This page needs to be proofread.



the principal features. In November the town was laid out.^^ The name of Manti was suggested by Brigham, who declared that on this spot should be raised one of the cities spoken of in the book of Mor- mon, and here he built with his own hands an adobe house, which in 1883 was still pointed out to visitors as one of the curiosities of the place. ^^

On Chalk Creek, in Pahvan Valley, south-west of Manti and about a hundred and fifty miles from Salt Lake City, a site was chosen by Brigham, in October 1851, for the capital of the territory, and named Fill- more, in honor of the president.^^ During 1852 the foundations of the state-house were laid, and many private buildings erected, the settlement numbering about seventy families at the close of the year.

In the autumn of 1849, John Bowberry, Cyrus Tolman, and others set forth from Salt Lake City to explore the country west of the Jordan Valley, in search of grazing lands whereon to pasture their stock. Crossing the mountain range which forms the western boundary of Cedar and Jordan valleys, ^^ they discovered a spot where grass, timber, and water were abundant, and encamped for the winter on the banks of a stream now called Emigrant Canon creek. Beturning in the spring, they made their report to Brigham, who recommended them to form a settle- ment in that neighborhood. To this the men con- sented. "By what name will you call it?" asked the

^^ Including 110 blocks, each 26 rods square, with eight lots to each block. Utah Early liecords, MS., 111. The site was surveyed by Jesse W. Fox, un- der Brigham 's direction. J. B. Maiben, in Utah Sketches, MS., 172.

^' In June 1852 a fort was completed, the walls being eight feet high and two feet thick. De.-^eret News, July 10, 1832.

^^In the Deseret News of Jan. 24, 1852, is a letter to Brigham from Anson Call, one of the first settlers, dated Nov. 24, 1851. 'We have had an addi- tion of three to our camp since you left; have built a corral according to your instructions, including about two and a half acres of ground. We found, upon trial, that the ground was so dry and hard, being also rocky, that it was next to an impossibility to stockade or picket in our houses with the tools we have to work with; so we have built our houses in close order, having our doors or windows on the outside.'

^*Novv called the Oquirrh Mountains, Oquirrh being probably an Indian word.