Orson Hyde's Curse

Orson Hyde’s Curse

Elder Hyde received instructions to return to Utah. He hurriedly agreed to lease his mill to Jacob Rose for an installment of one span of small mules, an old worn out harness, two yokes of oxen, and an old wagon which Hyde used to convey himself to Salt Lake City.

In 1862, Judge Hyde attempted to recover money for his sawmill, valued at $20,000, which had been acquired by R.D. Sides. Because Hyde received nothing but promises for the payment of his property, he pronounced a public curse. In an open letter, he hoped the people of Carson and Washoe Valley would be “visited of the Lord of Hosts and with thunder and with earthquakes and with floods, with pestilence and famine until your names are not known amongst men, for you have rejected the authority of God, trampled upon his laws and his ordinances and given yourself up to serve the god of this world to rioting in debauchery, in abominations and drunkenness and corruption.”

The people took their chances with the Lord, but the mill of “the Mormon God” ground slowly. The curse pronounced in 1862 took effect in 1880, when a dam broke and the consequent flood wiped out the very site of the old mill town below it and ruined Sides’ farm; in 1882 another flood swept away the adjoining town of Ophir; later one carried off the remaining evidence of the Mormon settlements—the old Mormon meeting house—which was left in ruins on the shores of Washoe Lake. (Mack, Heart Throbs, 7)

Much of what has been quoted comes from a book by a famous author, Effie Mona Mack who wrote articles included in the series, Heart Throbs. The conclusion made in her writings is significant enough to quote here. “Western Utah, soon to become the territory of Nevada, could have fared better had she kept her Mormon Colonists. Their zeal and ability to develop virgin territory was ably demonstrated by what they did in Utah.” (Mack, Heart Throbs, 7)

There were those who did not heed the call to abandon the area and move back to Salt Lake. Some of the members were not faithful before they moved here and had little inclination to permanently dwell among the saints. Of the original group that came to the Carson Mission, it is estimated that one third stayed in the Washoe Valley/Carson area.