| 74 the exodus from Clay and other counties into the proposed new county:-
"In August, 1836, the saints commenced settling upon their new location, in great numbers, and made preparations for the coming winter, by constructing comfortable dwellings for themselves and gathering as much food for their cattle, horses, etc., as their straitened circumstances would permit. Here they settled with the fond anticipation of being permitted to dwell in quietness and peace upon their possessions without molestation; consequently large entries of the public lands were made by individuals of the society, and extensive farms were soon opened. Those who had not means to purchase lands were under the necessity of loaning [borrowing] it of the citizens at very high rates of percentage, frequently being compelled to pay fifty per cent. Others who could not obtain money by loan would procure two or three months provision for their families, and then go to Fort Leavenworth or elsewhere, and work until they had earned enough to enter a forty or an eighty acre tract. Thus by dint of hard labor and untiring perseverance almost every man in a few months found himself in the possession of sufficient land to make a good farm. In a few months nearly or quite all the best land of the territory, now known as Caldwell County, was purchased by the saints, several hundred buildings erected, and great preparations made for a crop the coming season. A principal part of the old inhabitants sold out and moved away, which, however, were but few, there being only about fifteen or twenty families in the county.
"Commencing a settlement at this season of the year they were obliged to procure all their provision for themselves, and grain for their stock in the adjoining counties, and transport it some thirty or forty miles, which was a great detriment to the extensive improvements they were making. At the session of the Legislature, in the winter of 1836-7, an act was passed calling the territory upon which the saints had settled Caldwell County."-Times and Seasons, vol. 1, p. 65.
This account agrees with the following extract from the
(page 74) |
