These minutes report an unusual conference, as much a camping trip as a Church service, with the unusual features of firing guns to celebrate the Fourth of July, and multiple weddings. Tomorrow’s post about an 1896 event may have had its roots at this conference.
Arizona Territorial Conference
The most general and interesting gathering of the Saints in this Territory commenced at Pinetop, Apache Co., on the 3rd of July. This place is situated on the top of Mongolian Mogollon mountains in the very heart of the forest.
Teams began to arrive early on Saturday, and the day was spent in pitching tents, erecting shades, etc., preparatory to spending several days in camp; and by nightfall the large pavilion, which had been built for the assembling of the people, was surrounded by a veritable city of campers.
Upon assembling at 10 a.m. Sunday, July 3d, there were present of the authorities: President George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith, of the First Presidency; George Reynolds, of the First Council of seventies; Arthur Winters, reporter; Jesse N. Smith, David K. Udall, Christopher Layton, and Chas. I. Robson, Presidents of the Snowflake, St. Johns, St. Joseph and Maricopa Stakes, respectively. There were also Bishops and leading men from all of the four Stakes.
After the opening exercises, President Cannon expressed his pleasure at being present, and advised the utmost care on the part of parents, to prevent their children from straying off and getting lost. He said the Presidents would be expected to report the condition of their Stakes.
President Jess N. Smith, in reporting the Snowflake stake, referred with regret to the sad death of Lot Smith. With the exception of the blighting effects of winds and frost, our prospects for corps are good. A.ll of the local organizations are complete. Our relations with our outside friends are very amicable. No Latter-day Saint is engaged in the traffic of liquor, and there is really no intemperance in the Stake. The Stake academy is doing a good work.
President Christopher Layton reported the St. Joseph Stake. We have over a hundred miles of irrigation canals, and this year we are reaping a bountiful harvest. Some have already threshed. Early peaches are marketed. Arizona is a good country for industrious men. Two crops of lucern have already been harvested, and the third is in bloom. The results of the Stake Academy are very gratifying. The Relief Society is quite energetic.
President Joseph F. Smith delivered a powerful discourse on the proper training and education of the young.
At the afternoon meeting President C.I. Robson was called to report the Maricopa Stake. he said: We have a very fruitful country. There are over two hundred miles of lateral ditches running from the Mesa canal. We have about 1200 white and about 900 aboriginal Saints in the Stake. The people are improving in the matter of temperance. With few exceptions our young men are doing well. The zeal of the Lamanite sisters in their Relief societies is very commendable. Early fruits are matured and gone.
President David K. Udall said there are seven wards in the St. Johns Stake; some of which are widely separated. We have a good people religiously, but the country we live in is not so rich as some parts that have been reported. We have no indolent people in the Stake, and the drunkard is almost unknown. Time and acquaintance have proven to our outside neighbors that we are friends to the country, and they now so regard us. We raise enough wheat to bread the people, which was not the case formerly.
President Cannon occupied the remaining time of the afternoon in a sermon which was replete with wise counsel and fatherly advice. His remarks were chiefly devoted to the necessity and beauty of charity.
The forenoon of Monday the 4th, was spent in listening to patriotic speeches and songs, the firing of guns, etc., in honor of our country’s natal day. One of the lofty pines was converted into a temporary flag-staff, from which the stars and stripes were unfurled.
The conference was again called to order at 2 p.m., and Patriarch P.C. Merrill made remarks on the achievements of the Mormon Battalion, of which body he is the only living commissioned officer. He said that all of the suffering of the Battalion could never be told.
President George Reynolds delivered a discourse on the first principles of the gospel.
President Joseph F. Smith occupied the balance of the afternoon in a discourse on the order of the Priesthood.
After the presenting of the names of the general authorities for the vote of the people by Elder George Reynolds, the balance of the time on Tuesday forenoon was taken up by President Cannon. His discourse was filled with good counsel to and blessings for the people. He said that as it was quite inconvenient for the four Stakes to meet together; no doubt the St. Joseph and Maricopa Stakes would meet in joint conference hereafter once a year; likewise the Snowflake and St. Johns Stakes.
Conference was then adjourned.
The choir was composed of some of the best singers from the four Stakes united under the able direction of Wm. Holgate of St. Johns.
One of the most pleasing features of the conference was a reception held at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, at which all of the Saints had the pleasure of shaking hands and exchanging friendly greetings with Presidents Cannon, Smith, and Reynolds.
There was a Seventies’ meeting in the afternoon on Tuesday, at which Brother Reynolds gave some good instructions, and a number of Elders were ordained Seventies.
During the conference a number of young men were called as missionaries to visit the Stakes of Arizona in the interest of the Sunday schools.
Several couples were married.
The census of the conference showed the following representation: Maricopa Stake, 68; St. Joseph Stake, 116; St. Johns Stake, 440; Snowflake Stake, 529 and Salt Lake Stake 4, making a total of 1152. Besides these, there must have been from 190 to 200 non-Mormons present. In order to attend this conference the people traveled distances varying from 15 to 250 miles, and in some instances over some of the roughest roads in America. But upon leaving everyone seemed to feel repaid for the trouble of attending.
Joseph W. Smith
Clerk of the Conference
Proximity matters! It’s nearly twice as far from Pinetop to St. Johns as to Snowflake, and Mesa (Maricopa Stake) and Thatcher (st. Joseph Stake) are both about 170 miles. I wouldn’t have been surprised if nobody from those stakes showed up–although maybe they were looking for some relief from the heat up in those mountains–Pinetop is at nearly 7,000 feet.
I suspect that the clerk wrote “Mogollon Mountains,” since there is a range of that name across the New Mexico border, and the Mogollon Rim is a prominent feature of Arizona topography.
I’ve been thinking since this report went up of eastern Arizona and the change in the pattern of temple use announced by Gordon Hinckley in October 1997, almost twenty years ago. A temple in Snowflake was dedicated in 2002, served by the Snowflake and St. Johns stakes and nine more that had been organized in the latter half of the 20th Century. That was followed by dedication in 2010 of a temple served by the St. Joseph (now Thatcher) stake and six others. Seven stakes are sufficient to serve a temple a couple hundred miles from an already existing temple now. The Snowflake temple district had its seventh stake in 1980, and the seventh stake in the Gila Valley temple district was organized in 1991, but that wasn’t the pattern of our temple worship in 1980 or 1991. The new pattern, that has a place for temples in somewhat remote, small places like Monticello, Thatcher, and Star Valley, seems closer to the pattern that created temples in St. George, Manti, Laie, and Cardston than to the late 20th Century pattern.
Oh man. I don’t even know where to start. Mark’s right that it’s Mogollon, but people in Arizona would normally say the Mogollon Rim or the White Mountains. Is there any possibility that they used to call the White Mountains anything else? Maps from the 1890s say White Mountain and Mogollon Mesa. Aha. It looks like an 1880 map uses “Mogollon Mountains” for the Rim. In any case, Pinetop is still a prime camping location.
If there were 440 people there from the St. Johns Stake, that would have included a number of my ancestors. I wonder who stayed home to milk the cows.
I’ve finally corrected the name in the post — thanks, Mark and Amy. Kind of a fantastic conference, isn’t it?
John, your welcome comment will be especially relevant when I post the follow-up story I had planned to do today, before I decided I didn’t want to get up early enough to write it … That will probably come Tuesday, and I’ll link back to this comment then. Thanks.