Page 236 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

C H APTER S I X

They were amazed when they first glimpsed the spiraled city. 80 The
emigrants who entered the fabled city of Salt Lake pushed into shops
as anxious customers fo r goods the Mormons were only too willing to
sell.To survive in the Utah desert, Latter-day Saints had become a supply
station fo r those on their way to California, who were happy to restock
and rest their animals before undertaking the last lap of their trek. The
emigrants also explored the city's streets, awestruck by the Mormon
T e mple, the Mormon Tabernacle,Young's house, the houses of his many
wives, and the homes of elders. As Gentile women described it, the city
was beautiful, f u ll of adobe homes with well-tended gardens, and
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crowned by the impressive temple and tabernacle buildings. 8I T o one,
it looked like "a herd of white castles," whereas another thought it would
be "truly beautiful" if not inhabited by Mormons.82
When these women entered the Mormon Tabernacle to witness
the religious services of the Latter-day Saints, their tone changed. In
18 1 , one woman claimed that "it was not anything dignified on the
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Sabbath, but they were very rough and coarse with their remarks." She
was upset that the congregation cheered when slurs were hurled against
the United States and Mormon leaders threatened to roll rocks down
upon the heads of U.S. soldiers should they try to enter the city. She
concluded that "their remarks were all coarse; there was nothing refined
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or elevating in it. 83 A year later, Mary Bailey reported that the Mormon
service consisted of people relating " dreamy visions." She was surprised
to find that many of the Latter-day Saints were Europeans; she f o und it
strange "that such delusion should spread so f a r." 84 Another fe male
observer described a service as one that included "a ranting Mormon
oration," superb music, and an "overly long" benediction. 85
In spite of some positive impressions of Salt Lake City and its inhab­
itants, most white emigrant women did not alter their anti-Mormon
views. The ideas they carried into the city were usually the same ideas
with which they left. One young woman of the I 8 7 0s, who was
impressed with the beauty of the city , declared, "Still I should not want
to live there, even in the Gentile part and among Gentiles."86 There
were, however, some exceptions. After a winter among the Mormons
in the I850s, Sarah Cooke became a member of the church, yet with­
stood suggestions that she and her husband engage in plural marriage.87

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