Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol.
7, p.230
They left Winter Quarters to begin the long trek on June 10th,
traveling 10 miles out onto a large open plain, where they spent
two or three days organizing into companies. Parley P. Pratt
and John Taylor took the lead in the planning. They set up hundreds,
divided into fifties, and the fifties were divided into tens.
To each of these divisions a captain was assigned. Bishop Edward
Hunter was captain of the hundred in which the Whitakers traveled.
Joseph Horne was the captain of their fifty, and Abraham Hoagland
captain of the ten, the other nine heads of families being: John
Robinson, Joseph Harker, Samuel Bennion, Joseph Cain,
George Whitaker, Ezra Oakley, Thomas MacKay and Thomas Tarbett.
John Taylor traveled in their fifty. There were over 600 wagons.
First plans called for them to go six wagons abreast, so the
train would be only 100 wagons long. This proved disagreeable
because of dust clouds and the closeness of other wagons, so
they dropped to four wagons abreast, and after a few weeks to
two abreast. Much of the journey lay through hostile Indian country,
so they tried to keep as close together as comfort would allow.
However, so many wagons proved very cumbersome, and some dissatisfaction
was expressed, as well as the fear that they could never reach
the Rockies at such a slow pace. After consultation, it was decided
to assign a blacksmith, a carpenter and a wheelwright to each
fifty, and move each company of fifty as a single unit, the fastest
going first. All men who could bear arms were assigned to do
so. This method of travel proved much more agreeable and more
miles were covered each day. At night the wagons were drawn into
a circle, with the oxen and cows inside. Occasionally at night
dancing and singing helped relieve the weary travelers from the
monotony. No traveling was done on Sunday. Through the plains
country grass was abundant and the stock thrived on it. They
reached buffalo country in July. A few animals were slaughtered
to provide meat. George Whitaker wrote: "Buffalo beef is
not as good as tame beef, being hard and tough. There were tens
of thousands of buffalo, the hills were perfectly black with
them."
Salt Lake Valley
Our Pioneer Heritage,
Vol. 9, p.263
But the first Christmas in the
Valley in 1847, though it was a time of thanksgiving that they
had reached their mountain home, was a far cry from this delightful
celebration of the future. From the Joseph Harker family history
we learn of their first Christmas in the Valley.
When they arrived in Echo Canyon,
their fourth son, William, was born, September 26, 1847, said
to be the first white boy born in Utah. Sister Harriet Whitaker
took care of mother and child. It took five days to make the
journey on down to Salt Lake, which they reached October 1, 1847.
The company made camp by a spring near the fort. Their first
Christmas in Utah found them living in a wagon surrounded by
very heavy snows. This was the second winter away from their
native land with its yule logs, Christmas boughs, the carolers,
plum pudding and all the English Christmas cheer.
Another group of faithful
Saints spent the Christmas of 1847 far from the Valley, for on
November 16, 1847, Jefferson Hunt and a small company of men
had left for California accompanied by two young boys, John Hunt
and Peter Neese. From the history of Jefferson Hunt we quote:
It was a bedraggled, hungry
party which came in at the Chino Ranch, San Bernardino Valley,
on Christmas Eve. They were literally staggering from exhaustion.
John and Peter, who were only fourteen years old, were so near
starvation that they could walk only by hanging to the mules'
tails for support. As they approached the ranch they saw fresh
cattle tracks and just sat down and cried for they knew there
would be real meat for them before long.
Andrew Jenson, Encyclopedic
History of the Church
, p.939
WEST JORDAN WARD, West Jordan Stake, Salt Lake Co., Utah, consists
of the Latter-day Saints residing in that part of Salt Lake County
which is bounded on the north by the Bennion Ward, east by the
Jordan River (which separates it from Midvale and Sandy), south
by the South Jordan Ward, and west by Tooele County. The ward
contains about 48 square miles of valley and mountain country.
The ward meeting house, a beautiful white pressed brick building,
is located on the corner of the Redwood Road and the Bingham
Highway, and is about 12 miles southwest of the Temple Block,
Salt Lake City. Within the limits of the ward there is a sugar
factory a flouring mill, three stores, and fine private residences.
There are also two brick school houses, and another was being
built in 1930. The Orem Line of the Bingham branch of the Denver
& Rio Grande Western Railroad passes through the ward.
Andrew Jenson, Encyclopedic History of the Church
, p.939
The first settler in Salt Lake Valley west of the Jordan River
was Joseph Harker, who built the first log house at a point opposite
what later became known as the Church Farm, in the beginning
of December, 1848. Early the following spring (1849) a number
of other settlers, including Samuel and John Bennion, located
farms along the river near the place where Bro. Harker had settled.
An attempt was made to bring water onto their farming lands from
the Jordan River, but the undertaking being too laborious, the
settlers changed their location and moved south about a mile,
locating near the bend of the river opposite the point where
the Big Cottonwood Creek empties into the river (now Taylorsville).
There the nine families, of which the little settlement consisted,
made a farm co-jointly, conducted water on to it from Bingham
Creek, and raised a small crop that year. Later in 1849 a number
of Welsh saints, who had arrived in the Valley that year in charge
of [p.940] Capt. Dan Jones, founded what was known as the Welsh
Settlement (see Brighton). Not being successful in their irrigation
operations, they finally abandoned their camp and moved away.
In 1850 Archibald and Robert Gardner
built a saw mill on the site where the West Jordan Mill now stands.
They made a mill race 2 1/2 miles long, which was the first canal
of any importance ever dug in Utah. The same year, a number of
families located farms at various points along the river, both
above and below the Gardner mill site. In January, 1852, the
first ward organization was effected with John Robinson (ordained
Jan. 19, 1852) as Bishop. Bishop Robinson was called on a mission
to Nova Scotia and his counselors (John Harker and Reese Williams)
took charge of the ward during his absence, calling John Bennion
to their assistance. When Bishop Robinson returned from his mission,
he again took charge of the ward for a few months and then removed
to Ogden. After this Elder Harker once more presided over the
settlement. In October, 1853, the West Jordan Ward contained
a membership of 361, the settlement having been strengthened
that year by a number of other families. In 1854 the settlers
built what was later known as the North Jordan Canal, a continuation
of the Gardner mill race. The same year a small fort was commenced
near the mills, and in the fall another fort was started below
on the grounds now occupied by the Taylorsville graveyard. This
forting was done as a means of protection against the Indians.
The upper fort was never completed while the lower one, containing
about thirty rods square, was built within a short time of commencing
it. A meeting house, an adobe building, 20x30 feet, was erected
in the center of the fort, and the majority of the people (some
thirty families) moved in from their farms and spent one winter
within the enclosure. Previous to the building of the meeting
house within the fort, religious services were held in private
houses. About this time the name of North Jordan was given to
that part of the ward now embraced in Taylorsville Ward. A post
office was also established, but this was subsequently discontinued
for a number of years and then reopened under the name of Taylorsville.
In 1858 most of the West Jordan saints moved in a body to Pondtown
(Salem) and Spanish Fork, Utah Co., because of the Johnston Army
troubles, but returned to their homes on the Jordan River after
peace had been established between Utah and the Federal Government.
After the Move a log school house was built near
the spot where the Jordan Mill stands. This served for all school
and meeting purposes until 1866, when a more substantial rock
building was erected. Elder Harker presided until the fall of
1858, when Archibald Gardner was ordained a Bishop to preside
over the West Jordan Ward. Before this change in the bishopric
there was a branch organization in the upper part of the ward
comprising that tract of country now included in the West Jordan,
South Jordan, Riverton 1st, Riverton 2nd, and Bluffdale wards.
At a special meeting held June
17, 1877, the West Jordan Ward was divided into four wards, namely,
Herriman, North Jordan, South Jordan, and West Jordan. Other
wards were subsequently organized. By closer study it will be
seen that the West Jordan settlement is practically mother of
eleven organized bishops wards, including South Jordan,
Riverton 1st, Riverton 2nd, Bluffdale, Herriman, North Jordan
(or Taylorsville), Bennion, Granger, Bingham, Hunter and Lark.
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol.
13, p.334
In the spring of 1848 with a group of other pioneers, the Mackays
moved out of the fort and farmed land on the southeast in what
later was called Forest Dale. January 9, 1849, Thomas Mackay,
John Bennion, Samuel Bennion, Thomas Turbett, William Blackburst,
William Farrer, John Robinson and James Taylor crossed the Jordan
River on the ice and located near Joseph Harker at what is now
about Thirty-third South and Fourteenth West. They made dugouts
near the river on land that was later known as Little's Farm
and in after years, was owned by Bishop McRae. They moved their
families over [p.335] there and some who had log houses at the
fort, moved them over, but it was too difficult to get water
from the river onto the land, so they moved about a mile farther
south.
Fort Lemhi Mission
Our Pioneer Heritage,
Vol. 7, p.183-184
Joseph Harker was born February 28, 1818, in the little town
of Pointon, Lincolnshire, England, and came to Utah in 1847.
Early in 1856 he went to the historian's office and consecrated
his farm and all he had to the Church. The Saints had had such
a bad crop year in 1855 that in January, at a bishop's meeting,
every bishop reported not enough food in his ward to last until
May 1st. In the spring of 1856 the people were again digging
roots.
On February 25,
1856, Joseph heard that he was to be called on a mission to the
Salmon Kiver country in Idaho and the following day he traveled
to the city and there Heber C. Kimball informed him officially
that he was to leave for the Salmon Kiver settlement. The Church
was growing and extending its boundaries, and in some of the
settlements, such as the one to which Joseph was to go, the difficulties
were legion. Without hesitation Joseph accepted the call and
began to prepare his families for his absence.
On April 6th,
at General Conference, Joseph was set apart for his mission and
eight days later he departed. At Ogden his tired horses were
traded for a yoke of oxen and a cow, and on April 21st he traveled
ten miles and then camped to wait for the company.
The day after
Joseph arrived at the mission he grubbed brush on the land allotted
him and soon afterward sowed his first wheat. June 4th, "The
grasshoppers are upon our fields eating them." June 5th,
"We were all out killing grasshoppers." By the 22nd
of June [p.184] the grain saved from the grasshoppers was heading
out, but in the meantime Joseph was living on greens and fish.
By August 7th he had harvested some barley and on August 8th
wrote, "We have some new wheat for supper."
Thomas
S. Smith, leader of the settlement, knew Joseph had a large family
and that Susannah, his wife, was again with child. He realized
that Joseph was worried about his family's preparedness for winter
and consequently gave him permission to go home. Three other
men were granted the same privilege of staying with their families
until spring. On October 15th they left Fort Limhi. On October
24th the returning men met a company of Saints journeying toward
the fort. One of the group had a letter for Joseph informing
him that one of his children, Sarah E. Smith Harker, had died
during his absence and that his families were in straightened
circumstances. He arrived home November the 4th after a long
and harrowing journey.
Joseph
immediately went to work making things more comfortable for his
family. He rounded up the livestock, cut and hauled wood, built
sheds, etc. A little daughter, Isabell, was born on November
17th.
On the
20th of March, 1857, he again loaded his wagon and started for
Fort Limhi with a small company of faithful Saints. The oxen
had not fared well during the winter and were so weak Joseph
was forced to trade them and give an additional fifteen dollars
for a fresh team. April 22nd, after an exhausting thirty-three
day journey the company arrived at Fort Limhi and soon were building
houses preparatory to bringing their families to this Latter-day
Saint outpost. Meanwhile the colonists were becoming increasingly
disturbed by the frequent skirmishes between the different Indian
tribes. Mr. Harker was released from his duties at the fort and
arrived home November 17, 1857, a few months prior to the abandonment
of the mission.
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol.
9, p.390
Archibald McFarland
In the fall of 1873 on October 20th, I left home for a mission
to Great Britain, having been called at the conference held in
Salt Lake City October 6th to the 10th. I left Ogden in company
with William N. Fife and William Geddes of Weber County. Others
in the party were Brothers Richard Morris, Charles Ransome, F.
M. Lyman, John Squires, Joseph Harker and Henry Hughes. We traveled
on the Union Pacific Railroad to Omaha October 23, 1873. Took
passage for Chicago on the Rock Island Railroad, arriving at
6:00 p.m. the same evening. Stayed in Chicago over night, taking
passage on the Pittsburg and Fort Wayne Railroad on October 24th,
arriving in New York October 25th. On October 26th we held a
meeting in Williamsburg with Saints of Brooklyn. October 27th
we held a meeting and Richard Morris, W. N. Fife and myself were
appointed a [p.391] committee to secure passage with some steamship
company to carry us across the ocean. After visiting several
agents of the different companies, we entered into agreement
with the White Star Company for our passage at $40.00 per cabin.
There were eighteen members in our company. The ship was called
The Oceanic, supposed to be the most magnificent then afloat.
I suffered considerable sickness during the voyage and was confined
to my stateroom for several days. The brethren were in the habit
of meeting in my room every night for prayer.
The Harker FamilySheepmen
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol.
9, p.596-599
Joseph Harker, born February 28, 1818, at Pointon, Lincolnshire,
England, wrote the following:
My father lived on a farm
of 110 acres. He was an experienced businessman and kept the
best livestock in the surrounding country. He died leaving Mother
and seven children, consequently my education was limited and
my occupation became that of a shepherd. It was [p.597] with
much delight that I labored with the sheep, for they were of
a superior quality. When I was eighteen I took charge of Mother's
farm. During my twenty-first year I took first premium at the
Bowen Agriculture Fair for the best eighteen-month-old ewes.
After I was married I stayed two more years with my mother, managing
her farm and livestock. I received meadow land for my labor,
upon which I kept my own livestock. In the month of March 1845,
I heard the Gospel preached by Elder Hyde. My wife and I were
baptized, and in August of the same year I was sent out to preach
the Gospel. In 1846 we decided to go to America. When we arrived
at Nauvoo the city and temple were deserted, so we joined the
Saints at Council Bluffs. I met Brigham Young for the first time
and he gave me a wonderful blessing and told me to join his company
on the river bottom. In the spring we were organized in companies
by Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor. We had many trials on the
way but it was the happiest summer of my life. My wife drove
the team and I would hunt for game along the way. While passing
through the Black Hills, the company was very short of food.
Apostle John Taylor took myself and James Horn in his carriage
to hunt buffalo. We killed nine animals, cut the meat into large
chunks and distributed it through the camp. It was very good
eating. We arrived in Echo Canyon September 26, 1847. After we
had been in the Valley three days, Brother Bower and myself were
appointed to take the company cattle to a winter range. A covered
wagon was a home for my wife, two small sons and myself. We moved
the herd from Salt Lake to Bountiful. Before winter set in the
herd was taken to South Cottonwood. The snow was very heavy that
first winter, but it became warm in January and the cattle fared
quite well. The Indians were a constant threat. They drove off
many of the cattle and killed them. In the spring the cattle
were returned and men plowed and planted their crops (end of
diary)
In the fall of 1848 Joseph
built the first log cabin west of the Jordan River and sold it
a year later for two pair of oxen, moving then to Taylorsville.
For the next ten years he was kept busy as bishop of a ward that
extended from Thirty-third South to the Point of the Mountain,
as missionary to Fort Limhi, Idaho, and in helping to move ward
members to Pondtown during the Johnston's Army invasion. In 1859
he was released as bishop and turned his attention to raising
superior sheep, winning in 1859, two first prizes at the fair
in Salt Lake for the finest bucks. Joseph hasn't recorded the
date he imported his first thoroughbred sheep, fine Cotswold
from Cotswold Hills Suffolk, England, but they were among the
first purebreds brought into Utah. He also owned a dairy herd
of Jersey stock. He and his wife, Susannah, took forty to fifty
pounds of butter to market each Saturday, driving a team that
at one time took a blue ribbon at the fair.
In 1863 Joseph and several
other men went to Rush and Tintic valleys looking for more extensive
pastures for their ever increasing [p.598] herds. They found
good pastures at the south end of Rush Valley and received a
permit to graze sheep there. Joseph camped with his sheep on
a creek north of Vernon, and Samuel and John Bennion, two of
his friends and neighbors, camped just south of him. In 1864
he was out with his sheep most of the winter, his family spending
the summer at the sheep camp. In the fall he was called to help
settle southern Utah.
During 1865 his sons William
and Benjamin took charge of the sheep, and in 1866 Joseph stayed
at home to care for the farm and livestock. In 1868 Joseph was
asked to manage, on shares, 1,799 sheep belonging to the Church.
He and his sons were to receive half of the wool and half of
the lambs for the care and feed of the stock, replacing a certain
number of the old sheep each year with young stock. The Church
sheep were carefully branded and turned in with his own flocks.
When Joseph turned the sheep back to the Church in 1871, the
bishop was unwilling to receive them without taking at random
the Church sheep from Joseph's flock. It seemed an unreasonable
request for when Joseph received the sheep, they were inferior
to his own. He had, as he later told President Young, replaced
all old sheep with young ones and had fulfilled his contract
in every way. Joseph's reply to the bishop was brief and pointed,
"Do you think I am a fool?"
In order to be certain that
his actions were not misrepresented Joseph went to President
Young, who asked him, "Is sheep-keeping good business?"
Joseph replied, "Yes sir, according to the report I have
given your sheep have paid over forty-two percent per annum in
trust on the money." In Joseph's diary he states that the
Church sheep were valued at $3.00 per head when he received them,
and his own thoroughbreds were rated at $12.00.
Job, the eldest son, moved
to Rush Valley after helping to bring five emigrant trains across
the plains. He herded his father's sheep and received sheep for
his pay, building up a very fine herd for himself. But bad luck
nearly wiped him out, for about five hundred sheep were drowned
when they stampeded into Vernon Creek; poison dock took a toll
of a few hundred: then two hard winters on the desert put him
out of the sheep business. He then bought the second thresher
in the region and one of the first binders in Utah. Job also
bought a steam engine which was used to run the thresher, and
a well driver which his son helped build.
William, the second son,
had his first experience with livestock as a barefoot boy when
he herded his father's cattle in Harker Canyon, assuming a man's
responsibility during the time his father was a missionary at
Fort Limhi. While yet in his teens William and his brothers helped
herd the Church sheep when his father cared for them on shares.
Through hard work m the lonely country of the herds, he was laying
a foundation for a very prosperous future. He acquired a 160-acre
well-equipped farm, where he kept his prize-winning horses. As
the Harker boys often said, "It is Harker competing against
Harker at [p.599] the State Fair." Their stacks of blue,
red and white ribbons mounted year after year. It was the delight
of the Harker brothers to run horse races on State Street as
they took their butter and eggs to market. When William's herd
became too large for the amount of available rangeland, he moved
to Wyoming.
Henry, the third son, began
his livestock career by herding his father's flocks on the prairie
land west of the Jordan River while yet a small boy. Many summers
he took the stock to Bingham Canyon to graze. Henry married Elizabeth
Pixton when he was twenty years of age, and at that time started
in the sheep business. He also owned a good farm and became a
blacksmith, shoeing most of the farm horses in the region. He
also took charge of conducting emigrant trains into the Valley.
The profit from his large bands of sheep formed the foundation
of his success in many fields. The Historical Record of Salt
Lake states: "Among the native sons of Utah there are but
few men who have figured more prominently and whose influence
and operations have been so wide and far reaching in developing
the vast resources of the state as Henry Harker." Henry
lived on his 100-acre farm in Taylorsville where he kept his
blooded stock, in which he took great pride. He always owned
good race horses and often drove them in the races at the State
Fair.
Benjamin, the next brother,
worked in Rush Valley with the sheep when he was a small lad.
As a young man he was so successful that upon his early death
at the age of thirty-three, his wife was left sufficient means
to live very comfortably the rest of her life. Benjamin's three
children became well educated, two of them teaching at the University
of Utah.
When Alberta, Canada, was opened
for settlement, Ephraim Harker took his family to Cardston, then
returned to Montana and trailed a large band of sheep to his
new home. Two years later he returned to Montana and bought another
large band of sheep, taking them to Alberta. During his early
years in Canada he ranged 20,000 head of sheep, and for years
was considered that country's largest sheep owner. In 1903 a
blizzard swept the area, killing all his lambs and a large percentage
of the sheep. When his youngest brother Levi came to Canada,
the two became partners and spent a great deal of their time
supplying the needs and overseeing their many camps, sheep and
herders. Eph's family regretted his absence from home, so they
wrote a petition asking him to sell his sheep and buy land, that
he might be with them. Eph followed their wishes, sold his sheep,
bought land, a threshing machine, a steam engine, plows and a
flour mill. He was a lover of good horses and took great delight
in exhibiting his livestock at county fairs where he often received
many blue ribbons.
Levi, the youngest
son, was for many years a director of the Canadian Woolgrowers
Association, a national organization. It was often said of him
that he was a man who walked with the Lord and the Lord was always
with him. He was called "The father of Mugruth." [p.600]
He was the bishop for 32 years, the mayor, the president of Deseret
Agricultural Society and a patriarch. Besides being a director
of the National Woolgrowers Association, he was president of
the Alberta Woolgrowers Association, and in the sheep business
for thirty-seven years. The rugged Canadian winter of 1919 put
Levi out of the sheep business. The snows came early in September
while the great wheat fields were still in the shock. The snows
covered the ranges. Levi bought up numerous wheat fields, had
his sheep brought by train into the fields, but the snows continued
and the winter was long and hard. When spring finally came, Levi
had lost over 30,000 sheep and most of his worldly wealth. Bishop
Levi Harker brought fame to the fairs and stock shows. He improved
the breeds of animals in all the surrounding region with his
purebred stock. He imported Percheron horses and French coach
horses from France. He imported purebred Suffolk sheep and thoroughbred
race horses from England, and Jersey cattle from the United States.
He would attend the stock shows in Chicago, decide what he wanted
and send for them. He brought shepherds with their trained dogs
from Scotland to care for his sheep, and a gardener from England.
Magrath was called the garden city of Western Canada. Levi Harker
was a man of many talents, a financial success, a great church
leader, a dedicated civic leader, primarily a great stockman,
yet a very reverent, humble man. He was called "Bishop Harker"
in the Wool-growers Association in Toronto with as much reverence
as he received in his own congregation.Stella H. Richards
Church
LDS Biographical Encyclopedia
vol 4 p.708
At a conference held in Great Salt Lake City April 6, 1850, he[Simeon
Howd] was appointed first counselor to Joseph Harker in the presidency
of the Priests' Quorum, which position he held until he was called
in 1851 to assist in establishing settlements in "Little
Salt Lake Valley," Iron County, Utah.
Our Pioneer Heritage Vol
2 p. 435
In March, 1849, Mr. Chesney was called to act as a counselor
to Joseph Harker, president of the Priests' quorum in Great Salt
Lake City and was so sustained at conferences in Salt Lake City
on April 6th and September 8th, 1850.
|
|
|