A Failure to Communicate

I looked up the Mormons on Wiki this weekend, and found that there was more to that Mormon War than I had previously known. The wagon train massacre was only one incident, but it was the most deadly incident in the total conflict, accounting for 120 deaths out of the 150 produced by the whole war. It was not much of a war by today's standards, but it was a pretty big deal at the time.

When the Mormons first settled in Utah it was still part of Mexico, so it appears that they were deliberately trying to leave the United States. When the U.S. took over, however, the Mormons applied for statehood, but Congress made Utah a territory instead. President Millard Fillmore was sympathetic to the Mormons and appointed Brigham Young to be the territorial governor. His successor, James Buchanan, was not so sympathetic, and replaced Young with somebody else. He didn't inform Young of his decision so, when the new governor showed up, Young refused to step down. Then there were some federal judges who left the territory because nobody was bringing civil cases to their courts, preferring to submit their disputes to church authorities. Then President Buchanan sent some federal troops to Utah, just to establish a U.S. presence and maintain law and order, but he again neglected to tell the Mormons about it. When Young got word of federal troops approaching the territory for some unknown reason, he mobilized the militia. He sent some detachments out to harass the troops and capture some of their supplies, but not to directly engage them in battle. He later sent letters to his commanders telling them to allow all civilian wagon trains to pass through the territory unmolested, but the guys who killed those settlers didn't get their letter until two days after the massacre. In the end, the conflict was settled by negotiation and Brigham Young stepped down as governor although, as leader of the Mormon Church, he remained a big influence in Utah until his dying day.

I am reminded of an old joke about Brigham Young. I didn't get this from Wiki, I got it from one of my old army buddies. Stop me if you've heard it before.

Lady: "Are you Brigham Young?"
Brigham Young: "I am."
Lady: "Are you the leader of the Mormon Church?"
Brigham Young: "I am."
Lady: "Are you the man who has over 50 wives?"
Brigham Young: "I am."
Lady: "Well I think you ought to be hung!"
Brigham Young: "I am."

The tool described by Old Dog is indeed a fish scaler. My wood splitter just splits wood, that's all it does. The hydraulic system is integral to the unit and can't be used for anything else. I split my firewood with simple hand tools for about 24 years, and have been using the hydraulic splitter for about 12 years. I usually skid logs out of the swamp all winter and then cut them up and split them in the spring, but I'm running way behind this year. Come to think of it, I've been running about a month behind on all my projects for several years now, and I'm beginning to think it's the new normal.