twenty-five miles to tlie soutli, the site of Neplii, in Juab county, was first occupied by Joseph L. Hey- wood. Nephi was surveyed in the autumn of 1852, the spot being selected on account of its beauty and con- venience. A fort was afterward built, surrounded by a wall twelve feet in height and six feet at the base.^^ Through this town passed the old California or south- ern road made by the pioneers in 1849; and here, in cabins built of mud and willows, lived, at the close of 1852, more than forty families.^*
I have mentioned that Isaac Morley with two hundred settlers went into the San Pete country in 1848. On the 14th of June, 1849, a council was held at Salt Lake City, at which were present a Ute chief named Walker,^^ and twelve of his tribe. After the pipe of peace had been passed around, Walker declared himself a friend of the settlers, and asked their sachem to send a party southward to the valley of San Pete, where they might teach his people how to build and farm. Within six moons," answered Brigham, "I will send you a company." In the spring of this year the party sent to explore this valley had already selected the site of the present town of Manti, on a branch of the San Pete Creek, though there was little in the neighborhood to invite the settler, sage brush and rabbit brush, the red man and the coyote, being
^* Its length was 420 rods, and its cost $8,400. Portions of it remained in 1880. Geo. Teasdale, in Id., 111.
^* The first settler was Timothy B. Foote, who, with his wife and six chil- dren, took up his abode in this neighborhood in the autumn of 1851. Before the end of the year he was joined by seven other families. Id., 107; and be- fore the end of 1852, 35 additional families settled at Nephi. Deseret News, Dec. 11, 1852.
^•^ ' Walker was the chief of the Ute Indians . . . Uinta was the great chief of this region, and Ora was the head chief of the Ute nation. . .Walker's head- quarters were the Sevier, generally; he would paj'^ a visit to San Pete once a year.' Wells Narr., MS., 48, 56. 'Walker used to go into California to steal horses; had a place of concealment among the mountains. At one time, while there, people were so incensed that they turned out to capture him and his band. In the dead of night he quietly took possession of tlieir horses and trappings and came into Utah triumphant. He would boast of his proceed- ings some time later. He never brought stolen goods into the settlements, but secreted them among his people.' IJtali Notes, MS., 8.
