Joe

Young’s final settlement of Zion in the Basin was the feat of a first-rate field Marshall. Within the Basin, the saints could build at peace. The rituals of the priesthood could bloom and flower in the temple. Young could develop fresh revelations around Adam-God, Adoption, Baptism for the Dead, and call for a more rigorous devotion to the church and to plural marriage. Though resisted fiercely, America eventually penetrated Zion by railroad, statehood, and secular jurisprudence. With it came more opportunities to prosper, prompting a rearguard experiment by Young to call Saints to consecrate their wealth unto collective ownership by the Church. Many such utopias blossomed and withered. Yet despite his calls to for all Mormons to consecrate their private property, Young viewed himself as a giant asterisk, and the Church President retained private ownership over 100% of his considerable assets until he died.