BIG SOUTHERN CHAPTER 26

JUNE 1896

THE UNITED

"But we be a Mormon ditch," Hans Christiansen protests, appalled at the suggestion of appointing Gentiles to Board of Director seats.

Cluff, a diplomat whose talents brought him to this position as President, knows how to handle the avid. "We will still be a Mormon ditch," he says. "But we will be seen as open to all." The Governor had stated that his support for Skeen's canal, in large part, stemmed from the United's ability to shut out nonmembers from water. That was contrary to the Carey Act but also to the broader American principle of inclusiveness. It was "beyond repulsive," McConnell had told him, his distaste so evident that his words made his mouth pinched. Cluff took it personally and made a note to measure and exact revenge.

The stockholders shuffle and mumble. "We give," Christiansen says. "They take. Simple thing."

There are seven Gentiles present and each feels eyes darting toward them and then averting. They exchange glances. Cluff puts his hand up to squelch the commotion. "These good men," he says, indicating the Gentiles, "Are settlers, are farmers, just like you. Some of them have been here longer than you. Their interests are the same, they are on the same canal, the United. They have been working beside you, working harder than some of you, working with more teams than some of you. To bear them ill will, this is not the Mormon way." His voice is practiced at gentle authority, his many years as a teacher and then administrator coming to fruition. There is a place in most people, particularly in the brethren, that wants to obey, that wants to submit, and he unconsciously knows how to find it. It has always been his talent since a child in Hawaii, where his father had been serving an LDS mission.

Chastised but heard, the small crowd quiets. The Gentiles give Cluff nods of thankful assent, they came to the meeting to support their interests and offer themselves as figurative directors, knowing they would have no power but knowing their board presence would make the Governor and the Land Board look more favorably upon the United.

"You are a people that can do. We are a people that can do. I have seen you, Hans Christiansen, fixing a door, the hinge broken and no hinges to be bought. You took a piece of hide, fashioned it to fit the door frame and the door, nailed it to both. You had a hinge. You did not go to the store to buy a hinge. You did not wait for the hinge to come from Chicago on the train to Chapman's store. You needed the door to work, you made it work."

"This is the buckskin to make this door work. We need the Governor's support and this is a show of good will and openness to all. We can get a new hinge, a better hinge, when the time comes to get it."

The Gentiles, in different couplings, squint at each other, knowing full well the meaning of Cluff's words. The quorum votes three of them in as directors, the others glad not to be amongst them.

© 2025 Ralph Thurston