Manti is the first community to be settled outside the Wasatch Front and served as the hub for the formation of many other communities in Central Utah. The Manti Utah Temple, the fifth temple built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is found in Manti and dominates the area's skyline.
Manti was one of the first communities settled in what was to become Utah. Chief Wakara (or Walker), a Ute Tribe leader, invited Brigham Young (1801-1877) to send pioneers to the area to teach his people the techniques of successful farming. In 1849, Brigham Young dispatched a company of about 225 settlers, consisting of several families, to the Sanpitch (now Sanpete) Valley. Under the direction of Isaac Morley and George Washington Bradley, the settlers arrived at the present location of Manti in November. They endured a severe winter by living in temporary shelters dug into the south side of the hill on which the Manti Temple now stands. Brigham Young named the new community Manti, after a city mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Manti was incorporated in 1851. The first mayor of Manti was Dan Jones. Manti served as a hub city for the settlement of other communities in the valley.
A Ute Indian, Chief Walker, appeared in Salt Lake City on 14 June 1849 and requested colonists for the Sanpitch Valley, to teach the natives how to build homes and till the soil. With Walker as a guide, three men, selected by Brigham Young (1801-1877), entered the present site of Manti on 20 August 1849. They were entertained royally by the Indians.
After a few days, the men returned to Salt Lake and reported everything favorable for founding a colony. Certainly, Chief Walker was inspired of the Lord to issue an invitation to these white men to settle and reside in the heartland of his home and hunting grounds. Most Indians despised all white men and desired to kill them or drive them out of their land.
First Settlers[]
A company of fifty families, under the direct of Isaac Morley, was organized and this group started for the Sanpitch Valley. They had to make the roads, build bridges, and locate a suitable site for a settlement. The first camp (in Manti) was made on City Creek on 22 November 1849. When they arrived the saints found pine, cedar and small birch trees. The mountain on the east were black with cedar groves. The valley it self was covered with poor safebrush. Temporary housing made of wagon boxes comprised the town. [2]
A Fierce Winter 1849/50[]
Winter soon arrived and it was Snow! Snow! Snow! The depth of snow was about three feet. This was reported to be one of the worst winters in the Sanpitch Valley ever known to the Indians. Both settlers and Indians suffered greatly.
The men took the cattle to the warm springs on the south of town. Each morning they would go to the cattle and shovel snow, sharpen the horns on the cattle, sot he animals could better fend for themselves, and help anyway they could for the animals to get food.
Many of the men became snow blind and the little boys made themselves valuable by leading the men to the warm springs and the cattle. "William Belton Richey (1840-1911), a boy of nine, tells of being at the springs one evening when a fierce storm came on, fillin the dep paths with snow and hiding the mountains. Which direction was sshome? Two men pointed one direction and began wlaking, but Bill refused to follow and fought his way through the snow in another direction. He walked until he reached the Red Point, where he sought refuge for the night with the Sanpitch Indians who were located at the base of hills eastward. Young William spent a tolleragle night with the Indians. The men wallowed throught the snow all night, and the next morning found themselves...
1854 New Branch Presidency[]
Manti News - 15 July 1854.
Manti News - Manti, 15 July 1854. MR EDITOR:- A it is general known that Patriarch Isaac Morley, who was the PResident of the Branch in this place, has been called to G.S.L. City, perhaps it would be a source of satisfaction to some to know who we had selected for our President. On Saturday the _th instant, the High Council met to consult upon the matter of selecting a resident for the Branch. They selected brother Welcome Chapman for President, James Warcham for his 1st Counselor, and Warren S. Snow for his 2d Counselor. On Sunday the 9th, the people unanimously voted to acknowledge and sustain them in their respective offices, as above specified. R. WILSON GLENN - Clerk of Branch. [3]
1856 San Pete Coal Company[]
In 1856, the 2nd Branch President, Welcome Chapman (1805-1893), helped organize the San Pete Coal Company. Chapman was part of the first militia of Manti and used his stone cutting skills to help construct the first fort. He was also among the first group of selectmen. The young colony experienced great difficulties, but gradually began to prosper.
Black Hawk Relations[]
That same day (July 1856?), the Mormons baptized (or rebaptized) Chief Wakara into the LDS Church in Manti's City Creek, along with 120 other members of his tribe (103 males, 17 females).
Relations with the local Native Americans deteriorated rapidly and the Walker War soon ensued. The war consisted primarily of various raids conducted by the Native Americans against Mormon outposts in Central and Southern Utah. The Walker War ended in the mid-1850s in an understanding negotiated between Brigham Young and Wakara. Shortly thereafter, Welcome Chapman (1805-1893) and Wakara oversaw the baptism of scores of Wakara's tribe members. Although immediate hostilities ended, none of the underlying conflicts were resolved.[4]
Black Hawk War[]
In 1865 Utah's Black Hawk War erupted when an incident between a Manti resident and a young chieftain exploded into open warfare between the Mormon settlers and the local Native Americans. Forts were built in Manti and other nearby communities. Smaller settlements in the area were temporarily abandoned for the duration of the war. In the fall of 1867, Chief Black Hawk made peace with the settlers, but sporadic violence occurred until 1872 when federal troops finally intervened. Many Mormon settlers who fought and died in the wars are buried in the Manti Cemetery. Most of the Utes were eventually relocated to the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation in Eastern Utah.
^Findlay, Linnie T.M. "Welcome Chapman". Saga of the Sanpitch. 1989. Vol. 21, pp. 111-118.
Recap[]
Manti Utah Settlement[]
A view of Manti Cemetery from Temple Hill
Manti was one of the first communities settled in what was to become Utah. In 1849, Brigham Young dispatched a company of about 225 settlers, consisting of several families, to the Sanpitch (now Sanpete) Valley. Under the direction of Isaac Morley (1786-1865) the settlers arrived at the present location of Manti (Sanpete County, Utah) in November. They endured a severe winter by living in temporary shelters dug into the south side of the hill on which the Manti Temple now stands. Brigham Young named the new community Manti, after a city mentioned in the Book of Mormon.
