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a purple prize!
the first country paper in Utah
THE FARMER'S ORACLE. The hand of Industry makes the Desert to bud, bloom and bear fruit, and rears the proudest structures of Earth. Spring Lake Villa, Utah County, Utah [Territory], Friday, January 15, 1864 [Volume I, issue No. 16].
$1,250
Newspaper, quarto format with pages measuring 28 X 21 cm. (11 X 81/8") Paged [121]-128 (eight pages). Printed on rough but sturdy lavender-colored paper (probably all that was available that week!) . . .
Nearly fine; in very nice condition. Never "opened," (still in one large folded sheet, never cut): folds out to a single sheet measuring approximately 22 X 16¼ inches . . .
Encapsulated between sheets of archival acetate (not laminated: could easily be removed by cutting the plastic along one side and slipping the newspaper out.)
SO ATTRACTIVE for a primitive, home-printed rag of this time & place, and so rare! Spring Lake was a small farming community near present-day Payson, Utah. This was the first country paper in Utah, according to J. Cecil Alter, who devotes five pages to its description and illustrations in Early Utah Journalism (Salt Lake City, 1938): pp. 52-3, 256-7, 260.
This is quite a find. Alter located only two examples (and single issues) of this ultra-rare Utah paper - neither one them the same date as this issue. He discusses a copy of the first issue (May 2, 1863) at the LDS Church Historian's Office. "The only other issue known to be in existence today," Alter states, "is Number 9, dated Tuesday, September 22, 1863, in the Bancroft Library at Berkeley." p.256. I believe, however, that Brigham Young University has subsequently obtained an example of the issue now offered here.
Readers of my Mormon List Sixty (1998) may find a friend in Mr. JOSEPH E. JOHNSON, who edited some of the ultra-scarce Utah papers which were quickly sold from that catalog. Here he is, even earlier, and Alter tells a nice story to set the scene:
Editor Johnson . . . had in 1852, bought the Bugle at Kanesville (now Council Bluffs) Iowa, and from that office he issued the Omaha Arrow for a time. In the Salt Lake City Deseret News of May 23, 1860, we read: "The Echo.—The first number of the Huntsman's Echo, published by our old friend, J. E. Johnson at Woodriver, Buffalo County, Nebraska, has been received. We wish it success! But the concern is too far off to have the reverberant sounds heard distinctly. Come up higher, Joseph, or blow a little louder!" And October 2, 1861 the News mentions the arrival in Salt Lake City, Friday evening, September 27, 1861 of the last company of emigrants for the season, adding: ". . . among the number J. E. Johnson, late editor of the Huntsman's Echo, . . . who has ventured to come up to the mountains at last."
Miss Anna Marie Moore, teacher, Spring Lake School, wrote a history of Spring Lake in 1931, aided materially by Milas E. Johnson of Huntington, Utah, son of George W. Johnson. From Miss Moore's manuscript we learn that the big Johnson house at Spring Lake, called the Villa, inclosed within an adobe wall, was erected by James Pace and others. It was purchased in 1862 by Joseph E. Johnson. He at once transformed it into quite a mansion, consisting of several indentical [sic] two story inter-communicating units, and containing a total of at least 18 and possibly 24 rooms. He renamed it Spring Lake Villa. One room was the printing shop, home of the Oracle. In another room Johnson established a very pretentious drug store, the stock comprising practically every existent patent medicine and known home remedy. The latter were largely prepared and bottled or packaged by J. E. Johnson himself, and bore his name. The remainder of the Villa was occupied by J. E. Johnson's three families; the many children and some hired help assisting with the planting and cultivating of flowers, shrubs, and general crops. [pp. 257-8]
Alter goes on to quote a description by one of Johnson's employees of the hardships and financial uncertainties of life there in 1864, and makes this an all-around tempting piece of collectible Utah history.
As one may expect from Johnson's later papers, The Farmer's Oracle is deliciously home-spun, with catchy articles like "How I Raise my Fall Pigs," or a blurb advising that "Elderberry wine is prized by many families for its soothing effect upon invalids inclined to be wakeful, and for its slightly laxative properties." p.122. "Tobacco grown on the Sacramento River" is reported approvingly on the front page, as is the "Training of Grapes." There is poetry, a "Housewife's Corner," and a section with riddles for children to solve. Editorial correspondence from Great Salt Lake City includes news of the execution of Jason Luce. He spoke for some ten minutes, regretting haven fallen into bad company; ". . . was sorry for what he had done and hoped his blood would make full atonement . . ." He was executed in the Court House yard while sitting in his chair and died almost instantly, "still keeping his position." p.124 (emphasis added).
THE LOCAL ADVERTISE-MENTS, of course, are always a choice aspect of such papers! You can buy accordions in Payson, believe it or not (p.127), and if you are about to have a baby, make arrangements with "Mrs. S. A. Roberts, the celebrated Midwife and Botanico-Medical Attendant . . ." You can find her "one door north of Bishop Johnson's, Springville, Deseret." Editor Johnson wonders if Indians have taken his missing horse "Ranger," and wishes that white men would stop skinning his dead cattle found on the range, "as I do not consider it honest, and hereby protest against
the practice of any man taking Hides or other property belonging
to another." (back page).
In a letter to the editor on page 123, H. E. Desaules protests that he has "never scribbled for a newspaper" before, but writes from Payson on January 8 with his helpful hints on how to stack lumber or deal with frostbite, scalds and burns. He then offers some amazing advice which we appreciate today:
saving papers.
Many people never think of saving their papers, but after reading them throw them away or allow their children to tear them up. Why not save them and keep each volume to read some moral story, or refer to practical advice or receipts for the benefit of your family or a neighbor. This will pay in improvements and information. A pamphlet once published in London at a penny, was advertised for, five years afterward, fer [sic] the sum of five thousand pounds sterling. In San Francisco, a public Institution offered one thousand dollars for a copy of the first volume of the first newspaper printed in that State.
Some will think that there is no fear of a future like that for our mountain papers. The original subscribers in the above cases never dreamed of such a thing either.
Perhaps the reader of this 1864 rarity took this article to heart, explaining why the present issue was never cut open. Indeed, it shows every evidence of attentive care. Would that that original subscriber could be with us now to reap the rewards of conservation! An early name is pencilled neatly at the top left margin of the front page, and appears to read, "I V Sony."
