Wilderness preservation has been at the center of debates about public land policy for almost half a century, and nowhere has the controversy been more intractable than in Utah. Despite its vast expanses of unsetded and undeveloped red rock desert, managed primarily by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Utah has less designated wilderness than in any other state in the West. In this study, I focus on San Juan County in southeast Utah to study the conflict over the designation of wilderness. The controversy pits local residents and state politicians against state and national environmental groups, with the BLM shifting positions in between. I analyze and interpret the wilderness debate from three different perspectives. The fIrst explores the history of the Utah wilderness debate from the first BLM wilderness inventory in the 1970's through its re-inventory in the 1990's. I examine the influence of national, regional, and local forces such as institutional change within the BLM, in-fIghting among Utah-based environmental interest groups, and the sagebrush rebellion and county supremacy movements. The second perspective incorporates the spatial analytical techniques of geographical information systems to provide a relatively objective view of landscape characteristics used to defIne wilderness. I interpret the landscape as a continuum of varying degrees of wildness, a product of inherent naturalness and the influences of human impacts. Lastly, I examine the personal views of the meaning of wilderness through the words of actual participants in the debate. In an analysis of the statements of both county residents as well as the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, I explore the mental images and ideas that influence the ways in which people value and understand the desert environment.

Mormon contributions to California history are generally well known. Most school children have heard of the march of the Mormon Battalion. The name of Samuel Brannan is known to almost any student interested in this area. The more inquisitive scholar is familiar with the voyage of the BROOKLYN and subsequent relations of the Mormons to the history of San Francisco. The mention of New Hope, however, brings puzzled looks to the faces of most people, including Mormons today living within twenty miles of the area. The Mormon movement to California was part of a general exodus by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the East and Mid-west. Persecuted for many reasons, the Mormons had been forced to leave their homes in Illinois for some place "beyond the Rocky Mountains". At the same time, those members of' the Church in the eastern states were directed to proceed by ship to a spot on the Pacific Coast. It is the latter group about whom Part I is written. Much of the history of the Mormons in California, and of New Hope in particular, is sketchy, misleading and at times in actual error. Although it must be admitted that almost all the material contained in Part I had been used before by other writers, this study, as far as it is known, offers a contribution in that every reference available on Mormons in central California, in New Hope in particular, is gathered together within one volume.

In July of 1853, Chief Wakara's band of Utes clashed in a series of violent confrontations with the Mormon settlers. This conflict is known as the Walker War. Many complex factors contributed to this war. After some earlier violence between Mormons and different bands of Utes between 1847 and 1851, the Mormons continued their quick expansion settling on Ute lands. From 1851 to 1853 Mormon and Ute relations continued to decline as Mormons expanded their settlements occupying Ute hunting grounds. In addition to these land encroachments, new laws were enacted regulating trade between the Spanish and Utes by Brigham Young. The most notable regulation on trade prohibited the Spanish and Ute slave trade. All these trade regulations hurt the Ute economy, particularly the most powerful equestrian Ute band, the Cheverets led by Chief Wakara. In the spring of 1853 Governor Brigham Young ordered out the state militia to arrest Mexican traders and to capture Wakara for engaging in the slave trade. Wakara had previously established a friendly relationship with Young and had invited the Mormons to settle his lands in Sanpete. Wakara had become committed to peaceful relations and cooperation with Young and the Mormon people. Wakara remained true to his desire for friendly relations even after seeing his economic status undermined by Mormon settlers. Young as well was committed to staying on peaceful terms with the Utes. Their followers, on the other hand, had difficulties overcoming the cultural divide. After the murder of a member of Wakara's band in July of 1853 by settler James Ivie, Wakara's band waged a series of raids against Mormon settlements. Wakara himself, however, was not involved in the war and continually tried to sue for peace. The war has been mislabeled with Wakara's name; he was not really involved in the violence. Yet it was indeed a war. The war had a great impact on the Mormon settlers. Settlers abandoned their homes and had to move into forts. For the Mormons involved, this conflict was neither small nor inconsequential; it was a major disruption involving a great portion of the Utah Territory.

For years historians of the American West have overlooked Utah when dealing with the subject of extrajudicial violence, while researchers of Mormonism have misread the existence of such violence in territorial Utah. The former asserts that Utah was free from extrajudicial proceedings and that such violence was nearly nonexistent within the contours of the Mormon kingdom. The latter maintains that any violence that existed in Utah was directly connected to the religious fanaticism of the Mormon populace in the region. The reality is that much of the extralegal violence in Utah was a result of the frontier, not the religion of the Mormons. Although episodes of bloodshed have been routinely categorized as religious zealotry, the evidence suggests that they are more properly catalogued within the context of western vigilantism—a practice well-documented and accepted among historians of the West. Utahans did employ extralegal means, like most other locales, for maintaining the existing social structure. Numerous factors led to conflicts of interests and, as was common during this time, violence became a part of life for early Utahans. It is the purpose of this examination to demonstrate how residents, leaders, and visitors in Utah justified the use of extrajudicial proceedings during the territorial period. Examining the violence that occurred in nineteenth-century Utah within the framework of the western extralegal culture provides a more nuanced understanding of the people of the region and demonstrates how their actions were not as aberrant as previous scholars have claimed. During the territorial period, Utahans experienced a significant amount of extralegal justice. The unique confluence of ethnic, religious, and political ideals led to clashes on the western frontier. There was no shortage of outlaws in Utah, nor of citizens and authorities capable and willing to go beyond the bounds of legal authority to maintain order within the territory. This thesis aims to properly place the Utah Territory in the broader framework of extralegal violence in the West and expand the historical understanding of summary justice in pre-statehood Utah.

This thesis discusses six world views concerning development in the Dominican Republic. Catholic and LDS traditions assert that full development is life with God and life with God as a god, respectively. The LDS church has experienced rapid growth in the Dominican Republic, but must deal with less active and illiterate members. The catholic tradition permeates Dominican culture but must deal both with a scarcity of priests and a schism among the clergy.The secular chapter combines many secular views into four, based on lan Mitroff's and Ralph Kilmann's extension of C.G. Jung psychological types. Analytic Scientists have historically dominated secular development and believe that development means amassing specific knowledge. Projects based on the impersonal and the concrete have profited the wealthy while often failing to meet the needs of the poor. Conceptual Theorists seek to amass knowledge across paradigms. Conceptual Humanists desire the enrichment of humanity. Particular Humanists seek to free individuals for self-fulfillment. Persons within all three perspectives have at times ridiculed Analytical Scientists and have offered their own views of how development should be done.To implement programs, people first need to understand their own worldview and then study and/or experience a foreign worldview. Only then will planners be able to implement policies that fit within the foreign society.

This thesis is a rhetorical analysis of utopian discourse about marriage in mid-nineteenth-century America. Although utopian communities are usually approached within the fields of history and sociology, a rhetorical analysis adds to the discussion by uncovering the discursive complexity of marriage beliefs within a rapidly changing culture. Discursive features of the Shaker, Oneida Community and Latter-day Saint texts are outlined and compared according to the following format:Chapter One examines the textures of conflict within the dominant culture's views of marriage and gender roles in nineteenth-century America, with a brief overview of reform efforts of the day. This chapter provides a wide context of marriage discourse in this era, which situates emergent utopian discourse of alternative marriage constructs.Chapter Two narrows the focus to utopian discourse, analyzing how utopian rhetoric responded to concerns of the dominant culture (outlined in Chapter One) and shaped their cultural identities. This chapter outlines several general features of utopian discourse about marriage and gender roles, with detailed analyses of the rhetoric of Shakers and the Oneida Community regarding thier alternatives to traditional marriage constructs.Chapter Three builds on the context of the first two chapters and further narrows the scope of analysis to Mormon Polygamy dsicourse. Public and private accounts are considered in a comparison of official church rhetoric with women's discourse about the principle. The last two chapters also show utopian departures from and similarities to mainstream discourse about marriage and gender roles.Although the three groups examined responded to mainstream concerns with some discursive similarities, rhetorical analysis shows that differences also exist, such as their rhetoric of gender identity and church authority. The Latter-day Saints stand out against the wider context of utopian discourse for their patriarchal model, their tenets of both continuous and personal revelation, and their enduring success as a religion.

For more than half a century Amos Milton Musser was a conspicuous figure in the social, religious, and business life of Utah.Amos Milton Musser, the second son and fourth child of Samuel and Anna Barr Musser, was born in Donegal Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, May 20, 1830. When he was four years old, his father died. after three years of widowhood, his mother remarried, but her husband, Abraham Bitner, soon died, leaving her with two additional children.During her second widowhood, times were so hard that Mrs. Bitner had to ask for help in supporting her children. John Neff, the husband of her sister Mary, accepted the responsibility of guardianship for them. It was through him that the family became affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1846. The families went on to Utah, but Amos Milton chose to remain behind and work. During the summer of 1851 he joined his mother in Salt Lake City, having been baptized into the Church at Kanesville before starting across the plains.

This thesis provides a detailed study of Brigham Young's Indian superintendency within a framework of the federal Indian policy of his era. It focuses on Brigham Young's personal challenges and successes in instituting a conciliatory policy with the natives of the Great Basin. Experience taught Brigham Young that it was "cheaper to feed the Indians than to fight them." Brigham Young pursued his policy in spite of opposition from some Mormon constituents until finally his determination overruled pleas to forcibly remove the Indians from their lands.Another important emphasis of the thesis is the personal interaction between Brigahm Young and non-Mormon territorial officials within and outside the Indian superintendency. Each party experienced conflict and frustration in dealing with the other. An analysis of the motives undergirding the conflict between the Mormons and non-Mormons is herein provided. These verbal battles also impacted the Indians, thus diminishing the good that might have been accomplished in a more cooperative atmosphere.

This thesis examined the Nonconformist denominational membership in the Borough of Leeds during the early Victorian era to determine the social composition of its members. The chapel goers of Old Dissent, represented by the Unitarians, Baptists, Independents, and the Society of Friends, and New Dissent, represented by the Wesleyan Methodists, Methodist New Connexion, Primitive Methodists and the Mormons were the basis for this study. The results of the occupational, residential, family, and migration analysis revealed a surprisingly high percentage of working classes (72) represented among the Dissenters. This fact flys in the face of contemporary observation and historical investigation, which placed English Nonconformity as a middle class phenomenon. There were also significant differences among the denominations. The Friends displayed an upper middle class orientation, the Unitarians and Independents, were more educated, with slightly less than half their membership middle class, and the remaining denominations proved to be more attractive to the working classes.

The introduction of Mormonism into Great Britain was met with both success and resistence. The major form of British resistence to the Latter-day Saints was through the press. From the introduction of the Church into Great Britain in 1837 to 1860, numerous anti-Mormon pamphlets were published to discourage people from associating with what was considered to be a strange American sect.The major themes of a number of these tracts have been analyzed in order to gain a better understanding of how the Mormons were perceived by the British. Some of the major themes included the evil character of Joseph Smith; the immorality of the Mormons; and, comparisons between the Mormons and the Muslims. The themes of anti-Mormon pamphlets reflected the attitudes and concerns of the Early Victorian middle class displayed a sense of concern for the vulnernability of social inferiors. Pamphlets published in the 1850s were partly sucessful in creating a negative public image of Mormonism that was disturbing to many practicing saints and impaired missionary work.