| 76 nearly all of them were bought out-all who would sell. Nothing could have been fairer or more equitable than the acquisition of the territory afterward called Caldwell County by the Mormons.
"The leading authorities and shining lights of the Mormon Church came up with the emigration to the new country. There were W. W. Phelps, Bishop Edward Partridge, Sidney Rigdon, Philo Dibble, Elias Higbee, John Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and others. In time came Joseph Smith, Hiram (or Hyrum) Smith, John Taylor, Lyman Wight, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Hyde, Thomas B. Marsh, G. M. Hinkle, and Alexander McRae.
"In December, 1836, the county of Caldwell was organized, a measure of much importance to the Mormons. The county seat was located at Far West, and courts held in the schoolhouse. Justices of the peace were appointed in the different townships and all the political machinery of the county was controlled by the Mormons. The militia of the county, all or nearly all Mormons, organized and mustered, and a regiment was formed under the laws of the State, of which either 'General' [Colonel] George M. Hinkle or Lyman Wight was colonel.
"Settlements were made up and down Shoal Creek and thickly along the southern tier of townships of the county. Mills were built, shops were opened, stores established, and the foundations for a thrifty and successful community were securely laid. Emigrants came in from Ohio and other States, but chiefly from the Mormon colony at Kirtland, Ohio, while the saints in Ray and Clay and elsewhere in Missouri joined their brethren in Caldwell as soon as they could do so."-Pages 116-118.
The same authority says of Far West:-
"The town site was entered August 8, 1836. The north half was entered in the name of W. W. Phelps, the south half in the name of John Whitmer; but both Phelps and Whitmer merely held the land in trust for 'the church.' The date of the entry goes to prove that the first exploration was in the summer of 1836.
"Soon after the selection of the second 'promised land,'
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