Page 233 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

T
FRON I E R PLACE: COLONIALISM TRIUMPHANT
American Indians. One explained that she dreaded Mormons because
"the tales told of the Mormons in those days were worse than those of
the Indians." Even after learning that the Mormons at Council Bluffs
charged reasonable prices and dealt f a irly with emigrants, she was
delighted when her party bypassed Salt Lake City; she said she had "no
,,
desire to see the Mormon settlement. 60 One California-bound emi­
grant who wintered in Council Bluffs in 1 8 53 came away with a simi­
lar impressions of Mormons. "We f o und before spring," she wrote later,
"that with all their zeal and devotion they were a treacherous set and
sect." She claimed that these Mormons "made it a business" to steal fr om
the Gentiles. Her party also decided to skip Salt Lake City, a decision
that pleased her since she too was averse to Mormons. 61
Because the Latter-day Saints traveled and lived in tightly knit reli­
gious communities, there was seldom little more than superficial con­
tact between Mormon and Gentile women. Consequently, fe male emi­
grants and settlers had f e w experiences with Mormons to offset the
incendiary tales they had heard. A common rumor, f o r instance, was
that Brigham Y o ung conserved resources f o r the Mormons by order­
ing that no grass or other provisions be given to Gentiles. 62 Because
grass and water were spare around Salt Lake,Young may very well have
taken his people as his first priority and issued such an edict. Another
widely circulated story concerned the Mormons' supposed stealing of
stock f r om emigrants and settlers, which they then blamed on Indians.
Accounts flourished of Mormons swooping down on Gentiles to kill
them and carry off their possessions, especially animals. 6 3 After hear­
ing such reports, one f e male migrant insisted that Mormons believed
that "any means to rob the Gentile was commendable." 6 4 Latter-day
Saints were also thought to join American Indians in attacks on emi­
grants and settlers. In addition, they were blamed f o r "inciting" Indians
to attack whites in hopes of reducing the number of Gentiles settling
in the f a r e st. 6 5
W
Feared and hated, Mormons were the target of judgmental com­
ments by f e male migrants. In light of women's prejudice toward these
people, it is unsurprising that they made vitriolic remarks about
Mormons. T o one woman, Mormon men were "a very hard looking
set," whereas to another, the women were "very plain looking, many of

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