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WESTERN EXPANSION continued...
THE MORMONS AND UTAH continued...
| Lot |
Symbol |
CatNo. |
Lot Description |
CV or Estimate |
| 561 |
|
|
[Burning of the Temple at Nauvoo] Choice content letter by I.S. Fontelly of Montrose, IA, just across the river from Nauvoo, who reports to John Spring in Brimfield,
MA, that "The Morman temple that Joseph Smith was the prophet of...was burned to the ground a few days ago. It was set on fire after the surfeses of the day was done. It was the most splendid building. It was bilt of Stone. It was as large as the
State house at Boston and most splendidly bilt. It was two hundred feet high, and set on a rise some higher than whare the meeting house sits in old B." With manuscript Montrose postmark and 10 rate. The temple had been set on fire in October, at
the behest, it is believed, of Brigham Young, who had openly expressed his wish that it would burn. Far from the community that had settled in Utah, the Illinois temple was likely to fall under the control of a rival sect of Latter-day Saints and
could claim precedence over the new temple Young planned for Salt Lake City. (Image) |
Est. $400-500
SOLD for $11,500.00
Will close during Public Auction |
| 562 |
|
|
Salt Lake Cal., July 16 (1849), manuscript postmark while attached to the California Territory for administrative purposes and "10" rate on folded letter with integral
address leaf to North New Salem, Mass., very fine; ex-Rohloff. When the Post Office was established by the U.S. Government on 18 January, 1849, no expense provision or contract was made to transport the mails. It was left to the Mormons to
carry the U.S. mails at their own expense. This letter was carried east by a special express headed by A. W. Babbitt, which left Salt Lake City on 27 July, 1849 for Kanesville, Iowa on the Missouri River.The letter was written by Ursulia B. Hascall
to her sister in North New Salem, Massachusetts under date of "Great Salt Lake City July 6th 1849". The following is from the letter: "The mail will now be more regular but it is impossible to pass through the rocky mountains in Winter without
people and animals both perishing....We have moved our cabin from the fort to the lots....Francis has a cartage and a span of the largest and best horses in the city. We ride to meeting every Sabbath." Ursulia then relates to personal friends and
the selling of livestock: "I kept one yoke of oxen....that we came into the valley with. I gave forty dollars for them. Sold one for beef (the fattest ox I ever saw) for forty dollars in gold dust. I am going to have spectacle, bows and thimble
made of some of it if I can find a goldsmith....Now for the gold mine, the topic of conversation through out the world. It is a fact the Mormons found a gold mine, not in the rocky mountains, but in California mountains, eight hundred miles from this
city and two hundred from the bay of (San) Francisco. The bretheran were on their way home from the Mexican war. They went back to Francisco and showed the ore to Elder Branan. He found it to be pure gold. They dug each a thousand or so and came
(back) to enjoy the way of the saints rather than dig gold when they could dig a hundred dollars a day with ease and already there, and small expense for living. It has made Brannon incalcubally rich. The best time is now over as it reqires double
the labor now that it did then. There is gold enough no mistake....Fifteen thousand have started from the States for the mines. Hundreds and hundreds came through this city worn down with fatigue .. already has small bands of robbers conceled
themselves in and about the mountains to rob and murder the gold digger, this we hear from newspaper authority. Now dear brother and sister you have heard the gospel preached by our elders time after time and have not obeyed - remember that no other
elder but those of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints preach the gospel - I call upon you to repent of your sins and flee to this .. I call upon you thus that you may rise up and say Ursulia you knew all this .. Ophelia did I not spew
the profhecy spoken by Joseph Smith by the authority of Jesus Christ concerning the overthrow of the United States - the destruction of the states as a nation is just as sure as the sun will ever rise and set - it is near at hand, it is all ready to
burst upon it. May the God of Israiel bless and protect you and bring you into his kingdom is the prayer of your sister. Ursulia B. Hascall"Early in April of 1847 Brigham Young and his Pioneer Company left Winter Quarters and headed west in their
search for the new Land of Zion. On July 24th Brigham Young looked down upon the valley of the Great Salt Lake from the Big Mountain and proclaimed "this is the right place". Such was the beginning of the City of the Saints and the kingdom of the
Mormons in the valley of the Great Salt Lake.When the Pioneer Company left the Winter Quarters on the Missouri River they carried their own postmaster, in the person of Willard Richards, to handle and distribute the mail, well before the
establishment of the Utah Territory in 1850. On January 18,1849 the first U.S. Post Office was established under the name Great Salt Lake City and attached it to California for administrative reasons. Joseph L. Heywood was the first official
Postmaster. (Image) |
Est. $3,000-4,000
SOLD for $10,000.00
Will close during Public Auction |
| 563 |
|
|
Salt Lake City Cal./July 16 (1849), manuscript postmark and "10" rate on folded letter with integral address leaf to Richmond, Indiana, cover silked, fine.This letter
was carried east on the same Mormon express as the Hascall letter offered in the previous lot on July 27, 1849. In it the writer states "...you can write to us now and it will come direct as there is a post office established here and contract for
the mail through to the bay once in three months..." The reference to the "bay" must be San Francisco, but this letter was carried east to the Missouri River. The first westbound contract was not awarded until 1851. (Image) |
Est. $500-750
SOLD for $625.00
Will close during Public Auction |
| 564 |
|
|
[Babbit's Mormon Mails, 1849], folded letter with integral address leaf to Iowa City, Iowa datelined "Orrigan Pacific Springs, July 27th 1849" in which the writer, C Swan,
states "..I expect Mr. Babbit along with the Mormon mails", entered the mails with manuscript "Kane Iowa/Sep 6" postmark and "10" rate, trivial soiling, very fine.Almon W. Babbitt left Salt Lake City on duly 27, 1849, the very same day this
letter was written, with an express mail and a memorial to congress for territorial status for Utah. It is possible and very probable that Babbitt did pick up Swan's letter at Pacific Springs and deliver it to the Kanesville post office. On September
17th the Frontier Guardian reported that Babbitt with the Mormon mails, arrived at Kanesville on September 3rd, three days before this letter was postmarked.Pacific Springs was located three miles west of the South Pass in present day Wyoming. Kane
was the name of the Post Office which was the same as Kanesville and was changed to Council Bluffs on 10 December, 1852. (Image) |
Est. $1,000-1,500
SOLD for $2,900.00
Will close during Public Auction |
| 565 |
|
|
Great Salt Lake City July 27 1850, dateline on folded letter with integral address leaf to North New Salem, Mass. carried by Mormon express, entered the mails with
light "Kane, Iowa" datestamp and partial handstamped "10" rate, very fine.Long letter from Ursala Hascall to her sister mostly discussing personal matters, but also mentioning the throng of gold miners on their way to California. (Image) |
Est. $1,500-2,000
SOLD for $10,000.00
Will close during Public Auction |
| 566 |
|
|
Salt Lake Deseret, Nov 19 1850, strong manuscript postmark and "10" rate of folded letter with integral address leaf to Sabula, Iowa, carried by Woodson with the
first official contact mail eastbound in late November of 1850, cover with some aging and silked splits along the folds, fine; the only known cover bearing the designation "Deseret" in the postmark.This letter was written by Andrew McFarlane
who had stopped off at Salt Lake City on his way west to the gold mines in California. He writes in part "I started about the 10th of April from Independence with the express to Ft Laramy and intended going to California from that point with pack
animals but mules and poneys cost so much here that I concluded to come back to Independence and take a fresh start. When I got back to Independence again about the first of June when I got a chance to drive a mule teem back again to Ft Laramy for 25
dols a month - arrived at Ft Laramy again about the tenth of August when I got a chance to go throw to the great salt lake valey among the Mormons whare I arrived on the 23 day of September ad 1850 and calculate to stay here to about the first of
April when I intend to go to Calafornia by the way of the cut off (Hastings?) with pack animals. I am living among the Mormons about as a hospitable a set of people as I have been among since I left home,"With the end of the Mexican war, the area
west of the Rocky Mountains, which included the present state of Utah and parts of California, Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico, which had been claimed by Mexico, was ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Early in March of 1849 a constitution was adopted and a provisional government was organized under the name of the State of Deseret with Brigham Young as governor. The new government then sent a memorial to Congress for statehood and then on May 4,
1849 sent a second request for territorial status. Actually the Mormons wanted statehood in order to reduce federal influence from Washington. It would be forty-six years before Congress granted statehood on January 4, 1896. The word Deseret is taken
from the Book of Mormon meaning honeybee.On September 9, 1850 Congress created the Utah Territory dashing all hopes for a State of Deseret. Early in 1850 Samuel Woodson and James Brown were awarded the mail contract from Salt Lake to the Missouri
River to begin July 1st of that year. However the first mail did not reach Salt Lake until early in November. The mails were so slow and irregular that the official news that the Utah Territory had been established the year before did not arrive in
Salt Lake City until January of 1851. (Image) |
Est. $4,000-5,000
SOLD for $9,000.00
Will close during Public Auction |
| 567 |
|
|
[Brigham Young Free Frank] "Official Brigham Young, Governor" clear manuscript frank in his hand on folded letter with integral address leaf to Tallahassee,
Florida with manuscript "Salt Lake City, U.T./June 1st, 1851" postmark, extremely fine; the earliest recorded use of the Salt Lake City manuscript postmark.The letter, written entirely in Brigham Young's hand and signed by him, concerns official
business of the territory. Though he franked the cover as Territorial Governor, he did not have authority to do so under the Postal Laws & Regulations rules of the Post Office Department. (imagea)
(Image) |
Est. $3,000-4,000
SOLD for $10,000.00
Will close during Public Auction |
| 568 |
|
|
Salt Lake City, U.T., July 1 (1851), clear straightline postmark and matching "6" rate on buff cover to Hopewell, N.J. mailed on the first day of regular mail
service under Woodson subcontract and first day of new 1851 postal rates (6c prepaid over 3,000 miles) correctly re-rated with red "5" due handstamp for unpaid 3c rate under 3,000 miles, cover with light pocket folds, still very fine. (Image) |
Est. $3,000-4,000
SOLD for $2,000.00
Will close during Public Auction |
| 569 |
|
|
[First Trip Dalles to Salt Lake City Route] folded letter with integral address leaf datelined "Fort Boise Sept. 13th, 1851" to Kirksville, Missouri, sent unpaid at
the 3c rate and carried on the first run to Salt Lake City, where it received a clear straightline "Salt Lake City, U.T./Oct. 1" postmark and rated 5c collect with their "5" handstamp, very fine; ex-Jessup, Haas.On 22 May, 1851 a mail route
contract was awarded to L.G. Torrence and J.L. Brown to carry the mails from the Dalles to Salt Lake City via Forts Boise and Hall. The mail was to leave Salt Lake City on August 1st at arrive at the Dalles on August 30th. The eastbound was to leave
September 3rd to arrive at Salt Lake City on September 30th. By this time most of the migration had been diverted to California because of the discovery of gold in 1848.The following is from the letter by I.M. Ebey to his brother in Missouri: "I
have just time to drop you a line as the Mail Carrier from the Dalles to Salt Lake wates for me to do so. I met Rebena and the children all well near the first crossing of Snake river 180 miles west of Ft. Hall... The Company have enjoyed health in a
remarkable degree and have little loss of stock ... A good deal of difficulty has happened this year between here and Ft Hall with Indians. Many have been killed but all the misfortunes that have occurred either in life or property have resulted from
want of caution. Companies that came from Ft Hall strong have had nothing happen to them. Our Company had a slight brush - Some shooting - No persons hurt... We are now through the bad Indians..."There were three Fort Boises. The first was a log
trading post built for the Hudson's Bay Co. before 1836. About 1838 the site was changed and a new fort was built on the east side of the Snake River about one mile north of its confluence with the Boise River. This second fort was one of the most
celebrated stopping points on the Oregon Trail, along with Forts Hall and Walla Walla. In 1855 the Hudson's Bay Co. sold most of its holdings in the Oregon country and Fort Boise was abandoned.The third Fort Boise was built by the U.S. Army in 1863
on the present site of the city of Boise, Idaho. There were no post offices at the three forts. This cover was rated 5 cents collect at Salt Lake City for under 3,000 miles. (Image) |
Est. $2,000-3,000
SOLD for $9,500.00
Will close during Public Auction |
| 570 |
|
|
Salt Lake City, U.T., Nov 1, beautifully struck Utah territorial period postmark on folded letter with integral address leaf to North New Salem, Mass., rated unpaid
double rate with "X" handstamp and corrected to single rate with matching "5" handstamp, extremely fine; ex-Baker.Irene Hascall writes a long letter on personal matters, a few interesting extracts from the letter include: "...The mail
leaves this city for the states every month and arrives the same once every month...Mr. Pomeroy (Francis M.) is not altered much excepting older. he has been through a good many hardships in travelling. He has been to the coast (and) to the mines
(California). He says it is perfect confusion. Drinking, gambling, cursing, swearing, murdering, burning and he would not stay there for all the gold ther is there...he understands the Spanish (language) and was requested to go by the church (to)
trade with the Spaniards..." (Image) |
Est. $1,000-1,500
SOLD for $5,500.00
Will close during Public Auction |
| 571 |
|
|
Salt Lake City, Utah, Sep. 1 (1855), bold blue datestamp and matching "Paid/24" in circle handstamp on cover to Ayr, Scotland, "3" credit handstamp, arrived in England
with red tombstone "Paid in/America/Liverpool/28 Oc 55" postmark, Ayr arrival backstamp, very fine. (Image) |
Est. $300-400
SOLD for $1,000.00
Will close during Public Auction |
| 572 |
|
|
[Salt Lake City to Russia in 1856], Cover from "The City of Saints" to Imperial Russia, right sheet-margin horizontal pair 12c Black (#17, small repair at top left
corner) tied by well struck blue "Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov 1" datestamp to buff cover addressed in French to Mademoiselle Ludert at the Establishment Galvanoplastique care of La Grande Duchess Marie Nicolaovna at St. Petersburg, Russia, left
New York with red "New York/Am. Pkt./Apr 4" postmark after a long delay in transit, thence to England via U.S. Packet and carried to St. Petersburg via Aachen, Germany, 13 May St. Petersburg arrival backstamp, cover a bit reduced at top and with
small corner repairs, fine and rare usage of a pair of the 12c 1851 issue. This cover was rated 21c by British Open Mail via U.S. Packet, thus was overpaid by 3c, the postmaster at Salt Lake City may have charged the sender 3c for the overland rate
to New York, although the 21c rate was from any point in the United States, from England the postage would be collect to Russia. During the winter of 1856-7 no regular mail service was performed, because of the deep snows on the plains and in the
mountains. It was one of the worst winters in the Rocky Mountains. From September 10th the mail piled up at Salt Lake City until the postmaster contracted with Feramorz Little and Ephraim Hanks to carry the mail to Independence, Missouri. They left
on Dec. 10, 1856, performing the service under terrible conditions, and not arriving at Independence until February 27th - almost eighty days in transit. (Image) |
Est. $1,500-2,000
SOLD for $3,500.00
Will close during Public Auction |
| 573 |
|
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[The Utah War, Albert Sidney Johnston], An incredible group of six letters, three entirely in Johnston's hand, 1857-58, while a colonel commanding the Army of
Utah; with one document signed by Johnston and by Jesse L. Reno. Johnston had been sent west in response to complaints about the near-theocratic control over the Utah Territory exercised by Brigham Young, head the leaders of the Church of Jesus
Chr
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