain removed from the chapter, in proof, but ultimately included as appendix A when the book manuscript proved too short to fill the six hundred pages his publisher expected. Originally, the material in appendix A probably fell just after the previous paragraph (ending with “satisfied.” at 92.16), and therefore before this reference to Young’s “high-handed attitude.” The final paragraph in appendix A makes clear that the “attitude” referred to was Young’s response to events that occurred after “the date of our visit to Utah” (549.20), principally the federal law against polygamy passed in 1862 (see the note at 549.26–28). Appendix A and much else in these chapters on the Mormons derived from Mark Twain’s reading of Catharine V. Waite’s Mormon Prophet and His Harem (1868; first edition, 1866). He mentions her book in chapter 17 (117.2–3) and cites it as the source of his account of the Mountain Meadows massacre, which was evidently drafted as a chapter following chapter 14, but was likewise removed in proof, and ultimately restored as appendix B. Waite’s view of Young was decidedly hostile (Waite, 20, 23, 25, 48, 89–90, 92–93, 295).