Transcript

Florence.

WE are glad to learn from the letter of Brother Cunningham, although no particular mention is made of it, that things are progressing so well in this city. When we passed through there, on our way out here, it was a city newly laid out, with only a very few houses upon it; now it is progressing very rapidly in improvement, as so many of the Saints settling there sufficiently indicates; and as it is on the direct route from the West, it not only makes it a good location for those who may be desirous of settling in that western country, but it is also a good place for the temporary settlement of the Saints previous to their departure for the Plains. Those of the Saints who may wish to go west, preparatory to an early start in the spring, from all the information that we can obtain, cannot find a better location. And here we would say, in justice to the gentlemanly proprietors from whom we have received much courtesy, that, situated as Florence is on the western bank of the Missouri river, on a high, beautiful plateau, with excellent shores for wharfage, on the direct (as we are told) surveyed route of the Pacific Railroad, surrounded by a rich and fertile country, that there is not a city in the western country that holds out greater inducements to an enterprising man than the city of Florence.