Porter, Samuel U.

File — Box: 7, Folder: 3

Identifier: VI

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The autobiography of Samuel Porter begins with page 16 and ends on page 24. Only the portion concerned with the Arizona expedition is included. This is a xerox copy of the handwritten autobiography. On October 19, 1878, Porter started to Arizona and arrived at Sunset, December 1878. He was impressed with the large table where everyone ate meals and described the building which included a kitchen and bakery. His first assignment in the United Order was a trip to the sawmill to pick up lumber. He started with four head of "cattle" and two wagons and traveled to Brigham City where he joined Elijah Hancock who was on his way to the mill. He spent Christmas day on the way to the sawmill, and ate Christmas dinner at the mill. In 1887 he was called to work at the Mormon Dairy, which was located in a little valley five miles long and four miles wide. The dairy was owned by three companies--Joseph City, Sunset, and Brigham City. All the cows were in one corral and each company milked their own cows. There were two hundred cows: Sunset, sixty; Brigham City, sixty; and Joseph City, forty head. The dairy was organized into a ward called the Pleasant Valley Branch. Porter tells of an incident of "casting out of the evil one." He states there is much wild game--deer, antelope, and turkeys. Wilford Woodruff spent a winter with them and while there he counseled the people and visited several different tribes of Indians. Porter said, "Everybody seemed to love him." Woodruff celebrated his seventy-third birthday, March 1, 1880, at Sunset. Porter relates an incident of healing by laying on of hands. On August 17, 1880, Porter started back to Utah traveling with Thomas W. Brookbank.

Dates

1857-1986

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.