Book Review: The Gathering of Zion

The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail is written by Wallace Stegner.  It was published in 1964 by University of Nebraska Press.  Wallace Stegner is a great story teller and writer, and the words he uses sometimes cannot be equalled.  I heard him quoted in 17 Miracles the movie.  He has a way of expressing himself that is very artistic.  However, I do not think he is a very good historian.  In the name of the story, he does not document his work, but just tells where what authors he referred to in each chapter.  It is very hard to track and verify, from a historical point of view.  Some of his history is wanting.  His telling the background of the church especially.  This is explained in his comments about bibliography and explanation that Fawn Brodie's work, "No Man Knows My History" is one of the works he deems "worthy of complete trust."  I tried to read that book, and could not get past the first few chapters, because Brodie was out for finding every lie about Joseph Smith and try to restate it is fact.  That is my opinion.  A book that relies on Fawn Brodie for any part of telling a story is lacking in my regard.  However, when he actually tells the story about the trail, and especially when he gets past an "attitude" that dominates the first part of the book, he does a better job of telling the story.  His chapters on the handcarts are classic.  He gives a description of the handcart pioneers which can bring you to tears.  I quote this in Isaac's history.

   In all its history, the American West never saw a more unlikely band of pioneers than the four hundred-odd who were camped on the bank of the Iowa River at Iowa City in early June, 1856.  They were not colorful—only improbable.  Looking for the brown and resolute and weather-seasoned among them, you would have seen instead starved cheeks, pale skins, bad teeth, thin chests, all the stigmata of unhealthy work and inadequate diet.  There were more women than men, more children under fifteen than either.  One in every ten was past fifty, the oldest a woman of seventy-eight; there were widows and widowers with six or seven children.  They looked more like the population of the poor farm on a picnic than like pioneers about to cross the plains.

   Most of them, until they were herded from the crowded immigrant ship and loaded into the cars and rushed to the end of the Rock Island Line and dumped here at the brink of the West, had never pitched a tent, slept on the ground, cooked outdoors, built a campfire.  They had not even the rudimentary skills that make frontiersmen.  But as it turned out, they had some of the stuff that makes heroes.

   Mainly Englishmen from the depressed collieries and mill towns… they were the casualties of the industrial revolution, life’s discards, to whom Mormonism had brought its irresistible double promise of a new start on earth and a guaranteed Hereafter.  They did not differ in any essential, unless perhaps in their greater poverty, from hundreds and thousand who had started for Zion before them.  But their intention was more brash—was so impudent it was almost sublime.  Propertyless, ill-equipped, untried and untrained, they were not only going to Zion, they were gong to walk there, nearly fourteen hundred miles, having their belongings on handcarts.  (Stegner , pp 221-2)

For studying the handcart pioneers, this book is a must.  Stegner has a way of writing which is very nice and so I would recommend this book.  However I would overlook some of his work with regards to background, and take it as his listening to the wrong sources, or deciding incorrectly who is the most neutral.

New Hope Flooded Out

This article, in talking about the flooding potential of the confluence of the Stanislaus and San Joaquin rivers, tells the story of New Hope, which was flooded out in the winter of 1846-47.  Although bickering played a part the the abandonment of the area, the flooding was a final blow.

http://www.mantecabulletin.com/section/1/article/31126/

California Mormon Pioneer HIstory, weblinks

http://californiapioneer.org/
This is a site promoting the exploration of Mormon Pioneer History.  It also has pages dedicated to different events including the Mormon Battalion, Ship Brooklyn, Bear Flag Revolt, The Donner Party, and the Southern California Saints.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_B._Ide
The question is of William Ide's participation in the Mormon church before the events of the Bear Flag Revolt.  Some say he helped nominate Joseph Smith for President, and helped write his platform.

http://www.vom.com/bearflag/revolt.html
The history of the Bear Flag revolt.

http://www.dailyrepublican.com/shipbrooklynplus1.html
150 year anniversary celebration of the Ship Brooklyn.

http://shipbrooklyn.com/
This website has access to the DVD  "Forgotten Voyage" and book "Ship Brooklyn Saints"  It also has a summary of the Saints, with access to biographies after paying a fee.

 https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Ship_Brooklyn
More Ship Brooklyn information.  This includes a description of the voyage.

http://www.onlineutah.com/historybattalion.shtml
This it a site of information about the Mormon Battalion.  

http://www.three-peaks.net/battalion.htm
This site also has a history of the Battalion, but also has a nice map of the journey.

Book Review: ****California Saints

California Saints was written by Richard Cowan and William Homer.  It was published in 1996 by the Religious Studies Center of Brigham Young University.  I was able to check it out from the Manteca Library, but they had gotten it on loan from another library in the system. 

This book was published for the 150 anniversary of the church in California.  It tells the story of the Brooklyn Saints--Sam Brannon and John Horner, of the Mormon Battalion, the Mormon involvement in the Gold Rush, Ina Coolbrith and the history of the San Bernadino Saints.  It also tells even more recent history--the establishment of stakes and temples, and prophets and apostles who have come from California. 

Of interest to me is the story of the New Hope Colony, and its disolving after less than a year, and before the Saints were in Utah. 

There were several things I learned which I did not know.  It was in San Bernadino where Joseph F. Smith was being confronted by the mob, and when asked if he was a Mormon, responded, "Yes siree; dyed in the wool; true blue, through and through."  This won the persecutor over.  He was returning from his mission to Hawaii.  I had always thought this was with the persecution back east, but he was too young then.

I also learned of the church during WWII.  This was a time that brought a great many Mormons to California.  It talked about a family that set up a soldier's home in their house in Berkeley, Anna Patton.  It was also during his time that the Church purchased Temple Hill in Oakland.  

I found this book enjoyable.  My only complaint is the book doesn't cover the last 15 years, but I guess you have to publish a book some time, and that leaves out what happens after.

Book Report: ***Manteca; Selected Chapters from its History

This book was published 31 years ago by the Manteca Bulletin and it written by Evelyn Prouty who is a docent at the Manteca Historical Museum.  I checked it out from the Manteca library.  It presents the prehistory, Native American history first, and then important persons in the history of Manteca, emigrants and founders.  It isn't until chapter eight that it presents the history of the city of Manteca.  However it is a great book to imagine what the area was like long ago.  It actually covers most of the area, rather than just Manteca, talking about Lathrop, French Camp, Mossdale and Atlanta.  It mentions that one of the oldest buildings still standing is the Zinc House barns at Wagner and 120.  This is well East of town. 

In a brief synopsis, Manteca was first populated by persons who turned from farming after the gold rush, and some he served in the transportation industry for those in the gold mines or farming--hotels, stage station managers etc.  However farming was the main industry.  There was also transportation via the river, taking wheat to Stockton.  The first manufacturing industry was a creamery.  Here they extracted the cream from milk for shipping, returning the milk product to the farmers for feeding cattle etc.  The fat was made into butter and ice cream. 

This book talks about many little things.  I now know that the first sewage plant is off of union where the park and gold course are now.  At a railway restaurant in Lathrop.  By chance, two feuding men where on the same train.  Judge David Terry had previously threatened to kill Judge Stephen J.Field. When Judge Terry discovered the presence of the other man, he approached him and hit him a couple of times.  Judge Field's body guard, David Neagle, drew a pistol and shot Judge Terry twice, killing him.  The two men then boarded the train and continued on their way.  They were arrested and brought back  for trial but where found not guilty.

The area was hampered by floods for many years, one of the most tragic was in 1950.  It talks about the response to the flu epidemic of 1920, which in a different part of the country killed a couple of my father's siblings, before my father was born.

This book gives a very good background history of e area.  I would recommend it for those seeking out local history.  However there is a lot of history which has taken place since it was written.

Movie Review: ***^The Crossing

This is the crossing of the Delaware by the troops of George Washington on Christmas of 1776.  This movie is a made for t.v. movie and stares Jeff Daniels as General Washington.  I must admit I had not realized how desperate the plight of General Washington was at the time.  He had just barely escaped into Pennsylvania as he retreated form New York, and had put the Delaware River between he and the pursuing British, supported by Hessian mercenaries.  He had gone into winter quarters at Valley Forge, and everyone expected him to sit out the winter there.  However the British were just waiting for the river to freeze over so they could continue their pursuit.  At this time there were 20,000 British, compared with Washington's 2000, who were poorly armed, and lacked munitions and food.  It was a desperate time, and in short, the fate of the federal army depended on the outcome of this battle.

General Washington was able to keep his movements a secret from the Hessian forces at Trenton, and they did catch them by surprise Christmas morning.  The result was the elimination of a force of 1200, with 300 killed and 900 captured, with no casualties on the par of the federals.  It was truly a miracle, and the cannon and arms taken from the fort there, resupplied the federal forces, so they could live and fight another day.  Never would the federal forces be as depleted again.  Even though the was would continue for seven more years, this was a turning point that changed history.

I enjoyed this movie, but I love history, as well as love to watch Jeff Daniels act.  It was fun the play he had with his generals as well.

Manteca Historical Museum

I visited the historical museum, and found a treasure of information.  They have old artifacts from the local schools and churches, and an area that has old pictures depicting the history of Manteca.  However where I found the most information was talking with the docents.  Amongst them were many historians, including one who wrote a book about the history of Manteca.  I learned about the Native Americans of the area, and a place just north and east of us where there is a stone which was used as an Indian grinding stone, similar to one in the South Bay.  I also learned about the early pioneer settlers, and heard of stories of New Hope.  I also learned about gold in the area, and how it is still panned for.  You can find gold as low as the area of San Joaquin and Stanislaus Rivers, but this is difficult.  However gold sometimes gets caught under stones, and then in a high moisture year as this has been, it will washed down stream. 

My only complaint about the museum is the hours they keep.  For a commuter their week day hours do not work.  And for a church going man their weekend hours do not work as they are not open on Saturday but only on Sunday.  The day I did visit was a day I had taken off from work.

But if you can visit the museum do so, and be sure to ask questions because if the person you ask doesn't know they will refer you to another docent who does know.