Freighting... and trying to get home with the money

Richfield

Territory of Utah -1878

After the demise of the United Order, the Ogden’s returned to the task of living life and making a living.  At the close of 1878, five of the seven Ogden children were married with young families.   Each of the families had acquired acreage; either through work, barter, or lottery, and were engaged in cultivating and developing farms.  In addition to farming they made additional money by freighting produce and supplies to other areas of the Territory, particularly the mining camps in Nevada.  This provided a market for the local crops and brought in much needed hard currency.  Although any man with a team of horses and a buckboard wagon could be a freighter, the enterprise was particularly dangerous due to the conditions of the roads and the also occasional patches of bad weather.  And probably worst of all there was always the danger of outlaws travelling the same stretches of roads and preying upon supply wagons.

All of the Ogden sons freighted at one time or another.  Typically two of them would travel together and would haul freight to mining towns like Pioche, Jackrabbit, Panaca, or Silver Reef, most of them just across the Utah border into present day Nevada.  On the return trip, wagon now mostly empty and pockets mostly full, they were particularly vulnerable to robbery.   

Many freighters would devise creative hiding places for their currency such as a small box built into the underside of the carriage or a hollowed out axle.  One Richfield man carved out the heels of his boots from the inside to carry what he had earned.  Another man from Redmond was not so fortunate in his efforts to conceal his earnings.  Robbers held him up a gunpoint and then proceeded to break four of his fingers until he showed them his stash in the hollow axle.

Butch

While we are on the subject of outlaws, it is interesting to note that Robert Leroy Parker, also known as Butch Cassidy, was born just 60 miles or so south of Richfield  near Circleville Utah, in 1866.  His family was some of the early Mormon settlers of the area.  Butch left home to begin his infamous career in crime in his early teens … which would have been around 1880 to 1884.  It is entirely possible that he visited Richfield sometime in his early years for supplies, etc. Later Butch joined up with Harry Longabough  (aka Sundance Kid), Matt Warner (native of Ephraim) and other men to form the Wild Bunch, pulling off several robberies in the central Utah area and then escaping to their infamous hideout, Robbers Roost, somewhere on the wild and isolated Utah Colorado border.  Yes, their travels might well have taken them through Richfield at times.  Perhaps they paused for a refreshing Coke, or to play a hand of cards, or maybe Butch wanted to drop in on a Sunday School class to keep current with the lesson schedule.

Where the "Almost Pure in Heart" Gave it a Try

In the Sevier County area  four other United Orders started; Glenwood, Salina, Monroe, and Joseph were communities that formed similar organizations and seemed to start off well.  Richfield  reported that all but seven families in the community joined.  William Ogden Jr.'s biographer records that initially there were some early successes in the Order which attracted new comers; but not all that joined had the necessary work ethic and soon there arose a spirit of contention and fault finding over the administration of the affairs of the Order.

The Order was administrated by a board of directors who sometimes were required to meet nightly to decide on issues such as permission to leave to visit sick relatives, change of work assignments, or requests for permission to have houses built, as William had done.  The record keeping which included reports of labor performed and distribution of goods fell woefully behind, to the point where it was impossible to determine where members were in their accounts.  Dissention and confusion grew worse and the “almost pure” of the people became noticeably less so. One night an unknown arsonist, thought to be a disgruntled member, set fire to the Order’s stacks of hay, a threshing machine, and other equipment completely destroying the lot.

People who had once known prosperity as members sought to withdraw and take their assets with them.  “I am leaving the Order," said one disgruntled board member, "because there is no order in it."  Before long Apostle Erastus Snow arrived and advised the saints to proceed with dis-incorporate and return to the former way of life. There were few that objected.

The task of shutting down and the distribution of the land and goods of the Order was a difficult one and took many months to accomplish.  William received back his original ten acres plus an additional ten more and also some flour, wheat, and other smaller items.  He indicated that he was always glad he followed the counsel of Church leaders to join with the Order, but he welcomed the change which allowed him to work out his own standard of living along with his brothers and father.

The Richfield United Order of Enoch lasted from August of 1874 to September 1877 and most all the other Orders in the Territory had very similar life spans.  Orderville Utah was somewhat of an exception from the others, operating rather successfully until about 1886.

In Search of a Pure People

In 1874 the Ogden’s were well on their way to financial independence when a small detour occurred.  Known formally as the United Order of Enoch, but more commonly referred to as just “the order,”  it was a new way of living; an economic and social plan for the Mormon communities in the Great Basin patterned something like what the saints tried to live back in Kirkland.   


Formed under the counsel and instruction of Brigham Young, families in a geographical area such as a stake, formed a cooperative organization and placed their land, cattle, sheep, machinery and all other worldly possessions into the order for the benefit of the group. There was somewhere around 220 different orders organized in the territory during this time frame. 

William and Mary and the offspring had been in the Sevier Valley over a year by this time and were beginning to show some signs of prosperity.  Their response to the counsel to form an Order is detailed in the history of young William Ogden Jr., who was 20 years old at the time.  From his history we read:

 “The Ogden’s, following their belief that they should obey council, joined the one in Richfield and turned in the goods, land, and money which they had accumulated both individually and collectively.  William Jr. had collected some little cash by his freighting and this was turned into the Order, along with a yearling steer and the land which he had drawn.”

“As William approached the age of twenty-three, he felt that he should begin preparations to get married; so he approached the United Order Board with a request that they build him a two room house with a cellar.  Some of the members thought this was too elaborate for a young man, even though he had been faithful in performing his duties as a member of the Order.  They wanted to compromise with one room and a lean-too with a cellar, or two rooms without the cellar; but William had his mind made up, and he insisted on what he wanted until finally they agreed to let him proceed to build the type of house he asked for.

William Jr. felt that he would like a little change in the color of his new home, so he spent many nights after work going to Glenwood to get white clay to make his adobes with. The United Order furnished most of the lumber and. other materials for his house, but he had to get the shingles outside of the Order.  William's father was a good mason and carpenter and work was commenced on the house in the fall of 1877.”

William married Emma Fraser on October 27, 1877 in the St. George Temple.  They returned to Richfield and lived with his parents until the white adobe house was completed in July of the following year.

Part two on the United Order will explain what happened on the way to being translated.