travelers. For a light wagon the immigrants did not hesitate to offer
three or four heavy ones, and sometimes a yoke of oxen to boot. Such
very desirable things to a new community as sheeting, or spades and
shovels, since the miners were overstocked, could be had for almost
nothing. Indeed, everything, except coffee and sugar, was about half the
wholesale rate in the East. The profit to the Mormons from this
migration was even greater in 1850. The gold-seeker sometimes paid as
high as a dollar a pound for flour; and, conversely, as many of the
wayfarers started out with heavy loads of mining machinery and
miscellaneous goods, as is the habit of the tenderfoot camper even unto
this day, they had to sell at the buyers' prices. Some of the
enterprising miners had even brought large amounts of goods for sale at
a hoped-for profit in California. At Salt Lake City, however, the
information was industriously circulated that shiploads of similar,
merchandise were on their way round the Horn, and consequently the
would-be traders often sacrificed their own stock.[6]

[6: Linn, _The Story of the Mormons_, 406.]

This friendly condition could not, of course, long obtain. Brigham
Young's policy of segregation was absolutely opposed to permanent
friendly relations. The immigrants on the other hand were violently
prejudiced against the Mormon faith. The valley of the Salt Lake seemed
to be just the psychological point for the breaking up into fragments of
the larger companies that had crossed the plains. The division of
property on these separations sometimes involved a considerable amount
of difficulty. The disputants often applied to the Mormon courts for
decision. Somebody was sure to become dissatisfied and to accuse the
courts of undue influence. Rebellion against the decision brought upon
them the full force of civil power. For contempt of court they were most