Westons Go West 12 More from Silverload

 

Silverlode, Utah Territory

May 17, 1879

Dear Mary,

There was a fire here, and I can hear you say, "Not Again." Many businesses burned, including the Emporium. Please do not fear, for we are all well!

The fire started at the other end of town, so we had plenty of warning, and Abie stores everything that we cannot afford to lose in the safe, which is very strong and fireproof. He has much experience of fires and rebuilding after, so we have adequate funds saved against just this occurrence. (One does not keep a rainy day fund here, for it never rains! Instead, we keep a fire fund!)

I cannot write longer for there is much to be done, but please do not worry! All is well, and Glassman's Emporium will soon be selling again to the miners of Silverlode!

Fanny

****

May 25, 1879

Dear Mary,

I'm writing again so soon, because we had such good news. We had barely finished clearing the debris from the old Emporium when the shipment Abie's brother Sol sent us from Cedar City arrived. We paid the freighter for an extra day's use of his wagon, and directed him to park it in front of the Emporium so we could sell directly from the back of it. There seemed little point in making the effort of unloading it, when our customers would so readily unload it for us, a purchase at a time!

The nails did not move as well as we might wish, as many people are choosing to rebuild with mine tailings, which are to be had in abundance, rather than from wood, which must be new-cut and milled. However, the lumber camp has already swelled with every Adenville boy who can be spared from his farm, and so I trust that the nails will sell during the next weeks, especially when the finer saloons rebuild.

The saloons are currently too busy to spare time on rebuilding; instead, they are selling Dixie wine under canvas awnings and out of the back of wagons, as quickly as they can get it. Silverlode was almost completely dry in the aftermath of the fire, and I wish never to see such ugliness again! Fortunately for the town's peace, the Church fathers in Adenville telegraphed the news of the fire to their winery in St. George, and the first wagon of Dixie wine was here within the day. (The Saints may not drink, but they are more than pleased to keep us supplied with it!) However, even with the steady supply of wine, there will be great profits for the first man to arrive with a barrel of whisky.

Despite Abie's directions, I did not retreat to safety, but instead took a place on the brigade line (pictured above)  and he was livid when I later told him that I am expecting a baby. But I insisted that the Emporium is as much mine as his, and that I was in a far better position than him to know what was all right to do. He is still angry with me, but I expect that will soon dissolve.

Again, I assure you, we are all well here. We will build of stone this time!

With best wishes
Fanny

****

June 10, 1879

530 Washington Blvd. Ogden

Utah Territory

Dear Fanny,

I was so pleased to hear your news of the baby, and am pleased that your terrible fire has not got you down. You do seem to have the worst luck.

You speak of problems between you and Abbie. (Please note I am following your advice and have dropped thees and thous, although I still do it when we go to church or meetings.) Simon and I are too having problems, and as always, it tends to be because of this religion that seeks to control every aspect of our lives.

As you know, young men are expected to spend two years of their lives after becoming endowed, as missionaries. Both boys have been saying from the money they get from their shoe making work to support them when they do this. And now the time has nearly come for Isaac to go. And he is not at all keen on the idea. I keep trying to disuade him – how can he be a good missionary if he does not firmly believe in the cause himself. And Simon of course dismisses his fears and worries, and is sure that all will be well.

I checked with various others from the church, not trusting Simon to be sufficiently disinterested in the answer to be honest, to find out what would happen to him if he refuses to go. And the answer is that he will not be ex-communicated or forbidden the sacraments – but it would put him into a very difficult position in the church, as most would assume that there was something physical or mental wrong with him, that he should not want to do this. It sounds as if most of these young people (women are encouraged to go too, but the pressure is not so much for them, and they don't go until they are 21, as opposed to the young men going at 18) enjoy doing this. But I do worry about Isaac who has always been very reticent to get involved in the church work, as compared to Eban who, like Simon, loves every aspect of it.

I have snuck in a baptism for baby Walker, as I did with Ann. I didn't even discuss it with Simon this time, knowing full well what his answer would be. James and Lucelia again supported me and acted as his godparents and I have yet another certificate and little bible to hide. (I have chosen my drawer of underwear as someplace Simon would never look.)

When is your baby due?

 

Best wishes from Mary

 

*****

 

July 15, 1879
Silverlode, Utah Territory

Dear Mary,

Everything is all a jumble, and I do not know what to write of first!

Many have blamed the Chinese for the fire, saying that they refused to help on the bucket line. Never mind that I saw Ben Wong on the line with my own eyes! He lost his grocery, just as we lost the Emporium, and Lee Wong's Canton Cafe burned with the rest, too. If some of the Chinese fared better than the rest of us, it is only because they build in stone, and mostly down on the old Bonanza Flats.

Five days ago, Marshal Gentry, uneasy about the rumblings in the saloons, came to get Abie to help him recruit a posse to protect Chinatown. They prevented rowdies from lynching Joe Hing, but someone used the chaos to cover the start of another fire, and a quarter of Chinatown and all of the Barbee and Walker mill went up. For all the previous talk of common human decency, few white men showed for the bucket line this time. One man said the next day that they only "meant to teach the heathen the Golden Rule." We have barred him from the Emporium.

These last weeks have been difficult, but the Emporium is nearly new-built again. It is built of sandstone, this time, as lumber is too dear just now. The stone that lies at hand is all discarded silver ore, too poor to be worth the cost of smelting, which means that as I sit here and write to you, I can count the silver nuggets in the walls around me! This is a perfectly ridiculous country: wood is too dear, so we build with silver instead!

We are still sleeping under a canvas roof, but we have walls and beds and merchandise again, and many of the little items that make life so much easier. I was quite the goose when the fire started, not thinking at all and merely snatching things at random to save. I thought to grab a daydress and the little stone creature that Abie gave me in Pioche, but I never thought to grab a hairbrush! The whole town was soot and mess after - you couldn't wash without being filthy again five minutes later. I never gave the want of my hairbrush more than a moment's regret - so many things were lost, you couldn't regret but one of them! - and twisted my hair up and away as best I could and paid it no mind. But then our first shipment of goods arrived from Abie's brother, and Abie's sister-in-law had sent along a little package with a hairbrush and pins for me. I burst into tears when I saw! I snatched up my gifts and took them away behind the bit of canvas we had hung for privacy, and spent the next hour brushing and pinning my hair. Oh, the luxury of it! And not being able to do it just the once, but knowing I could redo it whenever it needed! I might not have been properly clean, but at least I could be neat, and that was almost good enough!

That is how this country is, I live in a palace of silver and cry for want of a hairbrush! How could I possibly counsel you on how to deal with your children and religion problems?

In answer to your question about our baby, I anticipate it coming in late November or so.

All the best from,

Fanny

*****

 

August 3, 1879
Silverlode, Utah Territory

Dear Mary

You have been so kind to me, advising me on small matters and sharing your advice with me. These past years would have been much harder without your steady words. Again I am befuddled, and again I write to you.

Abie has not taken these fires well - oh, it seems so strange to write that, for who could? And yet he is so fierce in their wake, even beating a man and throwing him into the street! The man deserved it, and yet it is so unlike Abie! I try to show him patience, for I know that they affect him so, but he will not listen to reason. He insists that I must turn my back on dangers (as if I could prosper when he does not!), and he would put me on a high shelf like a china doll, when we both know for true fact that no china can survive the rough handling of these towns.

In other times, when he has come agitated like this, I have simply waited for him to become reasonable again, for he always does. But this time he has not, and grows only more stubborn as the baby approaches. I do not know which way to turn, so I write to you in confidence, trusting that you will again have good advice for me.

Your good friend,
Fanny

*****

November 30, 1879

530 Washington Blvd

Ogden, Utah Territory

Dear Fanny and Abie,

Many congratulations on the birth of your daughter. How nice you are calling her Deborah. What a lovely name. And how nice that your sister Sarah is there to help you, Fanny,  with the new baby. You say she and Sam might make a couple too? How convenient it all has been for you.

Issac has made his decision and has gone with missionary work. He will be endowed over the Christmas period and he and his good friend Joseph, will be off to Arizona to spread the word early in January. I think now he has decided, he is quite relieved, and no doubt will make the best of it. Joseph is a nice man, and they will work well together.

I know you don't celebrate Christmas as such, but Happy Honekah to you, and a very prosperous New Year. I hope you will be able to continue to write now you have your new committements.

Best wishes,

Mary