the indian mission

In 1854, Brigham Young established the Southern Utah Indian Mission at Fort Harmony, with Rufus C. Allen as President. Allen and the missionaries under his direction were tasked by Young to teach the gospel to the Paiute. They were also encouraged to teach the Paiute people how to farm and build communities in the Anglo-American fashion. In 1855,  Jacob Hamblin was called to move the mission headquarters to Santa Clara, Utah.

The Southern Utah Indian Mission proved to be successful not only with the relationships of Indian Tribes, but the exploration of the region now occupied by southern Utah, southern Nevada, and northwest Arizona. These arid desert regions were extremely hazardous to explore without the guidance of experienced guides and scouts. The natives of the area showed missionaries locations where they could potentially settle and trails that they can navigate with reliable water.

Hamblin worked closely with William Bringhurst at the Las Vegas Springs Mission. Bringhurst was appointed by Brigham Young to lead several missionary families to the Las Vegas Valley. They selected the springs, an oasis in the desert, for their encampment. In addition to teaching the local Paiute and Mojave Indians about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the settlement provided a halfway point between San Bernardino and Cedar City, where travelers could rest on their way to and from San Bernardino. 

After the settling of the Las Vegas Springs Mission, an Indian guide led a party of men to the Muddy River, a tributary to the Virgin River, which converges with the Colorado River. This area offered both land and water with a tropical climate and later would serve as the spot for settling the Moapa Valley.

Due to the growing threat of a conflict with the United States Army, Las Vegas Springs and San Bernardino Ranch missionaries were requested to move back to Utah to help defend the Salt Lake Valley. Jacob Hamblin spent his time during the Utah War working with native Americans and church leadership to navigate relationships between indigenous tribes, the church and other immigrants traveling through from eastern states to California.

Jacob Hamblin, washed out by the flooding along with other residents of Santa Clara in 1861, relocated his two wives and six children to slightly higher ground in Santa Clara where he built a stone home that remains today as a testament to the perseverance of the settlers.

The dislocation of families due to flooding closed the Indian Mission, though Hamblin continued to serve as an intermediary between church leaders and indigenous people for the rest of his life. He and his family faithfully left their comfortable home, built in tribulation, and in the late 1860s, moved to Kanab where Hamblin worked as an emissary with the Hopi and Diné (Navajo) people.

THE UTAH WAR

In 1857 United States president James Buchanan removed Brigham Young as governor of Utah Territory and appointed Alfred Cumming as his replacement. He also sent a military force of 2,500 troops to accompany Cumming to ensure a successful transfer of power. Buchanan took these drastic and seemingly inflammatory actions based on reports from some federally appointed officers in the territory that stated that the Latter-day Saints did not respect the authority of the United States government and only listened to directives from Young, who they said acted as a theocratic leader. The President believed that members of the Church of Jesus Christ were in rebellion against the authority of the United States.

President Buchanan failed to notify Brigham Young of his removal from office and when Young and the Latter-day Saints began to hear word from the East that an army had been sent to quash a supposed revolt, they panicked. The Saints had experienced persecution several times in their gathering places in the United States before leaving for the West. Some of the altercations had even been sponsored by local and state governments. The Saints feared that they were once again being targeted for persecution. Brigham Young declared that this time they would defend themselves rather than be driven from their homes again.

Brigham Young organized defenses in and around Salt Lake City. He recognized that the Saints needed strength in numbers. He called home men who were serving missions throughout the world and ordered that the remote settlement missions be abandoned. Most Latter-day Saints living in San Bernardino and Las Vegas Springs faithfully heeded the call from their prophet and promptly returned to Utah.

The resolution of the Utah War came through negotiations that permitted federal troops to enter Utah Territory in exchange for a pardon granted to the pioneer settlers for any potential acts of rebellion. This settlement significantly reduced the tensions and allowed for the re-establishment of federal authority over the territory while largely preserving Mormon interests and autonomy.

Johnston’s Army settled in Camp Floyd, in a valley 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City and separated from Provo by Utah Lake and a small range of mountains. This remote location, neighbor only to a few farms and ranches, was chosen to decrease friction between the troops and the Mormons. The Army and the Mormons continued in a fragile co-existence until the troops left in 1861 when called back east for service in the American Civil War.