Brigham Young's Sauna

Brigham Young had a personal “steam bath” in the Lion House at 63 E South Temple, Salt Lake City.

Brigham's Steam Bath. Page 106, DUP Our Pioneer Heritage by Kate B Carter, Volume 2, 1959

Reading through the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers (DUP) history volumes is much like visiting their museum – odd tidbits are hidden within, like this one!

Similar to a personal sauna (except no hot rocks are used), Brigham’s steam bath is a wood closet made of local pine. It measures 3 ft square and 7 ft tall. On the door is a vertical hatch made of wood that could slide open and closed for ventilation, and to let the occupant unlock the latch on the outside of the door to exit.

Boiling water was poured into a 6-inch-deep metal tray that was situated below the wood-slatted floor; the stream would then flow up from the boiling water and fill the closet for the steam bath. Later a circle was cut into the ceiling and a steam compressor was added to help boost the temperature and steam.

Tubs and sauna at the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Musem SLC, from TripAdvisor

 

 Description of the Steam Bath

 
The steam bath was located on the ground floor of the 3-story Lion House which was built in 1856 for some of Brigham’s wives. (Mostly the wives with a small number of children as the wives with larger families were generally provided their own house.)

The ground floor of the Lion House was where most daily household activities occurred. In addition to the bathroom in the NE corner, there was a schoolroom, a laundry room, weaving room, kitchen, dining room, and storage rooms.

The top floor of the Lion House held bedrooms, each wife getting a room with a dormer window (20 gables for 20 bedrooms). The main floor also housed bedrooms as well as a formal parlor.

Lion House 1907, top is a postcard based on the below photograph.

Lion House basement floor plan, ca. 1868

 
Brigham often used the steam bath to treat his rheumatoid arthritis. He also liked the hot sulphur baths at Warm Springs, even having his own private entrance and room. That edition of Warm Springs has long since been demolished; the 1921 version, called Wasatch Springs Plunge, is the most recent and is located at 840 N 300 West (owned and boarded up by SLC gov).

The Lion House was converted into a reception center and restaurant in the 1960s and remains so today.

Brigham’s steam bath is now housed at the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum at 300 N Main St.


Sources
- Lessons (Daughters of the Utah Pioneers) Nov 1968
- DUP Our Pioneer Heritage by Kate B Carter, Volume 2, 1959
- Brigham Young at Home by Clarissa Young Spencer, 1940

Hawaiian Royalty in Utah

King David Kalakaua.
Image from wikimedia.

Hawaiian royalty stopped in Utah to check on how their Native Hawaiian subjects were adjusting to life in SLC.

The Mormons started missionary work on the Hawaiian Islands in the 1850s and established a sugar plantation at Laie on the island of O’ahu (remember my honeybee post where Brigham Young wanted better access to sugar).

Before the 1893 overthrow of the last monarch of Hawaii, each Hawaiian needed permission from the monarch to leave the islands. Consequently, only a few Mormon converts arrived in Utah from the Hawaiian Islands prior to 1893 (refer to previous posts about Kiha Nebeker and the Hawaiian neighborhood near Warm Springs).

The first Hawaiian monarch to visit Utah was King David Kalakaua. In Dec 1874, he was on his way to Washington DC to negotiate a treaty when his eastern bound train passed through Ogden without a stop, despite several SLC dignitaries waiting in Ogden hoping to meet with him.

Kalakaua did stop in Ogden in Jan 1875 during his return trip west and briefly met with several officials from SLC and spoke with 13-year-old Kiha Ka’awa Nebecker, at the time Kiha was the only Native Hawaiian living in SLC (one other similar aged boy named Kahana was living in Central Utah). King Kalakaua was pleased that young Kiha had not forgotten his native language.

In April 1887, Kalakaua's wife, Queen Kapi’olani, and his sister Princess Lili’uokalani (who later became Queen Lili’uokalani, the last sovereign of Hawaii), traveled through Ogden, SLC, and Provo on their way to Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. A group of SLC and Mormon church dignitaries and about 20 Native Hawaiians Salt Lakers boarded their special train in Ogden and rode with them back to SLC.

Queen Kapi’olani seemed to recognize one of the Native Hawaiian Salt Lakers, a woman by the name of Kapukini, and the two of them sat together for some time speaking in Native Hawaiian for nearly the entire trip from Ogden to SLC. The Queen asked about her Hawaiian subjects living in SLC and whether they were happy and how they were occupied.

The royal train stopped in SLC to a crowd of a thousand people and music from Held’s Band. Many Salt Lakers greeted the two royals in their native language, to the surprise of Queen Kapi’olani. The royal train soon departed resuming their travels east.

Lili’uokala and Kapi’olani at the Golden Jubilee, 1887.

Native Hawaiian Neighborhood near Warm Springs in Salt Lake City

John W. Kauleinamoku was another early Native Hawaiian to immigrate to Utah. He was also a Mormon convert and came to SLC in 1875 (2 years after Kiha Ka’awa Nebeker) and was the first adult Native Hawaiian to permanently move to Utah making him the de facto leader of the emerging Native Hawaiian community in SLC.

Between 1872 and 1889, about 75 Native Hawaiians (all Mormon converts) settled in SLC. They mostly lived at the edge of town in the Warm Springs area of the Capitol Hill neighborhood, primarily between what is now 200-300 West and Reed and Fern Avenues.

Kauleinamoku’s house was the most well-known and hosted funerals, gatherings, and religious services conducted in Native Hawaiian. Many other Native Hawaiian immigrants lived with Kauleinamoku and his family in his small adobe home. 

The Kauleinamoku house was located at 754 N 300 West and was demolished about 2003 by the SLC Redevelopment Agency (RDA) (along with the Morrison Meat Pie facility); townhomes now occupy the site.

According to research done by Nelson Knight, there are at least 5 homes of early Native Hawaiian settlers that remain standing in the Capitol Hill neighborhood:

1. Makaula house at 249 W Reed Ave
2. Salamona Nui Kapiipiigm House at 222 W Fern Ave
3. Solomona & Raanaana Umi house at 240 W Fern Ave
4. A.H. Kapukini House at 226 W Fern Ave
5. Peter Kealakaihomia House at 254 Fern Ave

Most Native Hawaiians had a difficult experience in Utah, primarily stemming from racial prejudice and stereotypes of Pacific Islanders perpetuated by syndicated newspaper stories that described them as cannibals, practitioners of infanticide, and lepers.

In June 1889, 4 Native Hawaiians applied for US Citizenship, but the Utah Supreme Court decided that Native Hawaiians were Polynesian and thus part of the Malay race and were not eligible for citizenship because of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

Largely in response to this ruling, and the general racial prejudices in obtaining work, about 50 of the 75 Native Hawaiians in SLC relocated to the new Hawaiian settlement of Iosepa in Skull Valley in Aug 1889. Most of the other either returned to Hawaii or eventually relocated to Iosepa as well. Kiha Ka’awa Nebeker (see previous post) seems to be an exception to this trend.

Kauleinamoku was also one of the leaders of Iosepa (although the formal Mormon Church leadership positions were all headed by White people, most of whom were previous missionaries to Hawaii).

Kauleinamoku died in 1899 at Iosepa. His grave site is enclosed by an iron fence at the Iosepa Cemetery.

 

Sources:
Knight, Nelson. This Old House Solomona & Raanaana Umi Property, Capitol Hill Neighborhood Council Bulletin, Nov 2009.

Knight, Nelson. This Old House: John Henry & Marie Kaoo Makaula House, Capitol Hill Neighborhood Council Bulletin, March 2005.

Kester, Matthew. “Race, Religion, and Citizenship in Mormon Country: Native Hawaiians in Salt Lake City, 1869-1889.” Western Historical Quarterly, vol. 40, no. 1, 2009, pp. 51–76. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40505603

Kester, Matthew. Remembering Iosepa: History, Place, and Religion in the American West. Oxford University Press. 2013.  

SLC Once Had an Ostrich Farm

Ostrich at Liberty Park Zoo ca. 1915, likely one of the ostriches
acquired from the Salt Lake Ostrich Farm. Image from UDSH.

An ostrich farm once inhabited what is now Warm Springs Park at 840 N 300 West in Salt Lake City.

In July 1914, Mr. Lafayette M. Hughes visited SLC and determined that the local climate and tourist industry would lend itself to a profitable ostrich farm. Mr. Hughes had established several ostrich farms in other states and was a self-described promoter of the industry.

Mr. Hughes negotiated a sub-lease from SLC of 2 acres of land surrounding the Warm Springs Plunge building. On Aug 17, 1914, 21 ostriches arrived by train from Los Angeles and were transported by van to their new home.

The following Saturday the ostrich farm opened to the public with admission being 25 cents. The farm was a combination leisure attraction and feather factory. Feathers were plucked every 8 months with an annual profit of $200 per bird, per year ($5,200 in 2020 dollars).

In the 1910s ostrich feathers were quite fashionable and organizations such as the Audubon Society encouraged the use of ostrich feathers over the other birds because they could be harvested without killing the bird. A shop at 21 E 300 South, named the Style Shop, was established to sell the ostrich feathers directly to the public.

The good times for the Salt Lake Ostrich Farm didn’t last very long and it soon began liquidating its assets. In June 1915 the SLC Zoo, then located in Liberty Park, purchased 3 ostriches from the farm for $400 each. And the popular Wandamere Resort (now Nibley Park Golf Course) made arrangements to obtain 11 of the ostriches (4 of them died due to improper care resulting in a lawsuit).

The last mention of the Salt Lake Ostrich Farm was March 21, 1917, with a notice in the local papers of delinquent taxes.

Warm Springs Park April 2020.

Newspaper advertisement, SL Telegram Sep 12 1914

Ostrich feather hats on Utah women, 
From Harold B. Lee Library BYU.

Ostrich feather hats on Utah women,
From Harold B. Lee Library BYU

Ostrich feather hats on Utah women, 
From Harold B. Lee Library BYU

Japanese in Utah

From my newly acquired book Japanese Americans in Utah is a description of the first delegation of Japanese to visit Utah.

Their visit to Salt Lake City lasted nearly 3 weeks and included observing an amputation of a leg, soaking in the warm springs at Wasatch Plunge, visiting Camp Douglas, and of course meeting with Brigham Young.

A digital version of Japanese Americans in Utah is available at archive.org.