In an essay on Thomas Bullock, Arnold K. Garr noted that
By
the fall of 1848, there were approximately 4,200 people living in the valley,
but there was no official currency for the community. Therefore, on December 28,
1848, the municipal council authorized President Young, President Heber C.
Kimball, and Bishop Newel K. Whitney to issue paper money. The pioneers did not
have a printing press, so President Young assigned Thomas Bullock and Robert L.
Campbell, clerks for the First Presidency to write all the bills by hand. For the
next few days the two clerks carried out this tedious task of creating
handwritten denominations of fifty cents, one, two, three, and five dollars,
which were all dated January 2, 1849. Each bill required the signatures of four
people—Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Newel K. Whitney, and Thomas Bullock.
Finally, each bill was stamped with the private seal of the Twelve Apostles.
This unique seal contained sixteen letters—P.S.T.A.P.C.J.C.L.D.S.L.D.A.O.W. These
letters were an acronym for “Private Seal of the Twelve Apostles, Priests of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the Last Dispensation All Over
the World.” Thomas spent all of New Year’s Day stamping and signing the bills.
On the same day, President Young and President Kimball affixed their signatures
to the notes which Bishop Whitney had signed previously. Unfortunately, the
supply of money did not meet the demands of the people, so the committee
decided to authorize the use of bills printed by the defunct Kirtland Safety
Society, a Mormon financial institution in Ohio that had failed back in 1837.
The use of this money, according to Bullock, fulfilled “a prophecy of Joseph
that one day [the Kirtland Safety Society notes] would be as good as gold.” (Arnold
K. Garr, “Thomas Bullock: ‘The Lord’s Clark,’” in Salt Lake City: The Place God
Prepared, ed. Scott C. Esplin and Kenneth L. Alford [Regional Studies in
Latter-day Saint Church History; Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center;
Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011], 142-43, emphasis added)
The note Garr reference to
support this prophecy is C. Ward Despain, "Thomas
Bullock: Early Mormon Pioneer," a M.A. thesis published June 1956 by
BYU, pp. 57-58, which itself references the following:
Saturday
January 6. I <Pres Brigham Young> attended council <at 10:30 a.m. at
Heber C. Kimball's house> when the following resolution were passed: That
the High Council be relieved from municipal duties: that Asama <M> Lyman,
Orrin P. Rockwell, George D Grant, Jedediah M Grant, David Fullmer, John S.
Fullmer, Lewis Robinson, Dimick B. Huntington, William Crosby, and George
<W> Boyd go go Utah valley to learn its capabilities for a stock range,
and that <when the cattle go, forty or fifty men go with them; that> the
Fort building be removed; that Isaac Higbee, John M. Higbee, and William
Wadsworth be a committee to seek out suitable fishing places in the Utah Lake,
establish fisheries, and supply the market; that Alanson and Ira Eldridge
engaged in the business of taking and manufacturing leather, and that the
Council exert its influence to sustain them therein; that the council approbate
Joel Johnson in his journey to the States to buy sheep that Brigham Young and
Heber C. Kimball have the privilege of fencing in as much of the table lands
and the spurs of the mountains east of the city as they wish for pasturage; and
that the Kirtland bank bills he put into circulation for the accommodation of
the people, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Joseph that the Kirtland notes
would one day be as good as gold. (Journal
History, January 6, 1849, p. 1)
Further Reading:
Resources on Joseph Smith's Prophecies
