Brigham Young's Influence in Indian Treaty Negotiation

“In arranging this treaty with the Indians, the influence which the Lord has given me as the leader of his people was plainly manifested. The Indians had an idea that if they disposed of their lands we would have to leave them, and this they did not wish, as they already looked upon us as the bona fide owners of the land, and they wished their children to grow up with ours and themselves, to live with us as they had done. They could not be induced to entertain for a moment the idea of selling their lands, until I spoke to them and told them my wishes, when all opposition vanished. They bore strong testimony to our treatment of them. They told Col. Irish—who in all these transactions cordially desired my counsel and co-operation—that the agents who had been here before him had two tongues, two faces and two hearts; but that I had always spoken in one way, and with one tongue to them, and had never deceived them. I told them that I wanted them to go to the Uintah valley, and that it was a good place for them, and that they would be better off there than here, and that they would have the protection of the Government, and that the Government would provide for them. They listened to my words, and the treaty was signed by them with a good grace, and they seemed perfectly satisfied with the arrangement, because I had told them it was right, and that it was for their benefit. This is the influence which the Lord gives to his servants, and it is a power which the world does not understand, and which they cannot obtain by any of their arts or devices.”

— Brigham Young, as reported in The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 27, No. 33