[Brigham Young Sermon] You are strangers to me - I represent this people - Major Hunt I have been acquainted with many years he has proffered his services to go south route - we are far from markets - and ever shall be flooded with many - and we wish all who can to proceed on their journey if we had a surplus of provisions we should advise you to stay all winter - we have been offered .50 a lb for flour - if we should say we had nothing for ourselves and neighbors it would be hard - all who have started for gold regions have hopes of deliverance - they feel they need it - and are anxious to get where it is - to recommend any man to go the northern road it would be bordering on taking their lives - and it would be marvelous to go the north route - we have detained our own families from going that route - we have not much confidence in going that N. route this fall - but there is plenty in spring - I should have no hesitancy in going the S. road - perfectly safe all the time - Major Hunt has not measured the road - and his only chart is his recollection - I beg to give you a little council - we labor together in union - travel together - if union does not prevail we can not prosper - let me council you to nourish and cherish a spirit of union - if you don't you are in eminent danger - I have had to use all skill and tact to hinder men from going there - form into companies have a pilot to each company - with a horse search round and hunt up camp grounds - let there be a united effort and you can go easy - there is no necessity of having broken down cattle - there is no necessity of having any wagon or animal injured - if I were traveling in a company and had any difficulty I would not leave that wagon till it was through - if you have 4 companies draw out 10 extra men as pioneers then go through with light teams - and work the canyons, when main train comes on there is no hindrance and your cattle will be as good as when they leave this place - hearken to the advice of a stranger - patience and perseverance will go through - when we came here two years ago we never lost an ox - laid off a city - and returned with same teams same year - Major Hunt prefers his service to go - there are some young men will go with him - I want he should be paid for it - he is a poor, honest and honorable man - he returned here having nothing for himself or family - I would be willing to give him what he asks 10.00 with all my heart - instead of your trading off your poor cattle - put them in good feed - recruit them and then go on - if you go in union you will cat out Mormonism. William B. Lorton Diary. Pres. Young then spoke, & said he wanted to advise emigrants to do the best for themselves, that the people in the valley were very poor & wanted cattle & if the Capt piloted the comp thro, to the ranchos the captain would buy cattle & bring them back to the valley. Says he, don't sell your broken down & lean cattle but turn them out on good pasture & my word for it, before going they will be fat enough for beef. I know it would benefit my people, but this is for your own good. Then, said he, if other comps tries to follow your trail without paying their share, I'll stop them, wouldn't you bear me out emigrants. The answer was a unanimous yes. A vote of thanks was then given to the Pres. for his disinterested advice, & the meeting adjourned. -- SLC Bowery [Thomas Bullock Minutes, LJA; Thomas Bullock—LDS Church Reporter, 1844-56.C, Archives, Church History Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.; GCM, Archives, Church History Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah..; Leonard J. Arrington Papers, Special Collections, Merrill-Cazier Library, Utah State University, Logan.. (A reference reading LJA 12-55-5, 10, means LJA Series 12, Box 55, Folder 5, page 10.) 9-13-3, 80-81; General Church Minutes. Selected Collections from the Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints DVD 1 (2002)]
[source: The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
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