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Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 February 1844–B

Source Note

Lyman Wight

9 May 1796–31 Mar. 1858. Farmer. Born at Fairfield, Herkimer Co., New York. Son of Levi Wight Jr. and Sarah Corbin. Served in War of 1812. Married Harriet Benton, 5 Jan. 1823, at Henrietta, Monroe Co., New York. Moved to Warrensville, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, ...

View Full Bio
,
George Miller

25 Nov. 1794–after July 1856. Carpenter, mill operator, lumber dealer, steamboat owner. Born near Stanardsville, Orange Co., Virginia. Son of John Miller and Margaret Pfeiffer. Moved to Augusta Co., Virginia, 1798; to Madison Co., Kentucky, 1806; to Boone...

View Full Bio
,
Phineas R. Bird

29 Jan. 1802–25 July 1850. Weaver, stone mason. Born in Trenton, Hunterdon Co., New Jersey. Son of Benjamin Bird and Mary. Moved to Romulus, Seneca Co., New York, by 1810. Moved to Wells, Bradford Co., Pennsylvania, by 1820. Captain in U.S. Army, 10 Jan. ...

View Full Bio
,
Pierce Hawley

14 Nov. 1788–16 Aug. 1858. Farmer. Born in Vergennes, Addison Co., Vermont. Son of Gideon Hawley and Lavinia Darrough. Moved to Ferrisburg, Addison Co., by 1790. Married first, ca. 1812. Served in War of 1812. Moved to White Co., Illinois, ca. 1818. Married...

View Full Bio
, and
John Young

May 1811–30 Oct. 1886. Lumber and sawmill worker, clerk, farmer. Born in Jackson Co., Tennessee. Son of David Young and Elizabeth Vance. Possibly baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by John D. Lee at same time as his parents and siblings...

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, Letter,
Black River Falls

Post village located on Black River. Site of pine lumber industry. County seat. Population in 1850 about 460. Committee of church members wrote to JS and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from village, 15 Feb. 1844.

More Info
, Crawford Co., Wisconsin Territory, to the
First Presidency

The highest presiding body of the church. An 11 November 1831 revelation stated that the president of the high priesthood was to preside over the church. JS was ordained as president of the high priesthood on 25 January 1832. In March 1832, JS appointed two...

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(including JS) and the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Members of a governing body in the church, with special administrative and proselytizing responsibilities. A June 1829 revelation commanded Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer to call twelve disciples, similar to the twelve apostles in the New Testament and ...

View Glossary
, [
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Hancock Co., IL], 15 Feb. 1844; handwriting of Otis Hobart; four pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, docket, and notations.
Bifolium measuring 12⅛ × 7¾ inches (31 × 20 cm). The paper is likely ruled (though the lines are now completely faded). The letter was folded three times horizontally and twice vertically.
The letter was received by JS in
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
folded together and wrapped with another letter of the same date from
Lyman Wight

9 May 1796–31 Mar. 1858. Farmer. Born at Fairfield, Herkimer Co., New York. Son of Levi Wight Jr. and Sarah Corbin. Served in War of 1812. Married Harriet Benton, 5 Jan. 1823, at Henrietta, Monroe Co., New York. Moved to Warrensville, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, ...

View Full Bio
and others in
Wisconsin Territory

Area settled by French, before 1700. Became part of U.S. by Treaty of Paris, 1783. Territory officially formed, 1836, with Belmont established as capital. Capital moved to present-day Burlington, Iowa, 1837. Territory initially included all or part of present...

More Info
. The document was docketed by Jonathan Grimshaw, who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1856,
1

Historian’s Office, Journal, 7 June 1853; Wilford Woodruff, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 30 Aug. 1856, in Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, p. 364.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Historian’s Office. Journal, 1844–1997. CHL. CR 100 1.

Historian’s Office. Letterpress Copybooks, 1854–1879, 1885–1886. CHL. CR 100 38.

and contains notations made by him. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL).
2

See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.


The document’s early docket and notations and its inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Historian’s Office, Journal, 7 June 1853; Wilford Woodruff, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 30 Aug. 1856, in Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, p. 364.

    Historian’s Office. Journal, 1844–1997. CHL. CR 100 1.

    Historian’s Office. Letterpress Copybooks, 1854–1879, 1885–1886. CHL. CR 100 38.

  2. [2]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 15 February 1844, a committee of
church

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

View Glossary
members in
Black River Falls

Post village located on Black River. Site of pine lumber industry. County seat. Population in 1850 about 460. Committee of church members wrote to JS and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from village, 15 Feb. 1844.

More Info
, Wisconsin Territory, composed two letters to church leaders in
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Illinois, containing their recommendation that the church look into establishing a new
gathering

As directed by early revelations, church members “gathered” in communities. A revelation dated September 1830, for instance, instructed elders “to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect” who would “be gathered in unto one place, upon the face of this land...

View Glossary
place in the
Republic of Texas

France established colony in area, 1685. First Spanish settlement created, 1718. After Mexican War of Independence from Spain, 1821, area became part of Mexico and immigration increased. Conflict between Mexican government and Texian residents resulted in...

More Info
.
1

For more information on the background of these letters, see Historical Introduction to Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 Feb. 1844–A.


Prior to writing these letters, the committee met to discuss the church’s lumber operations in Black River Falls and concluded that by July 1844 the Saints in
Wisconsin Territory

Area settled by French, before 1700. Became part of U.S. by Treaty of Paris, 1783. Territory officially formed, 1836, with Belmont established as capital. Capital moved to present-day Burlington, Iowa, 1837. Territory initially included all or part of present...

More Info
would have more than enough lumber for the Nauvoo
temple

Located in portion of Nauvoo known as the bluff. JS revelation dated Jan. 1841 commanded Saints to build temple and hotel (Nauvoo House). Cornerstone laid, 6 Apr. 1841. Saints volunteered labor, money, and other resources for temple construction. Construction...

More Info
and the
Nauvoo House

Located in lower portion of Nauvoo (the flats) along bank of Mississippi River. JS revelation, dated 19 Jan. 1841, instructed Saints to build boardinghouse for travelers and immigrants. Construction of planned three-story building to be funded by fifty-dollar...

More Info
, thus fulfilling their purposes in Wisconsin. Furthermore, the committee concluded that the church could find more profitable enterprises by gathering to Texas, where the Saints might also proselytize among larger numbers of Native American groups. The committee was aware of recent missionary work in the southern
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

More Info
and therefore also recommended that the church invite wealthy slaveholders to join this relocation and consecrate the profits of their plantations to support the growth of the church. The committee assigned
George Miller

25 Nov. 1794–after July 1856. Carpenter, mill operator, lumber dealer, steamboat owner. Born near Stanardsville, Orange Co., Virginia. Son of John Miller and Margaret Pfeiffer. Moved to Augusta Co., Virginia, 1798; to Madison Co., Kentucky, 1806; to Boone...

View Full Bio
and
Lyman Wight

9 May 1796–31 Mar. 1858. Farmer. Born at Fairfield, Herkimer Co., New York. Son of Levi Wight Jr. and Sarah Corbin. Served in War of 1812. Married Harriet Benton, 5 Jan. 1823, at Henrietta, Monroe Co., New York. Moved to Warrensville, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, ...

View Full Bio
—both of whom were trustees of the
Nauvoo House Association

A corporation established in February 1841 to oversee the building of the Nauvoo House. A 19 January 1841 JS revelation included a commandment to construct a boardinghouse for visitors to Nauvoo that would also serve as a home for JS and his family. The association...

View Glossary
—to draft letters to church leaders in Nauvoo forwarding the committee’s recommendations and asking how the Wisconsin Saints should proceed. Unable to decide which letter to send, the committee resolved to send both letters. The letter featured here was created by George Miller and inscribed by Otis Hobart.
2

Wight, Address by Way of an Abridged Account and Journal of My Life, 1–3; Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 Feb. 1844–A.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Wight, Lyman. An Address by Way of an Abridged Account and Journal of My Life from February 1844 up to April 1848, with an Appeal to the Latter Day Saints. [Austin, TX], [ca. 1848].

The letters were brought to
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
by
Miller

25 Nov. 1794–after July 1856. Carpenter, mill operator, lumber dealer, steamboat owner. Born near Stanardsville, Orange Co., Virginia. Son of John Miller and Margaret Pfeiffer. Moved to Augusta Co., Virginia, 1798; to Madison Co., Kentucky, 1806; to Boone...

View Full Bio
and then discussed in a meeting with JS, available members of the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Members of a governing body in the church, with special administrative and proselytizing responsibilities. A June 1829 revelation commanded Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer to call twelve disciples, similar to the twelve apostles in the New Testament and ...

View Glossary
, and the
temple committee

A committee assigned to raise funds and direct the building of the Nauvoo temple; also called the building committee or temple building committee. On 3 October 1840, Alpheus Cutler, Reynolds Cahoon, and Elias Higbee were appointed as a committee responsible...

View Glossary
on 10 March 1844.
3

JS, Journal, 10 Mar. 1844; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10 Mar. 1844.


That meeting was adjourned until the next day, 11 March, when the
Council of Fifty

An organization intended to establish the political kingdom of God on the earth. An 1842 editorial in the church newspaper stated that the “design of Jehovah” was to “take the reigns of government into his own hand.” On 10 and 11 March 1844, JS and several...

View Glossary
was formally organized.
4

Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10 and 11 Mar. 1844.


William Clayton

17 July 1814–4 Dec. 1879. Bookkeeper, clerk. Born at Charnock Moss, Penwortham, Lancashire, England. Son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. Married Ruth Moon, 9 Oct. 1836, at Penwortham. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber...

View Full Bio
later copied these letters into the Council of Fifty record.
5

See Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10 Mar. 1844.


Miller’s original letter is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    For more information on the background of these letters, see Historical Introduction to Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 Feb. 1844–A.

  2. [2]

    Wight, Address by Way of an Abridged Account and Journal of My Life, 1–3; Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 Feb. 1844–A.

    Wight, Lyman. An Address by Way of an Abridged Account and Journal of My Life from February 1844 up to April 1848, with an Appeal to the Latter Day Saints. [Austin, TX], [ca. 1848].

  3. [3]

    JS, Journal, 10 Mar. 1844; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10 Mar. 1844.

  4. [4]

    Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10 and 11 Mar. 1844.

  5. [5]

    See Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10 Mar. 1844.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 February 1844–B Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846; Volume 1, 10 March 1844–1 March 1845 History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [2]

urged them to move off of the lands in the vicinity of Green Bay onto their own lands, The Indians say they will, provided the Government will remove all strange Indians and tresspassing white men off of their lands— Consequently the Agent and Superintendant of Indian affairs are taking such steps as will stop all further trespassing on the Indian lands, On the Wisconsin,
Black

Rises in Portage Co. (now in Taylor Co.), runs southwest 150 miles through central Wisconsin Territory, and empties into Mississippi River. First lumber mill built on river, 1818. In Sept. 1841, Nauvoo temple committee and trustees of Nauvoo House Association...

More Info
and Chippewa Rivers, under the penalties of the laws relative to the case
4

For more information on the removal of white lumber workers from Menominee-occupied lands, see the annotation in Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 Feb. 1844–A.


We sent Brs.
[George] Miller

25 Nov. 1794–after July 1856. Carpenter, mill operator, lumber dealer, steamboat owner. Born near Stanardsville, Orange Co., Virginia. Son of John Miller and Margaret Pfeiffer. Moved to Augusta Co., Virginia, 1798; to Madison Co., Kentucky, 1806; to Boone...

View Full Bio
and
[Cyrus] Daniels

12 Sept. 1803–before May 1847. Farmer, policeman. Born in Nelson, Chenango Co., New York. Son of Adam Daniels and Phoebe. Moved to Mentor, Geauga Co., Ohio, by 1826. Married Simira Colson, 21 Jan. 1828, in Cuyahoga Co., Ohio. Baptized into Church of Jesus...

View Full Bio
, in company with the principal Chief of the Menomonee Indians over land to the Wisconsin River, to ascertain more about the matter. They saw the agent, found him to a gruff austere man determined to stop all tresspassing on Indian land.
5

According to Miller, he gained the support of Oshkosh, chief of the Menominee, to continue logging. Oshkosh said the timber “was all his, and that the agent and United States had no business to interfere in the matter; that he had come to attend to his timber himself.” The Menominee had previously granted special privileges to a few white men that allowed them to operate lumber mills on Menominee land in exchange for goods and services, and Oshkosh proposed a similar arrangement with the Latter-day Saints, stating that they “should have the exclusive privilege of cutting timber” in the Black River Falls region in exchange for their feeding “his people in their passing by.” Such arrangements were often ratified or witnessed by the local Indian agent or other government officials. It may have been for this reason that Oshkosh suggested to Miller that he go “to the Wisconsin with him, and he would procure me a written permit from the agent, in order to silence the lumbermen.” Miller traveled the sixty miles to the Wisconsin River with Oshkosh and with Latter-day Saint Cyrus Daniels. The Indian agent, David Jones, was at the Wisconsin River touring a government-run blacksmith shop when they arrived. (George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [1]–[2]; Thwaites, Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 15:9–19; David Jones, Green Bay, Wisconsin Territory, to James D. Doty, Madison, Wisconsin Territory, 24 Feb. 1844, in U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, reel 319.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed. Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Vol. 15. Madison: Democrat Printing, 1900.

U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824–81. National Archives Microfilm Publications, microcopy M234. 962 reels. Washington DC: National Archives, 1959.

The Indians are willing to sell privileges to individuals for lumbering & cutting timber as they have hitherto done, but the Agent is opposed to it.
6

As early as the 1820s, tribes living in this area had leased or sold logging and milling rights to white settlers. These agreements were usually sanctioned by the federal government, though the lessees often abused the terms of the agreement. (Beck, Siege and Survival, 118–119.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Beck, David R. M. Siege and Survival: History of the Menominee Indians, 1634–1856. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.

Thus a difficulty arises between themselves— Now as regards the introduction of the Gospel of Christ among the Indians here it will require more exertion to all appearances to check the enthusiastic ardor of these our red breathren untill the full principles of faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ shall be reasoned into their minds, than to urge them on to receive it— They have great confidence in us— The Country belonging to these Northern Indians is a dreary cold region, and to a great extent, Cranberry marshes, pine barrens and Swamps with a small amount of good land, scarce of game, and only valuable in mill privileges, and facilities for lumbering, purposes.
7

Miller initially thought the country surrounding the Black River “presented one of the most beautiful prospects I ever beheld. It was the prospect of a country well suited in all respects for the various pursuits of the husbandman and also of the manufacturer.” Allen J. Stout, another Latter-day Saint at the pineries, was more cautious, noting that the land was “extreamly varied with rich & poor land.” Alfred Brunson, a local Indian agent, described the area surrounding the falls as “one of the most dismal pine and tamerack swamps that teams ever undertook to pass.” (Mills, “De Tal Palo Tal Astilla,” 96; Allen J. Stout, Black River Falls, Wisconsin Territory, to Hosea Stout et al., Nauvoo, IL, 10 and 13 Sept. 1843, Allen J. Stout, Letters to Hosea Stout, CHL; Brunson, Western Pioneer, 144; Brunson, Northern Wiskonsan, 4–5.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Mills, H. W. “De Tal Palo Tal Astilla.” Annual Publications Historical Society of Southern California 10 (1917): 86–174.

Stout, Allen J. Letters to Hosea Stout, 1843. CHL.

Brunson, Alfred. A Western Pioneer; or, Incidents of the Life and Times of Rev. Alfred Brunson, A. M., D. D., Embracing a Period over Seventy Years. Vol. 2. Cincinnati: Hitchcock and Walden, 1879.

Brunson, Alfred. Northern Wiskonsan. Madison, Wisconsin Territory: No publisher, 1843.

As to minneral resources, they have not been fully developed— There is no doubt as to the abundance of Iron Ore, but uncertain as to quality—
8

Alfred Brunson described the potential of the iron deposits near Black River Falls in an 1841 report to the House of Representatives of Wisconsin Territory: “Iron ore of a superior quality, and inexhaustible in quantity, has recently been discovered. It is, in fact, nothing short of an iron mountain. . . . The timber in the neighborhood is abundant for a supply of coal, lumber, &c.; and it would seem as if nature had provided and supplied this place to be the great iron works of the Upper Mississippi.” (Brunson, “Report of the Select Committee on the Subject of Territorial Geologist,” 147–148, italics in original; see also Brunson, Northern Wiskonsan, 5.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Brunson, Alfred. “Report of the Select Committee on the Subject of Territorial Geologist.” In Journal of the House of Representatives, First Session of the Third Legislative Assembly of Wisconsin; Begun and Held at Madison, on Monday, the Seventh Day of December, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty, appendix P, 146–149. Madison, Wisconsin Territory: Charles C. Sholes, 1841.

Brunson, Alfred. Northern Wiskonsan. Madison, Wisconsin Territory: No publisher, 1843.

Now under all of these circumstances, a few of us here have arrived at this conclusion in our minds, (such as can under go all things,) that as the Gospel has not been fully opened in all the South and South Western States, as also
Texas

France established colony in area, 1685. First Spanish settlement created, 1718. After Mexican War of Independence from Spain, 1821, area became part of Mexico and immigration increased. Conflict between Mexican government and Texian residents resulted in...

More Info
,
Mexico

North American nation. Occupied by Mesoamerican civilizations, ca. 800 BC–1526 AD. Conquered by Spanish, 1521, who established Mexico City as new capital on site of Aztec capital Tenochtitlán. Ruled by viceroyalty of New Spain, 1535–1821. Started war for ...

More Info
, Brazil &C. together with the West India Islands.
9

Ephraim Potter and Harrison Sagers were both appointed to serve missions in Jamaica, a British colony in the West Indies, in 1841, but it is unlikely that either of the two men ever went. (Letter to Edward Hunter, 21 Dec. 1841; JS History, vol. C-1, 1258.)


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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 February 1844–B
ID #
1271
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page

    Footnotes

    1. [4]

      For more information on the removal of white lumber workers from Menominee-occupied lands, see the annotation in Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 Feb. 1844–A.

    2. [5]

      According to Miller, he gained the support of Oshkosh, chief of the Menominee, to continue logging. Oshkosh said the timber “was all his, and that the agent and United States had no business to interfere in the matter; that he had come to attend to his timber himself.” The Menominee had previously granted special privileges to a few white men that allowed them to operate lumber mills on Menominee land in exchange for goods and services, and Oshkosh proposed a similar arrangement with the Latter-day Saints, stating that they “should have the exclusive privilege of cutting timber” in the Black River Falls region in exchange for their feeding “his people in their passing by.” Such arrangements were often ratified or witnessed by the local Indian agent or other government officials. It may have been for this reason that Oshkosh suggested to Miller that he go “to the Wisconsin with him, and he would procure me a written permit from the agent, in order to silence the lumbermen.” Miller traveled the sixty miles to the Wisconsin River with Oshkosh and with Latter-day Saint Cyrus Daniels. The Indian agent, David Jones, was at the Wisconsin River touring a government-run blacksmith shop when they arrived. (George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [1]–[2]; Thwaites, Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 15:9–19; David Jones, Green Bay, Wisconsin Territory, to James D. Doty, Madison, Wisconsin Territory, 24 Feb. 1844, in U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, reel 319.)

      Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

      Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed. Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Vol. 15. Madison: Democrat Printing, 1900.

      U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824–81. National Archives Microfilm Publications, microcopy M234. 962 reels. Washington DC: National Archives, 1959.

    3. [6]

      As early as the 1820s, tribes living in this area had leased or sold logging and milling rights to white settlers. These agreements were usually sanctioned by the federal government, though the lessees often abused the terms of the agreement. (Beck, Siege and Survival, 118–119.)

      Beck, David R. M. Siege and Survival: History of the Menominee Indians, 1634–1856. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.

    4. [7]

      Miller initially thought the country surrounding the Black River “presented one of the most beautiful prospects I ever beheld. It was the prospect of a country well suited in all respects for the various pursuits of the husbandman and also of the manufacturer.” Allen J. Stout, another Latter-day Saint at the pineries, was more cautious, noting that the land was “extreamly varied with rich & poor land.” Alfred Brunson, a local Indian agent, described the area surrounding the falls as “one of the most dismal pine and tamerack swamps that teams ever undertook to pass.” (Mills, “De Tal Palo Tal Astilla,” 96; Allen J. Stout, Black River Falls, Wisconsin Territory, to Hosea Stout et al., Nauvoo, IL, 10 and 13 Sept. 1843, Allen J. Stout, Letters to Hosea Stout, CHL; Brunson, Western Pioneer, 144; Brunson, Northern Wiskonsan, 4–5.)

      Mills, H. W. “De Tal Palo Tal Astilla.” Annual Publications Historical Society of Southern California 10 (1917): 86–174.

      Stout, Allen J. Letters to Hosea Stout, 1843. CHL.

      Brunson, Alfred. A Western Pioneer; or, Incidents of the Life and Times of Rev. Alfred Brunson, A. M., D. D., Embracing a Period over Seventy Years. Vol. 2. Cincinnati: Hitchcock and Walden, 1879.

      Brunson, Alfred. Northern Wiskonsan. Madison, Wisconsin Territory: No publisher, 1843.

    5. [8]

      Alfred Brunson described the potential of the iron deposits near Black River Falls in an 1841 report to the House of Representatives of Wisconsin Territory: “Iron ore of a superior quality, and inexhaustible in quantity, has recently been discovered. It is, in fact, nothing short of an iron mountain. . . . The timber in the neighborhood is abundant for a supply of coal, lumber, &c.; and it would seem as if nature had provided and supplied this place to be the great iron works of the Upper Mississippi.” (Brunson, “Report of the Select Committee on the Subject of Territorial Geologist,” 147–148, italics in original; see also Brunson, Northern Wiskonsan, 5.)

      Brunson, Alfred. “Report of the Select Committee on the Subject of Territorial Geologist.” In Journal of the House of Representatives, First Session of the Third Legislative Assembly of Wisconsin; Begun and Held at Madison, on Monday, the Seventh Day of December, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty, appendix P, 146–149. Madison, Wisconsin Territory: Charles C. Sholes, 1841.

      Brunson, Alfred. Northern Wiskonsan. Madison, Wisconsin Territory: No publisher, 1843.

    6. [9]

      Ephraim Potter and Harrison Sagers were both appointed to serve missions in Jamaica, a British colony in the West Indies, in 1841, but it is unlikely that either of the two men ever went. (Letter to Edward Hunter, 21 Dec. 1841; JS History, vol. C-1, 1258.)

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