The Lincoln Myth(109)
“I never thought I would again travel to the high country,” Snow said. “You see, Mr. Malone, I’m dying. You can look at me and tell. But of late a new strength has found its way into me. Maybe it’s the last bit of life before death begins to take hold. I can only hope it lasts until we finish this.”
He knew enough about the situation to say, “This mess was sown a long time ago. You merely inherited it.”
“That’s true. But Thaddeus Rowan is my problem. The president and I tried to coerce his resignation, but he rejected that. I can’t challenge him publicly because of his standing and the overall sensitivity of this. Instead, we have to deal with him. Today.”
Only a few men rose to lead the world’s great religions. Catholic popes. Orthodox patriarchs. Protestant archbishops. Here was the prophet of the Saints. Malone sympathized with both the man’s health and his difficult situation, but they were headed into a perilous unknown.
And he had to prepare.
“Falta Nada,” he said. “Tell me about it.”
Utah was settled two years before the 1849 California gold rush. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opposed gold prospecting in all forms, since it distracted members from concentrating their labors on building Zion. In 1847, when the pioneers first arrived, most were penniless. Yet by 1850, Saints were minting gold coins and furbishing their new temple in gold leaf. Where had the wealth come from?
The Salt Lake basin had long been occupied by Utes. Surprisingly, these Natives welcomed the religious immigrants. Wakara, their chief, developed a close relationship with the newcomers, especially a Saint named Isaac Morley. Eventually Wakara admitted to Brother Isaac that years ago he’d received a vision from Towats, the Ute word for “God.” In that vision, the chief was told to give gold to “tall hats” who would one day come to his land. The Saints fit that description perfectly, so Wakara led Brother Isaac to Carre-Shinob, a sacred place supposedly build by the ancestors. There Morley collected 58 pounds of refined gold and sent it to Brigham Young in Salt Lake City. A deal was struck for more of the cache, which Wakara agreed to provide with two conditions. Only one man would know the mine’s location, and that man had to be equally trusted by both parties. Brother Isaac was chosen for the task, but eventually he became too old to make the yearly trip.
In 1852 a new man was selected.
Thomas Rhoades.
From his first journey to the secret mine, Rhoades returned with 62 pounds of gold. More trips were made in subsequent years. Wakara died in 1855 and his son, Arapeen, succeeded him as chief. At the same time Rhoades also became sick and could no longer make the annual trip into the mountains.
So Brigham Young had a problem.
He wasn’t even sure if the new chief would honor the agreement. If he did, Young needed Arapeen’s permission to allow Caleb Rhoades, Thomas Rhoades’ son, to take over the gold extractions. This was tentatively agreed to, provided that a Native escort Caleb on his visits. Eventually Caleb became trustworthy enough in Arapeen’s eyes to go alone and made many trips. Arapeen’s successor ended the deal, but Caleb Rhoades continued to make covert journeys. He even petitioned Congress for a land lease, but the petition was denied. The federal government eventually chartered other companies to survey and mine the area. Government-paid geologists came and scouted, but never found the fabled Rhoades Mine.
Brigham Young knew that if word got out that Utah possessed such a treasure, it would cause a gold rush bigger than the one in California. That was the last thing he wanted, as Saints had fled west to escape gentiles. So he forbid all talk of the mine. Any Saint who participated in prospecting would be excommunicated.
“The Rhoades Mine is one of our legends,” Snow said. “Few facts exist about it thanks to Young’s order of silence. Just a lot of wild stories. But it’s not all a lie.”
“Interesting to hear you admit that,” Malone said.
“Until now it was just a harmless legend. Now, though, things have changed.”
To say the least.
“Brigham Young had a difficult job,” Snow said. “He was nation building and faith building. His Saints were living in one of the harshest places imaginable. Money was nonexistent. So he did what had to be done.”
He was watching their route as Luke merged onto Interstate 15 north, leaving Salt Lake, heading toward Ogden. He also noticed the younger man’s eyes watching them in the rearview mirror.
Still only silence from Stephanie.
“There was refined gold in the sacred mine Wakara showed Isaac Morley,” Snow said. “Most likely brought north by Spaniards from Mexico centuries ago and secreted away. Bars, coins, nuggets, dust. The Utes discovered this, but gold was not precious to them. So Wakara made the deal thinking he was pleasing not only the newcomers, but his own God. Contrary to the legend it was Young, not the Utes, who insisted that only one person have access. For ten years he milked that cache, allowing that gold to slowly make its way into our economy. Coins were minted, wages paid with coin, goods bought with those wages. Nobody ever questioned the source. All just appreciated its presence. Remember, we were a closed society. That gold just moved about in circles, never leaving, always benefiting each person who held it. Then, in 1857, with the coming of war with the United States, the threat existed of losing that wealth. So Young ordered everyone to repatriate their gold. Everything was melted down, loaded onto wagons, and supposedly sent to California for safekeeping until the threat was over.”