On August 2, 1875, James Yorgason, soon to be the Bishop of the Fountain Green Utah Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, took his first plural wife. In doing so he joined a rather elite group of Mormon men who were known as polygamists. Over the next thirteen years, as he built a financial empire to support them, he took five more plural wives, making him exceptional even among the elite. But then in 1887 the Edmunds-Tucker law was passed and "The Raid" against Mormon polygamists began, the United States entered a time of monetary crisis in 1888, and by 1889 most of the western United States, including Sanpete County, Utah, was experiencing a severe drought. Together these situations destroyed James Yorgason's financial base, and shortly thereafter each of his plural wives filed for divorce, effectively destroying his polygamous family.