Crescat Scientia: Journal of History, Volume 15, 2014

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UTAH VALLEY UNIVERSITY
Volume XI
2014
iii
Crescat Scientia is an annual publication of the Utah Valley University Department of History and Political Science. Issues are available for distribution during the spring and fall semesters of each academic year. To obtain subscription information or previous copies of Crescat Scientia, please contanct the History Department at:
Utah Valley University
Department of History and Political Science
800 West University Parkway
LA 030
Orem, UT 84048
Phone: (801) 863-84878
Fax: (801) 863-7013
©2014 Utah Valley University, Department of History and Political Science. All rights revert to the authors upon publication.iv
Editor-In-Chief
Carlin Chismar
Managing Editor
Emma Cragun
Faculty Advisor
Dr. Keith Snedegar
Published annually for the Utah Valley University Department of History and Political Science.
Utah Valley University Department of History and Political Science
800 West University Parkway, Orem, Utah 840057
Phone: (801) 863-7013 Fax: (801) 863-7013v
vi
Dear Reader,
Editors Carlin Chismar and Emma Cragun have brought in a nice crop of essays for this year’s issue of Crescat Scientia. Altogether it displays the variegated green shoots of historical understanding and expression pushing through each spring among our students. History does not bloom on its own, after all. It must be cultivated, year by year, semester by semester, and paper by paper. The authors have tended their expository gar­dens carefully. And Crescat offers a sweet taste of their first fruit.
It is a little ironic to say that there were more orchards in Orem when Bill Cobb first arrived twenty years ago. As a professor of history, then Dean of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and then professor once more, he has been a rather different sort of master gardener. With a naturalist’s acumen he has invigorated everything he has touched with his academic green thumb. Now he has decided to retire. I am happy to reflect on the good fortune of being here for the whole span of his Utah Valley career. The meaning of Bill’s contribution to this place resists easy definition, but if you ever have had the benefit of a compassionate teacher, inspiring colleague, or graceful mentor you can imagine what it might be.
Crescat emerges in the full poignancy of Commencement season, beginnings and endings intertwined with hopefulness. As you page through this volume and see the struggle for insight made explicit through writing, think of the people behind the words. The people behind the people, as well. History is all about relationships. We have tried to make these nurturing ones.May Knowledge Grow.Dr. Keith SnedegarFaculty Advisorvii
Learning never exausts the mind.
-Leonardo DaVinci
Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every conceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing.
-Thomas Huxley
Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.
-Abigail Adams
The sweetest path of life leads through the avenues of learning, and whoever can open up the way for another, ought, so far, to be esteemed a benefactor to mankind.
-David Hume
Education is what reamins after one has forgotten what one has learned from school.
-Albert Einsteinviii
The editors would like to dedicate this edition of Crescat Scientia to Dr. William Cobb.
Dr. Cobb has made significant contributions to the history discipline and the History Department at Utah Valley Uni­versity. Dr. Cobb has been teaching at UVU since 1994 and has served as the Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Since 2011, he has been the Director of the Vietnam Era Oral History Project. This project engages students to become involved with the history of our coun­try and also to actively participate in the creation of new history. He ignites a passion for history within the stu­dents by providing guidance and insight that goes beyond what is taught in the classroom.
Thank you, Dr. Cobb. Good luck with your endeavours and new adventures. ix
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This years edition of Crescat Scientia would not have been possible without the help of many dedicated people. The editors would like to acknowledge their contributions.
Crescat Scientia would first like to affectionately thank Kim­berly Williamson. Without her guidance and assistance this journal would not be possible. She helped prepare the journal for printing and has given her professional opinion on design. Her hard work and dedication to the History Department and history students is unmatched.
The editors would like to extend our thanks to Dr. Keith Snedegar, the faculty advisor for Crescat Scientia. He had provided everyone involved in the journal the opportunity to continue the promotion of history throughout the com­munity.
Lastly, we would like to thank those who submitted papers and dedicated their time to read, source check and edit. Your help and sacrifice helped to create the 2014 edi­tion of Crescat Scientia. Thank You!1
Editors Note
History and Political Science are subjects that evoke passion from all those who study them in depth. Within the eleventh edition of Crescat Scientia, I have chosen papers that truly express the interests of the students at Utah Val­ley University and evoke passion in our readers. I hope that I have successfully achieved this feat and inspired more interest within these disciplines.
History has always held a special place within my heart. My father was a History teacher and ever since I was young I have been curious about the way in which our world has de­veloped. I wanted to ensure that multiple aspects of the histo­ry of the world were touched on to provide a somewhat com­plete look at how human civilization has prevailed through the centuries. Not only that, but I wanted to give readers and students alike a new perspective on World History.
Utah Valley University has provided avenues for stu­dents to explore their interests and passions. This is very noticable in the papers that are published in this years edition. We, as a team, were able to accentuate the different areas and really capatalize on their historical importance.
History is all around us and can be found in the most unexpected places. From friendships to small town history to the development of our nation, history comes into play in our daily lives. I implore you to sit back and take a closer look at how history effects you and also how you can effect history.
Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and har­mony with all.
-George Washington
Carlin Chismar
Editor-In-Chief2
Table of Contents
Disease History......................Christopher Wiltsie 4
The Japanese Side of the
Pacific Campaign..........................Brian Bassett 13
“It Did Not Seem Real –But
You Could Not Look Away”..........William Bates 21
The Israeli-Palestine
Conflict.........................................Ben Aldana 41
Utah’s Mineral Prosperity...............Kyle Carter 61
Planning Operation Overlord.....Michael McKell 72
Nuclear Power and
Shippingport, PA...........................Jay T. Cherry 83
Southern Origins
of Liberian Genocide.....................Brian Simmons 97
Spoiled Zion....................Alyssa Woolstenhulme 114
The Path of Women
in Latin America............................Kori Grose 131
3
Fabian and Guild Socialists
Reaction to World War I...........Paul Wilcox 139
Press, Prejudice, and
Public Opinion........................Lori Swain 162
United States Newspapers
on the Irish Famine..................Michael Harper 180
4
Disease History
Christopher Wiltsie
Early assumptions made by historians as to the reasons why
colonization of the Americas was successful, or even what life
was like in pre-enlightenment Europe, differed greatly from the
current views of historians. Much of this change can be attributed
to the development of the historical study of diseases. It was not
until the 1960s that historians began to show an interest in the
influence that disease has had on history.1 Disease history has
been an ever evolving historical field. It has been complex and
furthered as technologies relevant to the field have been enhanced
and schools of thought, through different methods of historical
inquiry, were capable of engaging these technologies as a means
of better understanding the subject. Environmental and social
historians have led the way in understanding the history of
diseases and their impact on different societies, however, each
historians approach and reason for attempting to understand
1 Alfred Crosby, “Virgin Soil Epidemics as a Factor in the Aboriginal Depopu-lation
in America,” The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 33, No. 2 (April,
1976), pp. 289, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1922166.
Christopher Jay Wiltsie is a Senior at Utah Valley University. He is majoring in
history and political science and plans to graduate with both degrees in Fall of
2014. He has plans to study in England for a graduate program that is common
in Europe, but not in the United States called Social Policy with an emphasis on
racial issues. This program combines many of his interests such as history, soci-ology,
and political science into one degree. He wants to eventually teach at the
university level while working to address racial issues in the area that he lives in.
Disease History
5
the subject differ greatly.
Perhaps the emergence of environmental history in the 1960's allowed for a fresh take on the subject of colonization which eventually led to the idea of studying history through the lens of diseases and their effects. Their ideology was based on the concept that nature is not only the setting in which his­tory takes place, but is an active participant in the unfolding of the events. In 1976, environmental historian, Alfred W. Crosby, published an article entitled “Virgin Soil Epidemics as a factor in the Aboriginal Depopulation in America.” This article was significant because it helped frame, in very general ways, the idea of virgin soil. This idea would be accepted and used extensively in disease history throughout the next few decades.
Virgin soil is the idea that certain populations had not had contact with specific diseases and therefore they were es­pecially susceptible to the effects of those diseases because they had not been able to develop the necessary immunities to protect themselves.2 Initially the epidemic thesis was considered merely one of many theories as to why the Native American population decreased so rapidly. Historians such as Crosby, using such evidences as the idea of virgin soil, laid the groundwork for the research and articles that would establish it as the leading cause of Native American deaths. It is probable that the influence of diseases was not initially comprehended, as many of the primary documents from the time period only briefly mentioned diseases among the Native Americans. However, when historians began to consider primary documents as a whole, the realization arose that accounts of destructive diseases among the native popula­tions were widespread.3
One of the most telling aspects of the success of early historians studying disease history was its acceptance as a le­gitimate topic of research among many different historians from different schools of thought. In 1981, ecclesiastical historian, John McManners, wrote an article entitled “Death's Arbitrary Empire.” In this article, McManners lays out a bleak depiction of eigh­teenth century Europe in which he re-examines European his­2
Ibid,, 289.
3 Ibid., 290.Crescat Scientia
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tory through the view of disease history. This approach allowed McManners to articulate the history of the eighteenth century in Europe by the peoples inability to overcome the customs and living conditions that led to disease and death. This is especially significant as this was the enlightenment era; considered to be a time when men were climbing out of the intellectual darkness of the past centuries. McManners argued that medicine during this period was still primitive in many ways and unable to cope with disease.4 He wrote of disease as being widespread in the eighteenth century Europe5 with widespread deaths not unlike that of Native American populations.
Social historian, Richard J. Evans, took the subject of diseases in European history and attempted to understand it through the context of industrialization and the effects of diseases on different social classes. The concept of virgin soil was not an exclusive effect relevant to the Americas. In nineteenth century Europe, a disease originating in Asia, aptly named the Asiatic flu, ravaged Europe's population and focused on the rising industrial society. He considered overcrowding and urbanization to be the chief factors leading to the intense grip that the disease had on the European population.6 Evans also looked at the ability of diseases to be spread through the trade routes coming from Asia, or in other words, as an economic byproduct.7
Perhaps Evans’ most important contribution to the discussion of diseases in history was his analysis of the effects of disease, more specifically cholera, on nineteenth century Europe. McManners already hinted at the idea of overcrowding among the poor classes as being an important factor in the spread of disease,8 but Evans discussed, in depth, the terror that diseases
4 John McManners, “Death's Arbitrary Empire”, in The Social Dimension of Western Civilization ed. Richard Golden (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003), 151.
5 Ibid., 149.
6 Richard J. Evans, “The Challenge of Cholera in Hamburg”, in The Social Dimension of Western Civilization ed. Richard Golden (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003), 276.
7 7Ibid.
8 McManners, “Death's Arbitrary Empire”, 154.Disease History
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such as cholera instilled in European society.9 Evans argued that although death was common in European society, Europeans could usually cope with its presence through the “ideology of heroism, chivalry, or self-sacrifice”.10 For example, if someone died on a battle field, they could be remembered as a hero, but death from disease failed to fall into any of these categories. The effects of cholera, for example, were horrifying and could strike anyone at any time leaving Europeans in a state of widespread fear.11 Evans even went so far as to surmise that the effects of cholera, such as extreme diarrhea that could occur at any time, could have been a possibly scarier prospect than death for a society that attempted to hide the existence of bodily functions out of disgust. Evans' training as a social historian successfully took disease history in a new and relatively unexplored direc­tion.
Environmental historian Jared Diamond wrote his de­finitive essay, Hemispheres Colliding: Eurasian and Native American Societies, 1492, in 1997. In this article, Diamond presented evidence for why Native Americans had the characteristics that allowed them to be victims of virgin soil idea. Diamond argued that Na­tive Americans did not, and could not, live near large domestic animals nearly as often or on the same scale that Eurasians did. Therefore, diseases had not developed on the same levels as in Europe. For this reason Eurasians developed immunities and Native Americans did not.12 To support this idea theory, Jared Diamond explained that Europeans had thirteen species of large domesticated animals, whereas Native Americans had only one; the llama/alpaca. This disparity was due to widespread extinc­tion of North and South America's larger mammals during the Late Pleistocene. According to Diamond, had this not happened, modern history could have had a much different turn of events.13
9 Evans“The Challenge of Cholera in Hamburg”,, 277.
10 Ibid., 278.
11 Ibid., 278-279.
12 Jared Diamond, Hemispheres Colliding: Eurasian and Native American Societies, 1492, in The Social Dimension of Western Civilization ed. Richard Golden (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003), 6.
13 Ibid., 5.Crescat Scientia
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The large animals used for farming so common in Europe, such as pigs, goats, horses, etc. carried the microbes that constantly infected Eurasians and allowed for the development of immuni­ties.14 Had the Americas been populated by large domesticated animals, the Native Americans would have been able to develop immunities to their own diseases that possibly would have de­stroyed European invaders.15 This argument clearly sets diseases as a key player in the outcome of the world's history.
Social historian Sheldon Watts wrote the controversial book, Epidemics and History: Disease, Power and Imperialism, in 1997 in which he argued that the upper class members of society used diseases to their advantage to control the lower classes.16 Watts' work is important in the historiographical tradition of disease history not only because it looks at the uses of diseases in society, but that it is controversial and calls into question the standard interpretation of history within the context of class struggle. Since the beginnings of disease history as a serious study in the early 1960s, it evolved into a subject in the late 1990s full of nuanced arguments. No longer were historians laying the foundations of disease history, explaining such simple terms, like virgin soil, to their readers. These terms had become common place, and more specific as deeper aspects of the study were being approached.
As disease history became more nuanced, historians with more specialized historical skill sets began to write on the subject. Ethno-historian James Axtell had a book published in 2001 called Natives and Newcomers: The Cultural Origins of North America. In this book, Axtell looked at the impact of diseases on native societies in more specific ways than had generally been done. Using his skills in studying ethnic groups, he outlined how different Native American tribes specifically coped with diseases. One example he used was the Iroquois practice of mourning wars, in which they went to war in order to gain captives in an effort to replenish their dead. As diseases ravaged their popula­14
Ibid., 7.
15 Ibid., 6.
16 Sheldon Watts, Epidemics and History: Disease, Power and Imperialism, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997), 10.Disease History
9
tion, they increasingly practiced this tradition leading to other situations, such as colonial retaliation. 17
Axtell specifically used the term “virgin soil” in his ex­planation of the impact of diseases on Natives in such a way that it is assumed the reader understands the term.18 This showed the longevity and common use of a term that once needed to be explained but had become standard in the historiographical tradition of disease history. Disease history had matured to such a point that common phraseology could be used and understood by historians from such diverse schools of thought as Ethnohis­tory.
In 2003, disease history took on a whole new dimen­sion when three professionals, Ann Ramenofsky, Alicia Wilbur, and Anne Stone, each bringing different expertise ranging from anthropology to biology, attempted to look at the introduction of diseases in the Americas from not only a historical context but from a biological standpoint.19 They challenged many of the widely accepted theories prevalent in the historical study of diseases. Historians Diamond and Fenner had popularized the idea that through a “three-stage, unilinear model,” diseases had developed and spread to the Americas. More specifically they wrote that as society went through different stages, for example, hunting-gathering to agriculture to urban, new diseases were added onto the current disease load and spread among the world's populations. The aforementioned stages led to crowding and an environment conducive to the spread of these diseases.20 This essay challenged the unilinear model that was established by Fenner and Diamond. They presented the possibility of other means of the development and spread of diseases among popula­tions. One such example is that of gene research which suggests
17 James Axtell, Natives and Newcomers: The Cultural Origins of North America, (New York: Oxford University Press), 299.
18 Ibid.
19 Ramenofsky et al, “Native American Disease History: Past Present and Future Directions,” World Archaeology
Vol. 35, No. 2, Archaeology of Epidemic and Infectious Disease (Oct., 2003), 241, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3560225.
20 Ibid., 243.Crescat Scientia
10
that the 1918 influenza pandemic was a result of direct infection of the flu virus from birds.21 The implication of this informa­tion is that there are other means of virus dissemination and origin than from livestock and strictly crowded environments. Ramenofsky et al, argue that factors such as diet and genetics can also play a significant role in the spread of disease among certain populations.22
The 21st century marked a period in disease history in which the accepted interpretations within the study were called into question. Stephen Greenberg complicated the dis­ease history of Europe in his essay Plague, the printing Press, and Public Health in Seventeenth-Century London. Greenberg argues that Europe was constantly assaulted by plagues and almost every year in English history reported plague deaths throughout the 14th to 17th centuries.23 He then outlined the development and evolution of newspapers, more specifically bills of mortality, as a means of disseminating news about plague deaths. In a new way Greenberg showed the effect of disease on early media sources as a force that caused the institution to adapt and, as a result, led to a better informed English population.24 Through Greenberg, and others doing similar work, disease had become more than just a destroyer of man and creator of fear, but instead a molder of society in the historical context.
From the beginnings of disease history, it had been a field of study not limited by a single school of thought. It was studied by every type of historian from environmental to social. Even schools of thought and professionals from outside the historical academic community participated in the discussion. Owing to its nature as a history that encompasses everything from widespread death, to biology, to traditions, it is no wonder that so many academics attempted to understand and relate the subject in coherent terms. Many of the early and widely
21 Ibid,, 244.
22 Ibid., 255.
23 Stephen Greenberg, “Plague, the Printing Press, and Public Health in Seventeenth-Century London,” Huntington Library Quarterly Vol. 67, No. 4 (December 2004), 509, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/hlq.2004.67.4.508 .
24 Ibid., 509-510.Disease History
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accepted theories within the study of disease history had been challenged or even debunked, but considering the fact that it has essentially only existed as a field of serious study for 50 years, it is exceptional in that it has drastically changed all historians understanding of general history.
Crescat Scientia
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Axtell, James. Natives and Newcomers: The Cultural Origins of North America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Crosby, Alfred. “Virgin Soil Epidemics as a Factor in the Ab­original Depopulation in America,” The William and Mary Quarterly. Vol. 33, No. 2 (April, 1976). 289-299. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1922166.
Diamond, Jared. Hemispheres Colliding: Eurasian and Native American Societies, 1492, in The Social Dimension of Western Civilization, ed. Richard Golden, 4-18. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003.
Evans, Richard. “The Challenge of Cholera in Hamburg”, in The Social Dimension of Western Civilization, ed. Richard Golden, 275-290. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003.
McManners, John. “Death's Arbitrary Empire.” In The Social Dimension of Western Civilization, ed. Richard Golden, 148-159. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003.
Ramenofsky, Ann, Wilbur, Alicia, and Stone, Anne. “Native American Disease History: Past Present and Future Directions,” World Archaeology Vol. 35, No. 2, Archaeology of Epidemic and Infectious Disease (Oct., 2003): 241-57. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3560225.
Stephen Greenberg, “Plague, the Printing Press, and Public Health in Seventeenth-Century London,” Huntington Library Quarterly Vol. 67, No. 4 (December 2004): 508-527. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/hlq.2004.67.4.508 .
Watts, Sheldon. Epidemics and History: Disease, Power and Imperial­ism. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.13
The Japanese Side of the Pacific
Campaign
Brian Bassett
There is much that can be learned from the study of the tradi-tional
values of the Japanese people. They are values of patriotism,
loyalty, dedication, and hope; values that never become outdated.
Unfortunately those values became polluted by pride, arrogance,
and tyranny and led to the humiliating defeat of an ancient and
beautiful culture during WWII.
One of the first things to understand about the Japanese
people is the absolute reverence they had for their emperor. To
them, “The emperor commanded total respect. Children were
taught that he was half-human, half descended from the sun
goddess…when he left the palace on ceremonial occasions, the
upper portion of all buildings along the route had to be cleared
lest someone look down on him”.1 The military though reserved
the right to reject Imperial will via gekokujo, which meant that
if they felt the emperor was being ill-advised they could act in
what they thought was the best interest of the empire. This made
1 Roehrs, Mark D,, and William A. Renzi. World War II in the Pacific. Armonk,
New York: M.E. Sharpe Inc., 2004.
Brian is currently working on a degree in History Education at UVU and is
looking forward to starting on a rewarding career teaching at the Jr. High level.
Although he has lived in Utah for many years he still considers the East Coast
home.
Crescat Scientia
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Emperor Hirohito the head of state as opposed to the head of government. However this was more or less due to the fact that the mundane ritual of running the government was considered beneath the emperor’s notice. The emperor was not often seen in public and rarely addressed his nation. Most Japanese citizens had never heard his voice which created issues when Emperor Hirohito later addressed his people via radio to declare the unconditional surrender of Japan and plead with all citizens to cease any hostilities and try to build a new life for themselves.
This extreme demonstration of the devotion to country and emperor is found in the military’s adherence to the Bushido Code, or the Way of the Warrior. The Bushido Code relied on strict obedience, stamina and aggression while also, “…[empha­sizing] unflinching loyalty to the emperor, even to the point of willingly sacrificing one’s life, by suicide if necessary…[and was] intimately linked to the rise of Japanese imperialism, kamikaze attacks, suicide charges, and prisoner of war atrocities.”2 A British field marshal commented on this warrior mentality., “We talk a lot about fighting to the last man and the last round, but only the Japanese soldier actually does it.”3 It was an underlying factor throughout Japanese society with its most stringent observers being the young recruits and the higher ranking military officers. Those in between would often find themselves questioning the logic of blindly doing what the Bushido Code required of them.
The other aspect of Japanese culture that needs to be understood was their immense sense of racial pride and love of country. The Japanese people had an innate connection to their lands and often turned to it in order to find solace during times of stress. This is reflected in the journal entries of a Japanese admiral towards the end of the war when it’s recorded that he was, “…drawn ever more closely to nature, as is the Japanese when crisis threatens….”4
It was this notion of superiority that was a major premise
2 Hurst III, G.Cameron . "Death, Honor and Loyalty: The Bushido Ideal." Philosophy East and West. 40. no. 4 (1990):
3 Doughty, Gruber, Flint, Grimsley, Herring, Horward, Lynn, Murray, First. WWII: Total Warfare Around The Globe. Lexington: D. C. Heath and Company, 1996.
4 Hoyt, Edwin P. The Last Kamikaze. Westport: Praegar Publishers, 1993The Japanese Side of the Pacific Campaign
15
for Japan invading China. The Japanese felt strongly that they not only had the right, but also the obligation to lead the other, inferior, Asian countries because they believed that they, the Japanese, were the superior Asian race.
The most startling example of this superiority is seen during the invasion of China, in what came to be known as the Rape of Nanking. Chinese men, women, and children were used to practice bayonet drills. Women were raped with glee in brutal fashion by Japanese soldiers and, for amusement, ba­bies would often be thrown up into the air and impaled on bayonets as they came down. It became normal in conquered nations, mainly China and Korea, that women were forced to act as comfort women, or sex slaves, for the Japanese military. When this incident went to trial after the war there were, “…estimates of about twenty thousand cases of rape and one third of all buildings in the city damaged…[death toll] at over 200,000 [but] …the trial claimed in the verdict that more than 300,000 Chinese had been massacred by the Japanese troops…”5 The brutality was demonstrated as the Japanese chain of conquests continued until finally halted by the United States Navy at the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway in May and June 1942.
The Bataan Death March was also an example of Japanese brutality in war time. It occurred when 78,000 soldiers (12,000 American and 66,000 Filipinos) surrendered after being assured by the Japanese commander that they would be treated fairly and that the Japanese were not uncivilized. This decision proved fatal for scores of the prisoners because the Japanese understood that other, “… nations [did not] believe or behave similarly, but they had little respect for soldiers who quit short of expending their last effort in battle”.6 There were cases of prisoners being beaten to death with rifle butts, water being dumped out of prisoner canteens, Japanese soldiers passing by in transport trucks sticking their bayonets out the slats in the side therefore
5 Fujitani, T., Geoffrey M. White, and Lisa Yoneyama. Perilous Memeories. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2001.
6 Roehrs, Mark D,, and William A. Renzi. World War II in the Pacific. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe Inc., 2004. Crescat Scientia
16
decapitating or maiming enemy POWs being marched along the road. This was not the treatment all soldiers received. Other soldiers that were forced on the march later were treated quite well. It depended on the officer in charge as to how you were treated.
One man who dissented and had reservations regarding Japan’s supposed racial superiority was Yoshido Kodama. He wrote that, “….the Japanese never once…engaged in noble acts conforming to their traditions of bushido, (the way of the samu­rai, with its tenets of mercy to a fallen enemy and its rigid code of ethics and conduct)…The brutal inhumane acts of massacre and mistreatment of prisoners of war…are such to vilify all the good points of the Japanese people”. 7
Another prominent form of patriotism, which Admiral Yamamoto actually opposed as a waste of good men, came to prominence towards the end of the war when fuel and pilots be­gan running low. This was the kamikaze, or Divine Wind, attacks where airplanes, after expending all munitions, dived towards enemy ships in hopes of sinking it. It was considered especially honorable if the pilots died taking out an enemy aircraft carrier as these ships were the deciding factors in most, if not all, battles in the Pacific. “Any who indicated that they were reluctant to die for the Emperor were put in the forefront, to be gotten rid of on the first possible suicide missions”.8 These attacks had some success initially in damaging American aircraft carriers because the decks were constructed mostly of teakwood (as opposed to British carriers which had steel decks). However, no significant losses of any major Allied aircraft carriers or other ships were ever wholly attributed to kamikaze attacks, although many other smaller ships often succumbed. Also initial success was practically nullified once the Allies caught on; when Japanese officers began to see that the kamikaze attacks as were a waste of manpower and equipment.
Another factor that contributed to the increasing ineffec­tiveness of the kamikaze attacks was unseasoned pilots sent up in training aircraft with only enough fuel for one way. Up
7 Kodama, Yoshio. I Was Defeated. Japan: Radiopress, 1959.
8 Hoyt, Edwin P. The Last Kamikaze. The Japanese Side of the Pacific Campaign
17
until that point, only the most experienced pilots were used due to the extreme difficulty involved in getting the plane past enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashing into the ship at the few areas of vulnerability. Eventually the top Japanese military leaders, “…acknowledged these tactics as a complete failure…nothing more than vain repetitions of meaningless suicides in the face of the vast might of the enemy and the invincibility of their scientific prowess”. 9 What also supports this thinking on the part of the Japanese military was that at the end of the Pacific War the Japanese military still had about 5,000 planes, but had not used them due to a lack of pilots or a fear of them being uselessly shot down. The saddest example of the futility of the kamikaze attacks is the last one attempted after Japan’s surrender. Admiral Ukagi, who oversaw the implementation and execution of the kamikaze missions, felt shame at having failed to defend the emperor’s honor and his homeland of Japan. He, therefore, decided to launch a nighttime suicide mission against Allied ships in Tokyo Harrbor with a select group of loyal pilots. The following account details the outcome:
Late at night the radar picked up blips of a flight of planes coming in, and aboard the ships in harbor the noise of approaching aircraft engines could be heard. But night fighters on routine patrol had been vectored out to meet the incoming planes, and when they were determined not to be American they were attacked. The noise of firing could be heard in the harbor, and one by one in the darkness the aircraft plunged into the sea, not one of them striking any of the Allied vessels. Admiral Ugaki’s final flight ended, as did so many of the kamikaze missions, in a last glorious failure.10
As stated before, this blind patriotism was not shared by all Japanese, especially when it came to fighting the United States. Admiral Yamamoto, the Japanese version of the America’s Eisen­hower, voiced grave concerns about the wisdom of facing off
9 Kodama, Yoshio. I Was Defeated, 1959
10 Hoyt, Edwin P. The Last Kamikaze,Crescat Scientia
18
against the United States with its vast resources and industrial might. However, when he realized that his superiors viewed this as a defeatist mentality, he fell in line behind them and fully supported the cause. When he was asked by the emperor if they could defeat the United States, “Yamamoto candidly replied, ‘For the first six months of a conflict I will run wild like a boar, and for the first two years we will prevail; but after that, I am not at all sure of events”.11 The sweeping victories and gaining of apparent unchecked dominance of the Pacific Rim in the latter part of 1941 and early part of 1942 seemed to confirm his predictions. Yamamoto underestimated the United States’ ability to rebuild and industrial strength, therefore when he failed to meet his deadline of crushing the US Pacific fleet, the tide, as he predicted, began to ebb against him and the Imperial Japanese Navy.
The failure to keep their citizens properly informed is also an example of the Japanese government’s failure to accept the inevitable. The first lie was in the reasoning for going to war with the United States. “ Not a single Japanese at the time knew that the attack against Pearl Harbor had been carried out in violation of International Law…The Japanese people…believed that the United States was seeking to oppress the Japanese in in every way possible…[and believed] that that they were now launched upon a war of righteousness and self-defense”.12 Fol­lowing the crushing defeat at Midway, the military continued to report victories. This was a mistake because if the citizens had known the truth about losing half the fleet they would have committed to a higher rate of manufacturing. The propaganda began to unravel as the war entered its final months. Even though many Japanese citizens felt skeptical of what was being reported, they still wanted to believe in their hearts that what they were hearing was true. They finally realized the actual situation when they witnessed American B- 29s, or Mr. B’s as they called them, flying overhead in the morning on their way to bomb a city and returning unscathed that evening. It was especially frustrat­ing because the 10,000 ft. at which the bombers flew made it
11 Roehrs, Mark D,, and William A. Renzi. World War II in the Pacific.
12 Kodama, Yoshio. I Was Defeated. Japan: Radiopress, 1959.The Japanese Side of the Pacific Campaign
19
impossible for their anti-aircraft guns, which could only reach an altitude of 5,000 feet., to reach them as well as any fighters they would have wanted to send up.
The Japanese were still dumbstruck, or filled with in­dignation, when the Emperor tearfully got on the radio and announced the surrender.“Although the people of Japan had determined to resist until Japan was turned into a complete scorched earth…” 13 Once the Emperor spoke the Japanese people had no longer desired to resist. There were still some citizens who did not believe that it was actually the Emperor, but instead a trick and, therefore, continued resistance efforts. This, again, could be attributed to the fact that no normal citizen had ever heard the Emperor’s voice.
TheJapanese defeat was more than just a military de­feat to them; it was a defeat of all they held dear. The Japanese people soon became worried about whether or not Japan would be divided up like Germany. Would the Emperor have to go on trial? How would they be treated by the Americans? The Americans quickly allayed their fears when they came in with fanfare but immediately began rebuilding the damaged physical and emotional bridges.
The Japanese perspective during WWII is often overlooked in many of today’s history classes. This is perhaps due to the fact that their way of life was very different than that of the United States. Whatever the reasons may be, it will remain a sad chapter in world history that a once proud and ancient culture allowed themselves to become so blinded by their views of superiority and justification.
13 Ibid.Crescat Scientia
20
Bibliography
Doughty, Gruber, Flint, Grimsley, Herring, Horward, Lynn, Murray, First. WWII: Total Warfare Around The Globe. Lexington: D. C. Heath and Company, 1996.
Hurst III, G.Cameron . "Death, Honor and Loyalty: The Bushido Ideal." Philosophy East and West. 40. no. 4 (1990):
Kodama, Yoshio. I Was Defeated. Japan: Radiopress, 1959.
Hoyt, Edwin P. The Last Kamikaze. Westport: Praegar Publish­ers, 1993.
Fujitani, T., Geoffrey M. White, and Lisa Yoneyama. Perilous Memeories. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2001.
Roehrs, Mark D,, and William A. Renzi. World War II in the Pacific. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe Inc., 2004. 21
“It Did Not Seem Real – But
You Could Not Look Away”:
William Bates
“When Brigham Young called this a paradise I do not think
he exaggerated at all: for it is truly the most lovely place I ever
saw . . . On entering the city, we could see . . . at a glance that
everything was laid out in the most accurate manner,” wrote
William Drown, a trumpeter in the US Army, when he saw Salt
Lake City, Utah for the first time. 1 Drown’s record of Salt Lake
City is not unique; other visitors have written similar accounts
upon seeing the city for the first time. Upon reading such ac-counts
of the city’s beauty and its “most accurate” manner of lay
out, brings readers to ask why. Why does it appear to be such a
lovely paradise and why such a precise city layout?
An examination of travelers’ eye witness accounts of Salt
Lake City, from 1850-1870, provides insight to how the Mormons
urban planning changed the landscape to fit their Eastern ideas of
1 William Drown, “Personal Recollections—A Trumpeter’s Notes (’52-’58),”
in From Everglade to Canyon with the Second United States Cavalry, 1836-
1875, by Theophilus F. Rodenbough (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,
2000), 230.
Travelers’ Impressions of Salt Lake City Utah in
the 1850s
Crescat Scientia
22
beauty while their religious beliefs lead to a uniform city layout. While their religious beliefs and theological church hierarchy led to accurate and uniform city layout. The founding of Salt Lake City and the subsequent settlement of the Great Basin by Mormons has been addressed in many books and articles by scholars. An examination of these scholars works shows that a majority of them from 1932 to 2005 emphasized that the beliefs of Mormons had the largest impact on the physical appearance of Salt Lake City, but that was not the only influence they dis­cussed. Over the years, mentioned above, scholars discussed five major influencers on the design and layout of SLC: biblical, European, societal cooperation, religious leadership hierarchy, and the idea of Zion and the gathering. These five influencers can be broken down into two categories: external influencers, biblical and European, and internal influencers, the idea of Zion and the gathering, societal cooperation, and the LDS Church hierarchy.
Following this exploration, this paper than will examine firsthand accounts of visitors to Salt Lake City to show a first­hand view of how the Mormons’ urban planning appeared from 1850-1870. These descriptions show how the physical landscape of Salt Lake City reflect the idea of Eastern beauty while also holding a religious belief in making a city beautiful for God. These accounts also show that their religious beliefs and the theologi­cal church hierarchy led to accurate and uniform city layout.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS Church) was founded in 1830 in New York State with Joseph Smith Jr. as its president. The members of this church are com­monly known as Mormons in reference to a prophet in their scriptures, the Book of Mormon. Troubles arose between the locals and the Mormons that the church soon moved to Kirtland, Ohio. While in Kirtland they built an industrious community and some thought that they had found a permanent home. While there, Joseph Smith Jr. received a revelation that Jackson County Missouri was to be the true gathering place for the Church, i.e. Zion.2 He then drew up a plan on how Zion was to be laid out (Fig. 1) with instructions written in the margins. Joseph Smith
2 Thomas G. Alexander, and James B. Allen, Mormons and Gentiles: A History of Salt Lake City (Boulder, Colo.: Pruett Pub. Co., 1984), 20.“It Did Not Seem Real-But You Could Not Look Away”
23
along with two other prominent church leaders at that time, Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams, signed their names to the city plan document. This plan would have significant impact on the founding and physical layout of Salt Lake City.3
The city plan was sent to Church members in Missouri so they could begin implementing it.4 The plan was never brought to full fruition because the locals and the LDS Church were again having problems getting along, both in Kirtland and Missouri, and the Mormons were driven off. They then moved to Illinois where they built a city called Nauvoo. Here they were able to implement some of the ideas of the Zion plan but troubles arose. This time the trouble eventually lead to the death of Joseph Smith and the subsequent migration of the Mormons, under the direction of Brigham Young, to the Salt Lake Valley. Once in the Valley the Mormons began to construct a city that was based on the original plan of Zion.5
Few scholars have written exclusively on the founding and organization of Salt Lake City. Subsequently most of the scholars examined herein look at Mormon Settlement in the West and touch on Salt Lake City as just one of many cites planned and settled by the Mormons. With that in mind seven of the nine authors that are examined address the idea of external influ­ences on Mormon town planning, three of the seven address the idea of an external biblical influence and all seven address the idea of external European influences (There is one scholar who published in 2005 that will be discussed after all the rest of the scholars because she is the only one to address all five major subcategories in her paper, subsequently all number counts may appear to be one off).
D. W. Meinig published a book, entitled The Mormon Culture Region: Strategies and Patterns in the Geography of the American West 1847-1964 in 1965 on Mormon settlement.. In this book, Meinig’s main purpose was to track and show how the social make up of Mormon communities had a large effect the physical appearance
3 Lowry Nelson, The Mormon Village: A Pattern and Technique of Land Settlement (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1952), 26.
4 Ibid.
5 Alexander and Allen, Mormons and Gentiles, 20-23.Crescat Scientia
24
of the towns. He spends a lot of time looking at the turn of the century when Mormon towns began to have more non-Mormons in them then they had heretofore.6 What is of interest to this paper is when Meinig talked about the origins of Mormon city planning. Meinig briefly discussed the idea that Mormon town planning was influenced by the Bible and New England.7 The author provided a brief reference without any elaboration and it appears that the scholar expects his audience to understand his reference..
The only other scholars, examined herein, that addressed the idea of a biblical influence was Jeanne Kay and Craig Brown in their article entitled, "Mormon Beliefs about Land and Natural Resources, 1847–1877", published in 1985. Kay and Brown thor­oughly explained exactly how they thought the Mormons were influenced by the Bible and are not vague, like Meinig, on the topic. They showed how the Mormons thought of themselves as ancient Israelites calling non-members Gentiles and the places where they lived and worked Babylon. This meant that scriptures in the Bible that were addressed to the Israelites were interpreted to apply to Mormons. They even went so far as to call Zion the New Jerusalem that they one day hoped to return to. They went on to state that when Zion could no longer be in Jackson County, Missouri Zion became a term to mean wherever the saints were.8
Kay and Brown were environmental historians so they were primarily interested in how these beliefs transformed into how the Mormons treated the land. They stated that this biblical influence meant that they believed God would bless them or curse them through the land, by making it bloom or causing droughts and famines. But this relationship was not stagnant. Mormons were admonished to play an active role in making the ground produce fruit. Kay and Brown showed that because of
6 D. W. Meinig, The Mormon Culture Region: Strategies and Patterns in the Geography of the American West, 1847-1964 (Indianapolis, Ind: Bobbs-Merrill, 1965), 209-215.
7 Ibid.,196.
8 Kay, Jeanne and Craig J. Brown. "Mormon Beliefs about Land and Natural Resources, 1847–1877". Journal of Historical Geography 11, no. 3 (1985): 255.“It Did Not Seem Real-But You Could Not Look Away”
25
this biblical influence Mormons were very conscious of what the land produced and played an active role in making sure that it provided. What this meant in application was the planting and cultivation of farms trees and gardens, and the production of irrigation ditches to make these projects possible.9
The second subcategory of external influences discussed by scholars was European influences. By European the author means English, Spanish, and New England. As was stated above there are seven scholarsthat discussed the idea of an external European influence. Most of these scholars discuss the same points so the examinination of two of them will serve as repre­sentations of the others.
Raymond Lifchez published an article in 1932, entitled “In­spired Planning: Mormon and American Fourierist Communities in the Nineteenth Century,” wherein he describes two utopian communities; the Mormons and the Fourierists. This scholar gives brief acknowledgment that the Mormon settlement re­sembled European land settlement but does not expound how or where.10 The main argument the scholar makes is that it was the Mormons belief in divine revelation that caused them to have success in their Western settlements and the way they worked together as a group and not as individuals.11 Most scholars herein examined will follow Lifchez lead and focus in on the internal influences that the Mormon culture produces while only briefly mention that the Mormon’s may have got their idea for their city construction from other places. It is not till the late twentieth century and twenty-first century that scholars began to go into more detail on where some of the Mormons ideas of city building may have come from.
John Reps does a better job in going into more detail on exactly what European settlements Salt Lake City may have got some of its layout from, rather than being vague like Lifchez was. Reps wrote two books on the topic, one in 1979 and the other in 1981. In his first book he pointed out that the grid system found
9 Ibid., 255-257.
10 Raymond Lifchez, “Inspired Planning: Mormon and American Fourierist Communities in the Nineteenth Century,” Landscape 20, spring (1932), 34.
11 Ibid., 32.Crescat Scientia
26
in Salt Lake City is not a unique system for laying out cities. He argued that the grid system was used all over the American West because anyone with a little training could form the simple layout. Also, the grid system is in no way unique to America. Itwas used by the Spanish in their colonies before America be­came a country and by the Greeks and Romans before that.12 In his second book, he also points out that the layout ofSalt Lake City largely resembles William Penn’s city plan. Penn laid his city out in a grid but the idea that is of interest here is his use of public squares, or Gardens, that have been planned into the city. The plan for Salt Lake City did a similar thing.13
The next category that scholars wrote about was internal influencers, with the sub categories of the idea of Zion and the gathering, societal cooperation, and the LDS Church hierarchy. The reason for the designation of internal influencers is because they all arose from a unique Mormon culture that was founded on their religious belief system. This is not to say that other belief systems did not hold to these similar beliefs. One scholar stated that the Mormon system was a new invention, new not in its components but in the application of those components.14
When Zion and the gathering is referenced, it is referring to the idea that Mormons believed it was crucial to gather in one place in order to build the kingdom of God or the City of God,.15 An essay by Alan H. Grey, entitled “Mormon Settlement in Its Global Context,” published in 1980, compared the Mormons to the Christchurch in New Zealand. He showed how both churches sett up their cities at about the same time (1847 and 1851) and they both tried to separate themselves from society to make a more Godly community. They also both used the grid system in their city planning and both put religious buildings at the center
12 John W Reps, preface to Cities of the American West: a History of Frontier Urban Planning (N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1979), x.
13 John W. Reps, The Forgotten Frontier: Urban Planning in the West Before 1890 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1981), 1-5.
14 Lowry Nelson, The Mormon Village: a Pattern and Technique of Land Settlement (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1952), 28.
15 Norton, William. “Mormon Identity and Landscape in the Rural Intermoun­tain West”. Journal of the West. 37, no. 3 (1998): 32.“It Did Not Seem Real-But You Could Not Look Away”
27
of their plans, or as near center as they could. The purpose of Grey’s article was to show that the founding and set up of Salt Lake City was not as unique as some scholars have argued in the past. That there was at least one other settlement that was founded on the same general idea of Zion and subsequently took on several characteristics of Salt Lake City.16
C. Mark Hamilton, in his book Nineteenth-Century Mormon Architecture and City Planning,took this idea of Zion and went into further detail on what that meant for the Mormon community. He stated that Zion was to be under theocratic government and the people had to prepare themselves mentally and physically for that day. Zion was to be a place where all members of the LDS Church would be able to gather if they were pure in heart and all things would be held in common. He states that Joseph Smith was the first to teach this doctrine and Brigham Young continued it after his death.17 What this meant in practice was an influx of immigrants and emigrants into Salt Lake Valley, who tried to build a place for God to live and to work together to achieve it. Lifchez is the first scholar who addressed the is­sue of Mormon cooperation. He pointed out that one thing that helped Mormon utopianism work so well at first was by work­ing together.18 Kay and Brown did a better job in showing what ways Mormon cooperation effected how the city developed and what the Mormons were capable of doing because they worked together. They state that because of their communitarianism the Mormons were able to build temples, churches, and an ir­rigation system. The most important system for their survival in Utah was the irrigation system. When they worked together and shared the water between all they were able to accomplish much more than if they worked separately.19
Lowry Nelson argued that cooperation was one of the key
16 Alan H. Grey, "Mormon Settlement in Its Global Context," in The Mormon Role in the Settlement of the West, ed. by, Richard H. Jackson (Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1980), 75-90.
17 C. Mark Hamilton, Nineteenth-Century Mormon Architecture and City Planning (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), 13-14.
18 Lifchez, “Inspired Planning”, 33.
19 Kay and Brown, “Mormon Beliefs”, 257.Crescat Scientia
28
influencers that made, “The Mormon Village”, his term for the particular way Mormons settled in the West. He did not use the term “Cooperation” but the term “Solidarity,” but for the manner in which cooperation is used both terms mean the same thing.20 Nelson pointed out that the Mormons cooperation was a very, “intense group integration” and almost militaristic in its setup and execution. He pointed out that this form cooperation made it essential to have a leader to direct them. Because of the setup, Nelson argued that the group would comply with immediate obedience to any orders from the leader.21
Nelson brought across the next subcategory of internal influ­ences, the Mormon religious hierarchy. In order to understand Mormon leadership, more about their belief system will have to be explored. “I saw two personages (whose brightness and glory defy all description) standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me calling me by name and said (pointing to the other) ‘This is my beloved Son, Hear him.’”.22 The above quote describes Joseph Smith’s first vision. This is an embodi­ment of one of the founding principles of the LDS Church; that God still talks and gives direction to his prophets, the leaders of the LDS Church. In another revolution given to Smith in 1831, the Lord stated, “And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture . . . shall be the word of the Lord”.23 This quote is in reference to certain Elders of the Church but is applied even more so to the leaders of the Church, i.e. Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. These founding principles are very important in order to understand Mormon communities because the people involved are acting from these principles, that God speaks to his prophets and when his prophets speak that word becomes scripture for the people.
20 Nelson, The Mormon Village, 53
21 Ibid., 51.
22 Joseph Smith, "History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834]," accessed November 23, 2013, Joseph Smith Papers, http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834?dm=image-and-text&zm=zoom- inner&tm=expanded&p=3&s=undefined&sm=none.
23 Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, 68:4.“It Did Not Seem Real-But You Could Not Look Away”
29
This idea that leadership was a significant influencer on Mormon settlement was discussed by six of the nine scholars that are being examined, but only a few will be examined because many of the sources stated similar ideas. In the book, Nineteenth-Century Mormon Architecture and City Planning, C. Mark Hamilton’s argument is the uniqueness and peculiarity of Mormon city planning and architecture. One of his main arguments for this peculiarity was Mormon leadership. Particularly the influence of Joseph Smith, his Zion plan and the actual actions of Brigham Young in planning Salt Lake City. 24
Cecilia Parera’s 2005 article, “Mormon Town Planning: Physical and social Relevance”, mentioned all five of the influ­ences on the founding of Salt Lake City. Her writing culminated all of the ideas that have come before all in one place where she neatly organized the data. She agreed with Nelson’s idea of the town being original in the sense that Mormons took ideas that were around and made their own city plan that was unique. She covered in detail the external influences mentioned above by other scholars: the bible/Jerusalem, New England, William Penn, and Spanish settlements. She did mention one more that was not discussed by the other scholars and that is the influence of the United States Public Land Survey. This system laid out what size cites should be and the original Zion plat was that size.25 She also talked about the internal influences of Zion, cooperation, and Church hierarchy.26
In order to understand how all five of these influencers af­fected the layout and appearance of Salt Lake City it is important to look at what both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young wrote and said on the topic. As was stated above, Joseph Smith was the onethat designed the city plan for Zion which Salt Lake City was based off of. A photo copy of the original plan is displayed below.
24 Hamilton, Nineteenth-Century Mormon Architecture, 14, 24-28.
25 Cecilia Parera, "Mormon Town Planning: Physical and Social Relevance ". Journal of Planning History 4, no. 2 (2005): 158.
26 Ibid., 171.Crescat Scientia
30
Fgure 1. The origional 1833 plat for the City of Zion. (Curch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Historical Department, Salt Lake City, Utah).
Each square represented a city block. The lines crossing those blocks are meant to be subdivisions for individual hous­ing property. The writing in the margins are from Smith where he explains what the drawing means. He stated, “The painted squares in the middle are for public buildings.” He went on to say that these public buildings are Temples and store houses.27 As was stated above, some of the features that Smith incorporated into his community were not unique, such as; the grid system and the method of putting important civic or religious build­ings in the center. What is different is the manner in which the houses are laid out. Smith stated, “You will observe that that the lots are laid off alternately in the squares; in one square running from the south and north to the line throughout the center of the square; and in the next, the lots run from the east and west to the center line.” What is stated here is that houses are not to be set up so that each is facing another’s front door, as is done in most cities, but each front door looks at a section of another’s back yard. The purpose of this was to give the city a more agrarian feel. 28
27 Hamilton, Nineteenth-Century Mormon Architecture, 16.
28 Ibid., 15.“It Did Not Seem Real-But You Could Not Look Away”
31
Smith continued, “No one lot, in this city, is to contain more than one house, and that to be built twenty-five feet back from the street, leaving a small yard in front, to be planted in a grove, according to the taste of the builder; the rest of the lot for gardens; all the houses are to be built of brick or stone.” 29 As will be seen by the firsthand accounts by visitors to Salt Lake City this description is one that Brigham Young held to quite well.
When writing in his journal, Wilford Woodruff, one of the Apostles of the LDS Church, records Young’s first instruc­tion on the building of Salt Lake City when the Mormons first entered the Salt Lake Valley:
We walked from the north camp to about the cen­tre between the two creeks, when President Young waved his hand and said: ‘here is the forty acres for the Temple. The city can be laid out perfectly square, north and south, east and west.’ It was then moved and carried that the temple lot contain forty acres on the ground were we stood. It was also moved and carried that the city be laid out into lots of ten rods by twenty each, exclusive of the streets, and into blocks of eight lots, being ten acres in each block, and a quarter in each lot.
It was further moved and carried that each street be laid out eight rods wide, and the there be a side-walk on each side, twenty feet wide, and that each house be built in the center of the lot twenty feet from the front, that there might be uniformity throughout the city.
It was also moved that there be four public squares of ten acres each, to be laid out in various parts of the city for public grounds.30
The ground where he stood would not end up being the center of
29 Ibid.
30 Wilford Woodruff, Journal, as quoted in Cities of the American West: A History of Frontier Urban Planning, by John W. Reps (N.J.: Princeton Uni­versity Press, 1979), 303-304Crescat Scientia
32
the city but it was as close to the center as the topography would allow. It is also interesting that he added four public squares which Smith did not have in his plan but, as mentioned above, Penn had in his. What this came to look like when taken into practice can be seen in a city survey that was done in 1860, at the request of Captain Thomas Burton, by Thomas Bullock. The survey showed how the city was laid out at the time of Burton’s visit to Salt Lake City in 1860.
Figure 2. Salt Lake City survey of 1860 by Thomas Bullock, as cited in The City of the Saints, and Across the Rocky Mountains to California, by Richard Francis Burton (New York: Harper & Bros, 1862), to face 193.
By comparing figure 1 and 2 it can clearly be seen that Young kept the grid system and the alternating plots that Smith insinu­ated. Young also followed Smiths idea of beautifying the city that he laid out in his Zion plan. Young stated in an address to the members of the LDS Church in 1854 that he wanted people, “building up this kingdom; in building houses; in breaking up land; in setting out fruit and ornamental trees; in laying out fine gardens, pleasant walks, and beautiful groves”31 Here it can be seen that Young is worried about making the city beautiful because he wanted “ornamental trees” and “beautiful groves.”
31 Brigham Young, Journal of discourses (Liverpool: B. James, 1854), vol. 2, 145.“It Did Not Seem Real-But You Could Not Look Away”
33
These things are not for simple function but for experiences. As will be seen by examining travelers’ accounts it is safe to say that he succeeded in his goal.
Now that a general understanding of what scholars have written on the subject of Mormon settlement, a look at primary sources wherein the authors’ described their first impressions of Salt Lake City. These impressions show how the physical landscape of Salt Lake City reflected the idea of Eastern beauty, that Smith implied the city should have in his Zion Plan, while also holding a religious belief in making a city beautiful for God. These accounts showed how the influencers, discussed above, cultural cooperation and the Church hierarchy, led to accurate and uniform city layout.
The first thing that stands out is how these sources described the beauty they see in Salt Lake City. When William Drown, a trumpeter in the Army, recorded his impression on Salt Lake City when writing in his diary stated, “When Brigham Young called this a paradise I do not think he exaggerate at all: for it is truly the most lovely place I ever saw. If I were situated to do so, I would be almost persuaded to turn Mormon Myself, just for the privilege of living here”.32 Drown was passing through SLC with the military and had just spent a hard winter in the mountains. His experience might help to understand his com­ments about the idea of paradise. From this comment it can be seen that the inhabitants, as well as the army, shared something in common; a love for beauty. Elizabeth Cummings, wife of the Governor of the Utah Territory, described her recollection of the city in a letter to a friend stating, “It did not seem real – but you could not look away”.33 Again, another source commented on the beauty of the valley. It begs the question of what they may find so entrancing about the city.
32 William Drown, “Personal Recollections—A Trumpeter’s Notes (’52-’58),” in Theophilus F. Rodenbough, comp., From Everglade to Canyon with the Second United States Cavalry, 1836-1875 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000), 230.
33 Cumming to Sarah, 17 June 1858, in The Genteel Gentile: Letters of Elizabeth Cumming, 1857-1858, eds. Ray R. Canning, and Beverly Beeton (Salt Lake City: Tanner Trust Fund, University of Utah Library, 1977), 76.Crescat Scientia
34
The diary of Captain Albert Tracy provided a reason for Drowns’ and Cummings’ fascination with the beauty of the city. He wrote, “one saw that which one so longs to see from long familiarity with these deserts—perfectly bright green and luxuriant trees and shrubbery.”34 It can be seen that one of the elements that made this city so beautiful was its greenery, some­thing that would have become less frequent as travelers went from the East to the West. It is important to note that Utah’s average rainfall is about 13 inches.35 The amount of rainfall for New York, the home state of Smith and many of the saints is 35 inches.36 As can be seen from these simple figures, the Eastern states are far wetter than Utah and the Western states were where these travelers were coming from when entering Salt Lake City for the first time. From Tracy’s diary entry the main reason this city had such a draw on the emotions of the visitors passing through can be ascertained. It was due to the contrast between greenery and desert, home and abroad.
This is why the picture that they described of a beautiful city is surprising and raised questions such as; why the praise and what does it say about the builders of this city? The praise appears to come from the genuine beauty of the area. Reflect­ing on what was stated above and with careful analysis of these documents it appears that the builders had a love for the green beauty of the east that they left behind when migrating to the West. An Eastern newspaper had an article from one of their correspondence state:
[Salt Lake City] is laid out in blocks of ten acres each, eight lots to the block, an acre and a quarter in each lot; the streets eight rods wide; the sidewalks twenty feet wide; the sidewalks to be beautifully shaded; the blocks to be surrounded by a purling brook, issuing
34 Drown, “A Trumpeter’s Notes” 23
35 “Utah Precipitation”, accessed December 16, 2013, http://utahweather.org/UWC/lightning_precipitation/precipitation.html.
36 “Annual Temperature, Precipitation, and Snowfall Data Syracuse, New York”, accessed December 16, 2013, http://www.erh.noaa.gov/bgm/climate/syr/syr_annual_totals.shtml.“It Did Not Seem Real-But You Could Not Look Away”
35
from the mountains; every house to be built twenty feet from the front fence. No two houses front each other; standing in his own door, every man may not look into his neighbor's door, but into his neighbor's garden. They have four public squares, which are here­after to be adorned with trees from the four quarters of the globe, and sup-plied with fountains of water.37
An examination of this description shows that Young complied with the layout that Smith wrote in his Zion plan. The houses were set back, trees were planted along the streets, and the placement of houses was such that none looked out on the front of another. The width of the streets and sidewalks complied with Woodruffs journal entry of what Young stated he wanted them to be.
In order to accomplish the feats described by these writers, this group of people must have been unified and ran by some central power/authority to help in the organization and directed the building of the city. They also had to have worked out forms of specialization or at least large coordinated group efforts to create such a city; it could not have been done by one individual who was reliant on just his or her own labor. Yet with all this willing to fallow a central government of some sort, the Mor­mons showed little trust of any outside centralized government.
The next area of study is the physical layout of the city and what can be learned from the study from these first time visi­tors to Salt Lake City. Trumpeter Drown wrote, “On entering the city, we could see that at a glance that everything was laid out in the most accurate manner, the city being laid out off in perfect squares, every street as straight as an arrow, and fifty yards wide.”38 In order to build a city that has such attention on organization, there must have been some form of specialization or organized group effort. What is meant by specialization is that this society must have people in it who specialized in different tasks. There would be a carpenter, a farmer ,a roofer, etc. .. The reason for this is if there was not this skill and some kind of
37 “Great Salt Lake City” Bradford Reporter, 9 Nov. 1850.
38 Drown, “A Trumpeter’s Notes” 23Crescat Scientia
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group effort there would not be the skill base or the manpower to build this kind of city. They must have been organized in such a way to make time for beautification. If their sole worry was getting a roof over their heads and when or how they were getting their next meal, they would not have had time to build a city like what has been described by these authors. They were able to build such a city so it stands to reason that they have a skilled population as well as an organized one.
Charles A. Scott, a member of the United States Army en­tering the city, wrote that the, “City is well laid out with broad streets crossing at right angles” with clear streams of water in them.39 His recollection in his diary not only gave affirmation to what Drown stated but also gave a hint at why the area was able to be so green. Captain Tracy wrote that, “Beyond this, [city] the gray of the eternal desert, hemmed remotely by picturesque peaks and mountains”.40 This shows that the city was a green spot in an “eternal desert.” Scott discussed that because of the streams in the streets acting as irrigation the inhabitants of the city were able to create the green beauty of a city that was described.. The creation of these streams or irrigation systems did not happen on their own. They had to be built by the inhabitants of the city and this again points to an organized plan to create such a city that the authors described.
Fitz Ludlow started his trek out west in 1863; he was a writer who had graduated from Union Collage.41 He did not arrive in Salt Lake City until 1870, where he described how, “the sidewalks along the front of [Salt Lake City’s] court-yards are densely roofed avenues of living green; the maple, the cottonwood, the poplar, a species of acacia like our honey locust, seeming to have thriven apace wherever the settlers’ hand has planted them, and
39 Charles A. Scott, “Charles A. Scott’s Diary of the Utah Expedition, 1857-1858,” Edited by Robert E. Stowers and John M. Ellis in Utah Historical Quarterly 28, no. 2 (1960): 173.
40Albert Tracy, “Journal of Captain Albert Tracy,” in Utah Historical Quar­terly 13, no. 1 (1945): 26.
41 "Erowid Fitz Hugh Ludlow Vault." The Vaults of Erowid, http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/ludlow_fitz_hugh/ (accessed December 2, 2013).“It Did Not Seem Real-But You Could Not Look Away”
37
at a more rapid rate than in the East”.42 This again showed the Mormons ability to work together under the direction of Young and how they pulled their efforts together and accomplish much they would not have been able to do on their own.
Solomon Carvalho was passed through Salt Lake City as an artist for one of Colonel John C. Fremont’s expeditions in 1854.43 He described, “a delicious stream of water flows through the center of the city, this is subdivided into murmuring rivulets on either side of all the streets”.44 Here Coravalho described the presence of ditches that would be necessary for moving water throughout the city in order to keep the orchards and gardens watered in the dry Utah climate.
From looking at how the authors of these diaries and letters wrote about the green beauty of the city and its physical layout, it can be seen that they were pleased and sometime shocked by what they saw when they visited the city. What is more important, these diaries show how strong of an influence LDS Church leaders had over their members. This can be seen in the fact that ideas that Joseph Smith laid out in his 1833 city plan for Zion was continued with the founding of Salt Lake City in 1847. It can be seen by authors’ descriptions of the city with large, straight streets lined with trees, with houses alternating directions, and people’s lots containing gardens and orchards. It was not the Church leadership alone that made Salt Lake City the way it was. It was both the external influences from the Bible and Europe and the internal influences of the idea of Zion and the gathering and societal cooperation that made Salt Lake City the beautiful and orderly place travelers encountered as the passed through in the late nineteenth century.
42 Fitz Hugh Ludlow, The Heart of the Continent: A Record of Travel Across the Plains and in Oregon, with an Examination of the Mormon Principle (New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1870), 323.
43 Solomon Nunes Carvalho, Incidents of Travel and Adventure in the Far West (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1954), 32-34, 206.
44 Ibid., 207Crescat Scientia
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Bibliography
Primary Sources
Burton, Richard Francis. The City of the Saints, And Across the Rocky Mountains to California. New York: Harper & Bros, 1862.
Carvalho, Solomon Nunes. Incidents of Travel and Adventure in the Far West. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1954.
Curch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Historical Depart­ment, Salt Lake City, Utah. As quoted in Nineteenth-Century Mormon Architecture and City Planning. By Hamilton, C. Mark. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Cumming, Elizabeth. The Genteel Gentile: Letters of Elizabeth Cum­ming, 1857-1858. Edited by Ray R. Canning, and Beverly Bee­ton. Salt Lake City: Tanner Trust Fund, University of Utah Library, 1977.
Drown, William. “Personal Recollections—A Trumpeter’s Notes (’52-’58).” in From Everglade to Canyon with the Second United States Cavalry, 1836-1875, by Theophilus F. Rodenbough, 194-230. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000.
Drown, William. “Personal Recollections—A Trumpeter’s Notes (’52-’58).” in Theophilus F. Rodenbough. From Everglade to Canyon with the Second United States Cavalry, 1836-1875. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, (2000): 230.
Ferris, Benjamin G. Utah and the Mormons the History, Government, Doctrines, Customs, and Prospects of the Latter-Day Saints. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1854.
“Great Salt Lake City” Bradford Reporter, 9 Nov. 1850
Ludlow, Fitz Hugh. The Heart of the Continent: A Record of Travel Across the Plains and in Oregon, with an Examination of the Mormon Principle. New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1870.
Scott, Charles A. “Charles A. Scott’s Diary of the Utah Expedition, “It Did Not Seem Real-But You Could Not Look Away”
39
1857-1858” Edited by Robert E. Stowers and John M. Ellis in Utah Historical Quarterly 28, no. 2 (1960): 155-176
Smith, Joseph . "History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834]." Accessed November 23, 2013. Joseph Smith Papers. http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834?dm=image-and-text&zm=zoom- inner&tm=expanded&p=3&s=undefined&sm=none.
The Book of Mormon: another testament of Jesus Christ; The Doctrine and covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; The Pearl of great price. Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A.: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981.
Tracy, Albert. “Journal of Captain Albert Tracy.” in Utah Historical Quarterly 13, no. 1 (1945): 1-118
Woodruff, Wilford. Journal. As quoted in Cities of the American West: A History of Frontier Urban Planning, by John W. Reps. N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1979.
Young, Brigham. Journal of discourses. Liverpool: B. James, 1854.
Secondary Sources
Alexander, Thomas G., and James B. Allen. Mormons and Gentiles: A History of Salt Lake City. Boulder, Colo.: Pruett Pub. Co., 1984.
“Annual Temperature, Precipitation, and Snowfall Data Syracuse, New York.” Accessed December 16, 2013. http://www.erh.noaa.gov/bgm/climate/syr/syr_annual_totals.shtml.
"Erowid Fitz Hugh Ludlow Vault." The Vaults of Erowid. http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/ludlow_fitz_hugh/ (ac­cessed December 2, 2013).
Grey, Alan H. "Mormon Settlement in Its Global Context." In The Mormon Role in the Settlement of the West, edited by Richard H. Jackson, 75-90. Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1980.
Hamilton, C. Mark. Nineteenth-Century Mormon Architecture and City Planning. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. Crescat Scientia
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Kay, Jeanne and Craig J. Brown. "Mormon Beliefs about Land and Natural Resources, 1847–1877." Journal of Historical Geography 11, no. 3 (1985): 253-267.
Lifchez, Raymond. “Inspired Planning: Mormon and American Fourierist Communities in the Nineteenth Century”. Landscape 20, spring (1932): 29-35.
Meinig, D. W. The Mormon Culture Region: Strategies and Patterns in the Geography of the American West, 1847-1964. Indianapolis, Ind: Bobbs-Merrill, 1965.
Mitchell, Martin. "Gentile Impressions of Salt Lake City, Utah, 1849-1870". Geographical Review. 87, no. 3 (1997): 334-352.
Nelson, Lowry. The Mormon Village: a Pattern and Technique of Land Settlement. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1952.
Norton, William. “Mormon Identity and Landscape in the Rural Intermountain West”. Journal of the West. 37, no. 3 (1998): 33-43.
Parera, Cecilia. "Mormon Town Planning: Physical and Social Relevance." Journal of Planning History 4, no. 2 (2005): 155-174.
Reps, John W. The Forgotten Frontier: Urban Planning in the West Before 1890. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1981.
Reps, John W. Preface to Cities of the American West: a History of Frontier Urban Planning. N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1979.
“Utah Precipitation.” Accessed December 16, 2013. http://utah­weather.org/UWC/lightning_precipitation/precipitation.html
Wahlquist, Wayne L. "A Review of Mormon Settlement Litera­ture." Utah Historical Quarterly. 45, no. 1. (1977): 4-21.41
The Israeli-Palestine Conflict:
Ben Aldana
The ongoing conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is
often attributed to ancient or ideological disputes between the
two peoples. While ancient and ideological contributing factors
certainly need to be considered when examining this conflict, it
is important to have an adequate understanding of its modern
history, as well as why neither side seems to be psychologi-cally
capable of presenting a viable solution to the events that
continue to take place.
In this paper, a theory as to why both sides of this conflict
are guilty of complicity in the commission of perceived unjust
actions against each other is first discussed. Also included in
this analysis are reasons why violence between the Israelis and
Palestinians has long been condoned and encouraged by each side
against the other. The frequent incidences of violence reported
between the two sides are often baffling. Their intensity can
occasionally lead to conclusions where one side or the other is
demonized in the media or perceived to be unreasonable, extreme
in its ideology, or simply failing to utilize more ‘civilized’ options
Modern History
Ben Aldana’s experiences in life have exposed him to social problems on a large
scale. His experiences have resulted in a personal desire to explore, explain, and
increase overall public awareness of unjust situations. While Ben’s passion is ad-vocating
on behalf of those suffering as a result of unnecessary heavy-handedness,
he also understands the importance of representing all points of view. Ben will
graduate from UVU in May 2014 with his BS in Behavioral Science, minoring in
Political Science. He will begin law school in August 2014.
Crescat Scientia
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to resolve their differing views.
Injustice on a large scale, regardless of where it is oc­curring, is worthy of international attention. On April 16, 1963 in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”1 He went on to quote Thomas Aquinas by saying, “any law that degrades human personality is unjust,” and “any law that uplifts human personality is just.”2 These statements can lead to the conclusion that when injustice occurs, human personality is degraded and consequently more injustice is encouraged, which seems to be similar to what is taking place between the Israelis and Palestinians.
When the Palestinians are forced from the lands they in­habit, although viewed as a right and lawful activity by the Israelis, it degrades the humanity of Palestinians. If we accept the logic of King, described in the previous paragraph, then the seizure of Palestinian lands perpetuates an injustice. When the Israelis seized Palestinian lands, the Palestinians felt justified in committing violence directed at the citizens of Israel. When Palestinian citizens or militants launched rocket attacks or committed suicide bombings with the intent of killing Israeli citizens in response to Israeli incursions into their territories, they were also committing unjust actions, but felt legitimate in the violence of their choices because they were harmed when the Israelis took or destroyed their property.
It is wrong for someone to direct violence at another who has done nothing unjust to them. To do so is to commit an injustice. Currently, when the Palestinians attack Israeli civilians in response to the incursions by Israeli settlers, they commit such an injustice. However, even though it is wrong for someone to direct violence at another, there is something in human nature which helps individuals in justifying violence against anyone associated with the ‘enemy,’ or the original per­petrator of the injustice. The unarmed citizens of Israel were the victims of this kind of violence along with anyone closely
1 Martin L. King, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” The Atlantic Monthly, 212 no. 2 (1963): 1.
2 Ibid, 3. The Israeli-Palestine Conflict
43
associated or aligned with the ‘enemy.’
Albert Bandura’s theory on moral disengagement goes a long way in helping us understand why ‘immoral’ actions taken by occupying forces can occur at the hands of those on the front lines of a conflict, as well as why those retaliating against such actions in an immoral manner feel justified.3 Moral disengage­ment is the process by which immoral or injurious conduct is converted into righteous conduct, which fits very well with what has occurred in recent history and is ongoing between the Israelis and Palestinians.4
In the cases of both the Israelis and Palestinians, moral disengagement occurs through justification, displacement of re­sponsibility, diffusion of responsibility, minimization of harmful consequences of the actions taken, dehumanization of the enemy, and attribution of blame, which are all ways in which people can morally disengage.5 Through these processes, “what was once morally condemnable becomes a source of self-valuation.”6 Also through these psychological processes, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, as well as those who carry out their desires concerning the perpetuation of retaliatory violence, become national heroes and protectors of the homeland rather than ruthless killers.
This was recently exemplified when the Israelis released multiple Palestinian prisoners as a result of a pre-arranged deal in the furtherance of a peace process. The prisoners, upon their return to the Palestinian territories, were given a hero’s welcome, large amounts of cash by the Palestinian Authority, and high military ranks and honors as rewards for what they had done which landed them in Israeli prisons to begin with. The prisoners had been held by the Israelis on terrorism and murder charges and were viewed as terrorists and murderers by the Israeli government. The Palestinians on the other hand,
3 Albert Bandura, “Selective Moral Disengagement in the Exercise of Moral Agency,” Journal of Moral Education 31, no. 2 (2002): 103.
4 Albert Bandura, et. al., “The Role of Moral Disengagement in the Execution Process,” Law and Human Behavior 29, no. 4 (2005): 373.
5 Bandura, “Selective Moral Disengagement in the Exercise of Moral Agency,” 103-110.
6 Ibid, 106.Crescat Scientia
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held a very different and positive view of the former prisoners’ activities, which is exemplified by the way they were treated upon their release and return home.7
The unjust ‘terrorist’ attacks launched against the Israelis by some of the Palestinians are not as random or unavoidable as the Israelis would like the rest of the world to think they are. The violence and target choice both have purposes, and as long as the Palestinians feel they have been dealt with unjustly by the Israelis, they will continue to feel absolutely justified in committing ‘terrorist’ attacks against the Israelis.8
Since the late 19th century, Zionist-Jewish settlers have been systematically encroaching upon and displacing the Pal­estinian population in the area of the world currently known as Israel. Prior to the arrival of these Zionist-Jewish settlers, the Palestinians had inhabited and used these particular lands for hundreds of years.9 Before and during the arrival of many of these Jewish settlers, Palestine was an area controlled by the Ottoman Empire. The area however, was very loosely governed because of the numerous difficulties encountered by the Otto­man Government in ruling a land so distant from the Empire’s capital.10
When the land of current day Israel and the Palestin­ian territories was a part of the Ottoman Empire, and prior to 1858, land ‘ownership’ had been handled in a very localized and
7 Paul Alster, “Freed Palestinian Killers Showered with Cash, Military Pro­motions,” Fox News, 19 November 2013, Available from http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/11/19/freed-palestinian-killers-showered-with-cash-military-promotions/, accessed 1 February 2014.
8 Hanne E. Roislien and Jo Roislien, “The Logic of Palestinian Terrorist Target Choice? Examining the Israel Defense Forces' Official Statistics on Palestinian Terrorist Attacks 2000-2004,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 33, no. 2 (2010): 143. doi:10.1080/10576100903488436
9 Jon-Jay Tilsen, “Ottoman Land Registration Law as a Contributing Factor in the Israeli-Arab Conflict,” Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel, Internet, available from http://www.beki.org/landlaw.html, accessed 1 February 2014.
10 “The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict,” Jews for Justice in the Middle East, Internet, available from http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/origin.html, accessed 1 February 2014.The Israeli-Palestine Conflict
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traditional way. This area was utilized and cultivated according to the traditions of the population that had occupied it, which was as a communal farming community in which land was not legally ‘owned’ by any particular individual.11
The Ottoman Land Code of 1858 changed this traditional ownership and allowed an individual to register as the legal owner of a tract of land, making it possible for people to obtain large tracts of land which they essentially had been absent from.12 This allowed someone who was not inhabiting or using land in a particular area to register as the legal owner of the land with the Ottoman Government, which gave that person the legal right to sell it to anyone they wished. The Zionist-Jewish settlers com­ing into the area took full advantage of this situation and began purchasing property in the ‘holy land’ upon which they could settle. If it just so happened that there were Palestinians living on the land, had been there for many years, and were unwilling to vacate the premises, government authorities would take care to evict the occupants for the legal property owner.13
One of the problems this situation has helped in creating is that both parties (the Zionist-Jewish settlers and Palestinian inhabitants) felt they had a valid claim to the area in question. This has played a large part in creating the current, ongoing con­flict between the Israelis and Palestinians, and has now plagued the area for well over a century. Additionally, many Jewish set­tlers feel they have a historic and biblical right to settle on the land previously and currently inhabited by the Palestinian people, which adds an ideological aspect to the conflict activity.14
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid.
13 Tilsen, “Ottoman Land Registration Law as a Contributing Factor in the Israeli-Arab Conflict,” n. p.
14 Nancy Murray, “As Kerry Talks Peace, Israeli Settlers Dispossess Pales­tinians,” Aljazeera America, 22 November 2013, Available from http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2013/11/gaza-west-bank-israelisettlementspalestinian­rights.html, accessed 30 January 2013. Leslie Wroughton, “Kerry Warns Israel of Troubles Ahead if Peace Talks Fail.” Reuters, 7 November 2014, Available from http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/07/us-palestinians-israel-kerry-idUSBRE9A60P220131107, accessed 30 January 2013. Crescat Scientia
46
The current land acquisition activity engaged in by the State of Israel is justified in part by the Israeli Government in the name of maintaining national security. None of the activity has any­thing to do with legal ownership anymore. The Israelis argue they must have a sufficient ‘buffer zone’ in order to prevent the deadly attacks being launched against their civilians from the Palestinian territories, and the land used to create these buffer zones is simply taken from the Palestinians by force.15 This land-acquisition activity has typically gone unanswered in any direct way by the international community, and has resulted in a pressing humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories.
The killing of unarmed Israeli civilians by Palestinians in their homes and cities do not provide examples of justice. The killings do not correct the injustice done to the Palestinians by the Israelis. It can also reinforce the idea in the Israelis’ mind that the injustices they have committed are not injustices at all, but truly a defense of their territory. This Israeli-held attitude has furthered the acquisition of a larger buffer zone between themselves and the Palestinians, accomplished by increasing the distance Palestinians would need to travel before being capable of attacking Israeli civilians. This increase in buffer zone territory controlled by Israel is obtained at the expense of the Palestinians and only serves to increase the feelings of justification on the part of the Palestinians to commit more acts of terroristic violence against those occupying the former Palestinian territories or those close to the occupiers, or those associated with whomever is occupying the lands they feel be­longed to them in the first place. This then, becomes a case of moral disengagement.
Through the seizing and settlement of Palestinian lands by the Israelis, many Palestinians have effectively been deprived of their ability to work, to obtain an education, to receive health care services, and to engage in free assembly, as well as several other activities many in the world would consider basic human
15 “Buffer Zone Reducing Palestinian Land in Gaza,” Irin News, 16 June 2008, Available from http://www.irinnews.org/report/78765/israel-opt-buffer-zone-reducing-palestinian-agricultural-land-in-gaza, accessed 1 December 2013. The Israeli-Palestine Conflict
47
rights.16 The Palestinians still have some lands, but they cannot access all of the necessary services in their lands because many of the Palestinian areas are inside of Israeli-settled or Israeli-controlled territory. The Palestinian territories are in separate, sporadic locations, spread throughout Israeli-held territory (see Fig. 1), in which Palestinians are not free to travel. This restricted travel is the result of several factors, one of which is the construction of “Jews-only” roads, upon which Palestinians are forbidden to travel.17 The segregation of travel paths has made it very difficult for Palestinians to get from one area of their territory to another, and is a mechanism by which Israelis are depriving the Palestinians of the rights outlined above.
Israel’s Borders
(Fig. 1)18
16 John E, Richardson and Leon Barkho, “Reporting Israel,” Studies 10, no. 5 (2008), 606.
17 Ibid, 603.
18 Michael R. Burch, “Are the 1967 Borders of Israel ‘indefensible’ according to Jewish military experts?,” The Hyper Texts, Internet, available from http://www.thehypertexts.com/Israel%20Indefensible%201967%20Borders%20Nakba.htm, accessed 1 December 2013, Fig. 1.Crescat Scientia
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The United Nations passed a resolution calling for the parti­tion of Palestine on November 29, 1947.19 The intention of this resolution was to provide separate territories in which both groups could live and exercise the principle of self-determination, not to create Jewish or Arab states.20 Israeli leaders declared independence on May 14, 1948, after which the new state was immediately attacked by multiple Arab nations to prevent the formation of the state of Israel.21 Instead of remaining to prevent the invasion of Israel by Arab armies, or intervening in an at­tempt to enforce an agreement between the two sides, British forces left the area, and the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 ensued.22
Israel’s armies prevailed. In February of 1949 an armistice agreement was reached and borders were established.23 By this armistice, Israel had secured its own legitimacy in the world, not through its membership in the United Nations, as some in the world believe.24 Through the waging of war, Israel established its own legitimacy in the world community. As can be observed in the map in Figure1 above, had the Arabs accepted the state of Israel as was declared in 1948 by Israeli-Jews, the Palestinians would have ended up with a great deal more land than they currently possess, and quite possibly a state of their own. As a result of Arab rigidity concerning the existence of Israel, they
19 “U.N. Partitions Palestine, Allowing for Creation of Israel,” New York Times, 29 November 2011, Available from http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/29/nov-29-1947-united-nations-partitions-palestine-allowing-for-creation-of-israel/?_r=0, accessed 1 February 2014.
20 Jeremy R. Hammond, “The Myth of the U.N. Creation of Israel,” For­eign Policy Journal, Internet, Available from http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2010/10/26/the-myth-of-the-u-n-creation-of-israel/, accessed 13 De­cember 2013.
21“Milestones: 1945-1952,” State Department, Office of the Historian. Internet, available from http://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/creation-israel, accessed on 13 December 2013.
22 U.N. Partitions Palestine, Allowing for Creation of Israel, n. p.
23 “Milestones: 1945-1952,” State Department, Office of the Historian. Internet, available from http://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/arab-israeli-war, accessed on 13 December 2013.
24 Hammond, “The Myth of the U.N. Creation of Israel,” n. p.The Israeli-Palestine Conflict
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now have much less territory than they otherwise would have ended up with, had they been willing to compromise with the Jews in Israel.
The 1967 borders shown in Figure 1 are the ones inter­nationally recognized as Israel’s legitimate borders. During the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Israel seized control of and occupied more Arab territory, including the West Bank.25 As can also be seen from Figure 1, since 1967 Israelis have encroached tremen­dously upon the Arab population inhabiting the West Bank, resulting in many of the problems previously described. While a good argument can be made to support the position Israel has taken concerning the legitimacy of its settlements in the West Bank, there must come a point when the basic human rights of those living in an occupied territory need to be considered. Israel has fought for and won its legitimacy in the world. The Israelis have a solid hold on that which preserves the existence of Israel. Continued military action by the Israeli government against the Palestinians however, is harming its legitimacy in the eyes of the world. Many of Israel’s own citizens have even begun to question the legitimacy of what their government is doing with respect to its treatment of the Palestinians.
Historically, Israelis have blamed Palestinians for the conflict, and Palestinians have blamed the Israelis. Both sides have shaped the conflict narrative in a self-favoring manner, leading the citizens in each of their respective groups to psy­chologically view themselves as being on the ‘right’ side of the conflict. This has been partially due to the fact that both groups sought to “establish homelands in the same territory,” creating an in-group/out-group situation, which has a unifying effect upon each of the in-groups against the out-group(s).26
The conflict narratives on both sides have supported the view of being on the ‘right’ side, until recently. Because Israel is no longer faced with an existential threat to its existence, many
25 “Milestones: 1961-1968,” State Department, Office of the Historian, Available from http://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/arab-israeli-war-1967, accessed on 13 December 2013.
26 Rafi Nets-Zehngut, “Israeli Memory of the Palestinian Refugee Problem,” Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice 24, no. 2 (2012): 188.Crescat Scientia
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divergent views have been able to develop within the country and have even become prominent ideas concerning what Israelis should do concerning their conflict with the Palestinians.27
Take, for example, one of the previous views held by a majority of Israelis, which was that no Palestinians were ex­pelled from their homes or lands during the 1948 war with the Arab states. The view of Palestinians has been very different, and there are many conflicting accounts of what actually took place. The Palestinians want to return to their lands, and the issue has been a major sticking point in the numerous peace processes that have been attempted during the last half-century. The Palestinians want to return to the homes they left during the 1948 war. Israelis previously had been unwilling to budge on this issue because they had been led to believe by the power structures in their country, through official narratives, that their people had done nothing wrong and that the Palestinians had abandoned the property under no duress whatsoever. The Israelis had merely filled the gap.28
This view however, is changing. A representative public opinion survey of Israeli citizens conducted in 2008 found that more Israelis now discount the popular narratives they have historically been provided through official sources, and more commonly believe the ‘critical narratives’ now prominent in Israel that Palestinians actually were expelled in 1948 during the war. This enhances prospects for peace because it gives Israeli leaders the ability to negotiate on an issue which had previously been politically off-limits.29 Since many Israelis now believe the Palestinians may in fact have been dealt with unjustly in 1948 in regard to their lands, the Israeli people have become more willing to compromise on the issue, which creates the ability for Israeli leaders to do so as well.
The ‘critical narratives’ mentioned above began develop­ing in Israel in the mid-1970s through the 1990s. During this time, the newspaper and television media became privately-owned and operated, and the main threats to Israel’s very existence
27 Ibid, 190.
28 Ibid, 188-189.
29 Ibid, 191.The Israeli-Palestine Conflict
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had essentially been resolved, with the exception of Iran. This has led to the dissemination of new ideas and a change in the psychological attitudes of the Israelis with respect to the Pal­estinians and what the Palestinian people are experiencing at the hands of the Israeli government.30
Peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis re­sumed on August 14, 2013. 31 Shortly after the resumption of peace talks between the two sides however, Israeli security forces killed three Palestinians and wounded 19 others when they entered the West Bank on August 26, 2013 to detain a terror operative. This operation was interrupted when the Israeli soldiers encountered a violent crowd of Palestinians. The confrontation took place after Israeli security forces arrested the suspect they had been looking for to begin with.32 On September 6, 2013, a Palestin­ian man living in the West Bank was ordered by the Israelis to either demolish his home or pay for the demolition out of his own pocked in order to make way for Israeli settlers. He ultimately was ordered to do this by an Israeli court.33 Numerous other examples of such instances continue to be reported in the West Bank, which diminishes prospects of a viable peace agreement.
As of September 4, 2013, Palestinian officials were claim­ing that the peace talks appeared to be going nowhere. From the Palestinian point of view, the Israelis were and still are ne­gotiating in bad faith. The Palestinians ultimately want to have their own state, and the land the Israelis are settling on is land the Palestinians envision as a part of their future state. Since the Israelis are very well aware of this fact, Palestinians view the settlement activity as a sign that Israelis are not actually serious about negotiating. They feel the Israelis are only trying to buy
30 Ibid, 192.
31 Wroughton, “Kerry Warns Israel of Troubles Ahead if Peace Talks Fail.” n. p.
32 “Palestinians Killed in Clashes with Israeli Police,” BBC News, 26 August 2013, Available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23839675, accessed 1 February 2014.
33 “Israel Forces Palestinian to Demolish his Own House in Al-Quds,” Palestine News Network, 6 September 2013, Available from http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/politics/5624-israel-forces-palestinian-to-demolish-his-house-in-al-quds, accessed 1 February 2014. Crescat Scientia
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time to cement their presence in the West Bank and in East Je­rusalem, which will make it much harder for the Palestinians to reclaim that which has been taken.34 Not only have the Israelis not halted settlement activity since the beginning of current negotiations, they have actually accelerated the construction of settlements, which adds credibility to the argument that the Israelis are negotiating in bad faith.35
On September 9, 2013, U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders in London to get an idea of the position each side was taking in regard to creating a separate and sovereign Palestinian state.36 Palestinian frustration appeared to be growing shortly after the conversa­tions Kerry had with leaders from both sides. This is because the U.S. Envoy assigned to participate in the negotiations was being excluded from the meetings by the Israelis, which the Palestin­ians viewed as being obstructionist to any form of constructive negotiations.37
There are however, a number of reasons to be optimistic about the potential current peace negotiations have over those of the past. In addition to that which has been discussed above, Alan Elsner reports there is a much better groundwork now than there has been in the past. There is more time to facilitate a last­ing agreement between the two sides, the cost of not reaching an agreement will be greater than it has ever been, President Abbas is 78 years old and wants to leave a legacy behind, Israeli
34 “Talks with Israel Going Nowhere,” The Daily Star, 5 September 2013, Avail­able from http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Sep-05/230027-talks-with-israel-going-nowhere-senior-palestinian.ashx#axzz2dxvvCpUD, accessed 1 February 2014.
35 Murray, “As Kerry Talks Peace, Israeli Settlers Dispossess Palestinians,” n. p.
36 Stuart Winer, “Kerry, Abbas Meet in London to Review Peace Efforts,” The Times of Israel, 9 September 2013, Available from http://www.timeso­fisrael.com/kerry-abbas-meet-in-london-to-review-peace-efforts/, accessed 1 February 2014.
37 Daoud Kuttab, “Palestinians Frustrated as Israel Stalls Peace Talks,” Al-Monitor, 11 September 2013, Available from http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/09/palestinian-israel-talks-stalled.html, accessed 1 Feb­ruary 2014. The Israeli-Palestine Conflict
53
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing political pressure to reach an agreement, Arab states are now willing to help in the process, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry appears committed to making an agreement a very important issue.38
The Palestinians have made it abundantly clear what they want out of the current peace talks; a Palestinian state. The Israelis need to decide what it is they want if an agreement is to be reached.39 It is not just the Israelis, however, who are doing things to sour relations between the two sides. Both sides are engaging in activities which threaten a desirable outcome to the negotiations. On September 23, 2013, it was reported that two Israelis were killed in separate attacks perpetrated by Palestinians in the West Bank.40 So far, both sides appear to be committed to talking despite the various isolated incidents which often happen between the two peoples. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he is seeking a “final agreement” to end the conflict.41
European nations also appear to be ramping up their support of the Palestinians’ cause.42 On November 18, 2013 French
38 Alan Elsner, “Seven Reasons to be Optimistic about Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks,” The Christian Science Monitor, Available from http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2013/0912/7-reasons-to-be-optimistic-about-Israeli-Palestinian-peace-talks/Better-groundwork, accessed 1 February 2014.
39 Stephen Cohen, “Prospects for Mideast Peace,” New York Times, 19 Sep­tember 2013, Available from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/opinion/prospects-for-mideast-peace.html?_r=0, accessed 1 February 2014.
40 William Booth and Ruth Eglash, “Some Israeli Leaders Question Peace Talks with Palestinians after Weekend Attacks,” Washington Post, 22 September 2013, Available from http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israeli-leaders-question-peace-accord-with-palestinians-after-soldiers-death/2013/09/22/aabcaf7c-2382-11e3-ad0d-b7c8d2a594b9_story.html, accessed 1 February 2014.
41 Wroughton, “Kerry Warns Israel of Troubles Ahead if Peace Talks Fail.” n. p
42 Anne Gearan, “At U.N., Palestinian leader Abbas criticizes Israel, but Pledges good faith in peace talks,” Washington Post, 26 September 2013, Available from http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/at-un-palestinian-leader-abbas-criticizes-israel-but-pledges-good-faith-in-peace-talks/2013/09/26/4767d2ee-26ed-11e3-9372-92606241ae9c_story.html, Crescat Scientia
54
President Francois Hollande made the position of France very clear regarding Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank. He stated emphatically that he, and the French government, want Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank territory to be halted. He demanded that Israel stop building settlements on land in the West Bank which it seized during the 1967 Six-Day War against the Arabs, because such activity compromises any prospects for peace.43
Vitens, which is a Danish water company, also recently cut ties with Merkot, Israel’s national water carrier. This sev­erance was as a result of the continued settlement activity by Israel’s government in the West Bank.44 Since the resumption of peace talks in July 2013, Israel’s acceleration of the pace of its settlement activity has sparked increased and vocal international criticism of the practice, as well as action, such as that recently taken by Vitens.
Many prominent world leaders, including Israeli leaders, have argued the necessity of reaching a two-state solution to the impasse regarding the current territorial conflict the Israelis are involved in with the Palestinians.45 No solution can be reached however, unless Israeli settlements are not only stopped, but in many cases removed from where they are currently located. It would be virtually impossible for Palestinian leadership to have the political ability to negotiate a meaningful peace agreement if the Israelis continue building settlements on land the Pales­tinians view as belonging to them; the practice undermines the legitimacy of Palestinian leaders because it contributes to the
accessed 1 February 2014.
43 Ben Armbruster, “French President Says Israeli Settlement Activity ‘Com­promises the Two-State Solution,’” Think Progress, 18 November 2013, Available from http://news.yahoo.com/france-urges-full-complete-halt-settlement-hollande-111203077.html, accessed 1 February 2014.
44 Amira Hass and Barak Ravid, “Dutch water giant severs ties with Israeli water company due to settlements,” Haaretz, 10 December, 2013, Available from http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/israel-slams-dutch-company-cutting-water-ties-21175036, accessed 1 February 2014.
45 Armbruster, , “French President Says Israeli Settlement Activity ‘Com­promises the Two-State Solution,” n. p.The Israeli-Palestine Conflict
55
perception that they are unable to protect their citizens from Israeli settlers.46
Israeli leaders have time and time again cited the Pales­tinian leadership’s refusal to recognize their country as a Jewish state as one of the factors inhibiting peace between the two sides. Without a peace agreement that contains a two-state solution however, the Palestinian leadership will very likely never recog­nize Israel as a Jewish state. Israel is a democracy with a sizable Arab minority, and recognition of Israel as a ‘Jewish’ state could effectively deprive non-Jews of rights enjoyed by the Jewish population within Israel.47 On the same note however, if the Palestinians are ever to have a state of their own, in which their rights are recognized and respected by Israel, they must afford Israelis the same respect of recognizing their state as Jewish, so the rights of Israel’s Jewish population can also be preserved.48
Essentially, any peace must include both a recognition on the part of the Palestinians that Israel is a Jewish state and a recognition by the Israelis of a Palestinian national state. This is easier said than done however, since sizable minorities of each nationality live in the territory of the other.
In order for a two-state solution to be reached, both sides will undoubtedly be required to give up some of what they feel belongs to them. The violence and other acts committed by both sides against the other have resulted in a perpetual and emotionally-charged conflict. Ideological sentiments and rhetoric have added to the turmoil. Recent developments seem to have created an atmosphere in which these problems might be overcome through negotiation and compromise involving the right actors. Ultimately, reaching a lasting peace agree­46
Alon Ben-Meir, “The Settlements: Israel’s Albatross,” The World Post, 14 November 2013, Available from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alon-benmeir/the-settlements-israels-a_b_4276317.html, accessed 1 February 2014.
47 Zvi Hauser, “Peace Demands Palestinians Recognize Israel as Jewish State,” Al Monitor, 28 October 2013, Available from http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/zvi-hauser-opinion-nabeel-kassis-jewish-state-palestine.html#, accessed 1 February 2014.
48 Ibid, n. p.Crescat Scientia
56
ment resulting in a two-state solution to this problem is in the interests of both the Palestinians and the Israelis. The Israeli-Palestine Conflict
57
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Booth, William and Eglash, Ruth. “Some Israeli Leaders Ques­tion Peace Talks with Palestinians after Weekend Attacks.” Washington Post. 22 September 2013, Available from http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israeli-lead­ers-question-peace-accord-with-palestinians-after-soldiers-death/2013/09/22/aabcaf7c-2382-11e3-ad0d-b7c8d2a594b9_story.html, accessed 1 February 2014.
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Elsner, Alan. “Seven Reasons to be Optimistic about Israe­li-Palestinian Peace Talks.” The Christian Science Monitor. Available from http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2013/0912/7-reasons-to-be-optimistic-about-Israeli-Palestinian-peace-talks/Better-groundwork, accessed 1 Feb­ruary 2014.
Gearan, Anne. “At U.N., Palestinian leader Abbas criticizes Israel, but Pledges good faith in peace talks.” Washing­ton Post. 26 September 2013, Available from http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/at-un-palestinian-leader-abbas-criticizes-israel-but-pledges-good-faith-in-peace-talks/2013/09/26/4767d2ee-26ed-11e3-9372-92606241ae9c_story.html, accessed 1 February 2014.
Hammond, Jeremy R. “The Myth of the U.N. Creation of Israel.” Foreign Policy Journal. Internet, Available from http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2010/10/26/the-myth-of-the-u-n-creation-of-israel/, accessed 13 December 2013.
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Wroughton, Leslie. “Kerry Warns Israel of Troubles Ahead if Peace Talks Fail.” Reuters. 7 November 2014, Available from http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/07/us-palestinians-israel-kerry-idUSBRE9A60P220131107, accessed 30 January 2014.61
Utah’s Mineral Prosperity
Kyle Carter
Utah is an extremely geologically diverse region with numerous
natural resources; the chaotic tectonic history of the region has
created vast deposits of mineral wealth. From the salt deposits
of Salt Lake and the coal seams in Carbon County, to the pre-cious
metal deposits across the state, Utah is truly rich with
economic potential. The discussion of the various regions and
minerals mined throughout Utah and their economic importance
is significant to the history of the state.
Before mining began in Utah, the native peoples of the
region were mostly hunter-gatherers and only harvested sur-face
rocks for use as tools. Mining in Utah began shortly after
the arrival of Mormon settlers in the region in 1847.. When the
Mormons first entered the Salt Lake Valley the first mining op-portunity
became obvious to them. The enormous deposits of
salt in the evaporation basins made collecting and refining this
valuable substance easy. The Great Salt Lake is the remnant of
an ancient ocean which was closed off by drifting continents
to become Lake Bonneville. Over the ages this lake drained and
Crescat Scientia
62
evaporated into the body of water that dominates northern Utah today.
The salt from the Great Salt Lake was first used for food preservation; however, the varying lake level made the produc­tion of culinary salt a difficult process. When the Mormons first entered Salt Lake Valley, the lake’s water level was lowand exposed a large amount of high quality salt crystals. Unfortu­nately, when the lake level rose the salt deposits dissolved in the water and became impossible to use without proper evapora­tion methods. Evaporating ponds were created by cutting off sections of the lake with dikes and allowing these sections to fully evaporate. Some of these ponds still exist today and fulfill the same duties they did over a century ago. A problem many early salt miners encountered with the salt from Salt Lake was the large numbers of undesired chemicals it contained, such as potassium and magnesium which made the salt taste bitter1. In order to compete with outside producers of high quality salt, Utah miners developed a complex evaporation system to purify the salt. With the development of other mining operations and the extension of the railroads into Utah, salt mining soon went commercial. Salt is vital to the process by which silver is refined. The process is a complex system of exposing the silver ore to different chemicals.; This process and the abundance of salt in the Great Salt Lake created a major boon for the Mormon set­tlers.
Beginning in the late 1880s, nearly twenty companies were established to mine salt in Utah. These companies main­tained a healthy competition until the merger of Inter-Mountain and Inland Salt Crystal in 1898 when a monopoly was established.2 The Inland Crystal Salt monopoly was heavily influenced by the LDS church and was aggressive in the suppression of potential rivals. This domination of the salt industry was broken in 1918 when Morton Salt established a plant in Utah. By 1923 Morton Salt began to dominate Inland Crystal Salt until the company
1 Colleen Whitley,. From the Ground Up: The History of Mining in Utah. Utah State University Press, 2006.
2 Ibid.Utah’s Mineral Prosperity
63
was purchased by Morton Salt in 1927.3 This dominance lasted until the formation of the Lake Crystal Salt Company in the late 1940s and a new era of competition began. Since the 1970s various international companies have gained and lost interest in the salt resources of Utah., Modern salt mining is primarily focused on the trace elements in the salt, namely potassium and fertilizer components, which are now much more valuable than salt.
Brigham Young noted that the presence of coal in Utah was the most vital element to self—sufficiency, aside from land and water.. Various small deposits were found early in Utah history and were shipped to the cities for use in heating homes, running steam engines, and producing coke for metal smelting.4 The primary location for coal mining became Carbon County, so named because of its vast deposits of the useful mineral. Several companies sprang up in the Carbon County area, producing both coal and coke; however, the cost of transportation via wagon proved prohibitive. The coal deposits in central Utah gained the attention of various railroad companies who were looking for fuel sources in the west. Both the Union Pacific and the Denver & Rio Grande Western railroads began to acquire local coal mines to support their operations. Enormous amounts of coal and coke were exported, so much so that the mining companies resorted to forcing their employees to make mining claims and then transfer their titles to the company in order to secure the rights for expansion.
The coal mining boom in Utah was not without con­sequences. Mining accidents led to the deaths of hundreds of miners. On May 1st, 1900 a huge explosion rocked the Winter Quarters Mine and killed 200 miners. This incident was the worst of its type at the time and led many to question the safety practices of coal companies.5 A similar tragedy occurred in 1924 at the Castle Gate Mine where 172 miners were killed when a methane pocket caught fire and set off a coal dust explosion. These tragedies created tensions between the miners and the
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.Crescat Scientia
64
mine owners.6 The mines attracted foreign immigrants who were looking for an opportunity to work. People with mining experi­ence form England, Wales, Finland, Italy, Greece, Austria, the Balkans, China, and Japan created a unique diversity that was absent throughout the rest of Utah. These foreigners worked alongside Mormon farmers, who would move to the coal mines after the fall harvest and work until it was time to plant in the spring. This diversity of laborers proved beneficial to the coal companies because ethnic tensions prevented the miners from uniting and demanding better working conditions.
Despite their differences, miners began to grow dis­content with their employers and organized several strikes in the early 1900s. These strikes were short-lived and many who were involved were fired or forced to sign anti-union contracts to retain their employment. The strikes in Utah gained the at­tention of the United Mine Workers of America, or UMWA, union, which started campaigns to recruit Utah miners into their organization. In 1903, a large strike, supported by