The harvest of ’49 was bountiful in all the valley; and thus was the wild prophecy of Joel Rae made sober truth.  Many of the gold-seekers had loaded their wagons with merchandise for the mining’ camps; but in their haste to be at the golden hills, they now sold it at a sacrifice in order to lighten their loads.  The movement across the Sierras became a wild race; clothing, provisions, tools, and arms—­things most needful to the half-clad, half-starved community on the shores of the lake—­were bartered to them at less than half-price for fresh horses and light wagons.  Where a twenty-five dollar pack-mule was sold for two hundred dollars, a set of joiner’s tools that had cost a hundred dollars back in St. Louis would be bought for twenty-five.

The next year the gain to the Saints was even greater, as the tide of gold-seekers rose.  Early that summer they sold flour to the oncoming legions for a dollar a pound, taking their pay in the supplies they most needed on almost their own terms.

Thus was the valley of the mountains a little fattened, and thus was Joel Rae exalted in the sight of men as one to whom the secrets of heaven might at any time be unfolded.  But the potent hand of Brigham was still needed to hold the Saints in their place and in their faith.

Many would have joined the rush for sudden riches.  A few did so.  Brigham issued a mild warning, in which such persons were described as “gainsayers in behalf of Mammon.”  They were warned, also, that the valley of the Sacramento was unhealthful, and that, in any event, “the true use of gold is for paving streets, covering houses, and making culinary dishes; and when the Saints shall have preached the gospel, raised grain, and built cities enough, the Lord will open up the way for a supply of gold to the satisfaction of his people.”

A few greed-stung Saints persisted in leaving in the face of this friendly admonition.  Then the Lion of the Lord roared:  “Let such men remember that they are not wanted in our midst.  Let them leave their carcasses where they do their work.  We want not our burying-grounds polluted with such hypocrites.  Let the souls of them go down to hell, poverty-stricken and naked, and lie there until they are burned out like an old pipe!” The defections ceased from that moment, and Zion was preserved intact.  Brigham was satisfied.  If he could hold them together under the alluring tales of gold-finds that were brought over the mountains, he had no longer any fear that they might fall away under mere physical hardship.  And he held them,—­the supreme test of his power over the bodies and minds of his people.

This passing of the gold-seekers was not, however, a blessing without drawbacks.  For the Saints had hoped to wax strong unobserved, unmolested, forgotten, in this mountain retreat.  But now obscurity could no longer be their lot.  The hated Gentiles had again to be reckoned with.