Santa Clara was a town situated in a little valley dissected by the Santa Clara River that ran from northwest to southeast and emptied into the Virgin River some four miles away. It had originally been filled with Shivwitts Indians of the Piute tribe. In 1854 the Mormon Church sent a small group of "missionaries" to convert the Indians to Mormonism. They were lead by Jacob Hamblin.

When these missionaries arrived they found what appeared to them a people living in filth and squalor. These Indians had seldom seen white men, and because of frequent raids from the south by Utes and Mexicans from Mexico and California, they were afraid of strangers. There was hunger everywhere, but few children, for the raiders from the south had taken them to be sold into slavery.

The missionaries immediately began to improve the area and demonstrate to the Indians friendship by offering better ways to secure food from the ground. Large log timbers were cut and a cabin constructed at the upper end of the present town of Santa Clara. A dam was built on the river for the purpose of providing controlled irrigation water for the fields. Many of the 800 or so Indians in the Santa Clara Valley assisted in the labor with the promise of a better food supply.

By the winter of 1855-56, the mood of the Indians had changed. Chief Tut-se-gab-its and the local tribe were responsive and friendly to the missionaries. But another band, under the leadership of "Old Agarapoots", had moved into the valley by that time and were more defiant. So the ten missionaries, with the assistance of four stone masons from Cedar City, constructed a fort for their protection.

When the Utah War broke out, a group of Mormon Saints living in San Bernadino, California were called back to Utah by Brigham Young for their protection. Some of these saints got as far as Santa Clara and continued no further. The small group of saints were finally organized as an official congregation in June of 1859 with Zadoc K. Judd as Bishop.

Along with the "Big Move" of 1861 came a group of eighty-five Swiss converts recently arrived in Salt Lake by handcart. They had very few belongings or tools and were assisted from Salt Lake to the Virgin River Basin by members of various settlements along the way. They arrived about the same time as Edward Bunker; but whereas Edward was instructed to remain in Toquerville, the Swiss were directed to Santa Clara. They arrived on November 28, 1861, drove to the fort, and camped. They had few tools or implements for building or farming, no money, and spoke no English.

Most of the productive farm land was already under cultivation by the existing residents, but since the Church leadership had sent these Swiss, they had to be settled. A permanent townsite was laid out "below the point of the hill on the bend of the creek" on the alkali flat. Here the homes would be safe from potential flood waters. In early December Israel Ivins made a survey, and on the twenty-second the whole community assembled on the site for a dedication by Elder Daniel Bonneli, a friend of the Swiss, who spoke both English and German.

No sooner was a dam and ditch carrying water to the new townsite finished than the infamous "Forty Days Rain" came.

As the rain continued, the "Big Flood" came. The people were awakened by a great roaring. The tributaries higher up had been accumulating the flood waters and turned them loose on the little valley by way of the Santa Clara Creek. The fort was located adjacent to the creek and was in great danger. As the torrent of water expanded, great chunks of the fort began to splash into the creek and be carried away. The banks gave way and soon all the buildings were laid waste and the valley was redesigned. The settlers stood on a hill with very few household items piled around them.

The flood may have been a blessing in disguise as it forced a redivision of resources. This brought greater equality and unity to the settlement. After the rains and floods subsided, the community began in earnest to rebuild and renew. The Indians survived the flood and continued to live on the south side of the creek, adjacent to the little town.

It wasn't long until trouble arose between the Swiss and the earlier settlers. The Swiss didn't own any livestock and so commenced immediately to plant their fields with the hope of sustaining themselves through agriculture. The early settlers saw no reason to constrain their livestock and allowed them to roam freely. This further divided the community.

Realizing the need to bring in someone independent who would have the ability to arbitrate the difficulty and fairly reconcile the issue, the church leaders in St. George looked to Edward Bunker. Zadoc Judd, one of the early settlers, was released and Edward called as Bishop. Once again he was cast into the whirlwind.

He moved to the little valley in the fall of 1862, unsuspecting of the problems that faced him. Quickly he endeavored to get the early settlers to take their livestock out of the fields, and he counseled the Swiss to fence their lands. This was done and at least one concern was soon remedied.

Edward then turned his attention to the issue of building a meeting house where all could come together on neutral ground. The reputation of Jacob Hamblin loomed large over the Virgin River Basin. His was a calling to the Indians in general and as such did not fall under the authority of the local bishop, Edward Bunker. This "fly in the ointment" could potentially cause disruption of the order and unity that Edward strove for.

Edward's nephew John McQuarrie wrote:

"A call to be a Bishop is regarded as an honor. There is usually joy in the service he gives. He is usually able, with the help of two able counselors and an efficient ward clerk, to keep records and make reports, to operate without much loss to his business interests. He has little to do with the routine business affairs of the members of his ward. But when Edward Bunker was called to be Bishop of the Santa Clara ward, it meant more than presiding at ward meetings, attending funerals, administering to the sick, and collecting tithing. He became as much a father to the people as though it was one big family of inexperienced children. There were probably about 60 families, fifty of them direct from the peasant or industrial class in Switzerland. They had no experience in the American way of farming and handling livestock. Of course, there were two or three exceptions, like John Hafen. I remember about four English families, hence there were little social contact for the Bunker family."

Not only were the people divided by cultural background, language, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, but a larger problem arose. Water was the single most important element governing success in the little community. Soon it became obvious that the group of saints located downstream, at St. George, held claim to part of the water the little community so desperately needed. Since Santa Clara was upstream it stated first claim to the water that passed through its valley. But the stake leadership to which Edward reported was located in St. George and this proved to be a delicate political problem for Edward. He felt strongly that obedience and unity were critical, yet survival depended on the precious water of the Santa Clara River.

EB: At this time we endured many privations and hardships on account of dry seasons and loss of crops.

James Bleak wrote in the St. George record:

"It is found that a spirit of uneasiness prevails with many people in the settlements. This manner is found to be less propitious for the raising of crops. Particularly is this the case on the Santa Clara, where the water has failed and the greater portion of the field crops have dried up, as well as thousands of vines and trees. The citizens of St George having opened up a large field below the fields of Santa Clara Settlement, held an equal right with the Santa Clara citizens to use the water, and the supply proving in-sufficient for both is a great loss to all."

EB: I was obliged to haul my breadstuffs from the north for several years. At one time grain was so scarce that flour was worth $10 per cwt. and had it not been for the liberality of our brethren in the north, our southern settlement would have suffered severely. Before flour reached us, my family was reduced to bran bread and glad to get that.

The Indians who had been so numerous on the south side of the Santa Clara valley suddenly began to literally die out. John S. Stucki of the Swiss company writes:

"When we first came to Santa Clara there were a great many Indians there. ...some of the Indians were quite thievish. ...Jacob Hamblin told the Indians that if they did not quit stealing the time would come when God would punish them with a bad disease and they would die off like diseased sheep. ..in a few years after our arrival the disease did come upon them. They had their Wigwams along the sides of the South hill and the edge of the Santa Clara bench close to our town. They had the habit of burning their wigwams whenever anyone died. I remember that we could see wickiups burning every day for a while. They died off so fast that there were hardly any left in a short time. Although Santa Clara Valley seemed to be almost alive with Indians, afterward there were hardly any to be seen."

The language barrier required more time to resolve. Bishop Bunker allowed the church meetings to proceed sometimes in English and sometimes in German. The children were the first to begin learning English and adults slowly followed. Edward demonstrated his leadership by trying to accommodate the Swiss and patiently, over a period of years, bring the com-munity together.

The winter of 1862 passed. In the spring of 1863 the com-munity launched an earnest effort to raise the crops that Brigham Young had sent them there to grow. They raised cotton. A cotton gin was improvised that resembled a clothes wringer with rollers powered by a horse. The cotton was then put up in 100 pound bales and the seed given to the cows.

Late in September of 1863, word came that Captain James Brown of the Mormon Battalion, City Councilman in Ogden, and stepfather of Emily Abbott had his sleeve caught in a roller cog of his molasses mill. He lost his life in the accident.

It was at this time that Myron Abbott, Emily's younger brother who had moved to a farm on LaVerkin Creek, a little east of Toquerville in the "Big Move", decided to return to Ogden. He was doing well when some of his cows strayed into a field belonging to an Indian chief. The Indians drove the cows into a box canyon and Myron went and retrieved them. An argument followed and when the chief drew his bow, Myron struck him with a spade and broke the chief's arm. This incident stirred up the Indians and the local authorities advised Myron to move back to Ogden, which he did in the fall of 1863.

At the conference held in St. George that fall, each of the Bishops gave a report on the condition of things under their charge. The conference was held on October 31st and November 1st, 1863, at which Bishop Edward Bunker reported on the status of the Santa Clara Ward:

"..Some cases of fever and ague there, but the people are hopeful and have been building homes. The crops are light through lack of water; they would not average more than a quarter of a crop."

At the same time in Toquerville, Sarah was having her own challenges sustaining herself and four children. Her oldest daughter, 16 year old Mary Ann Lang, met a man by the name of Henry Clark, fell in love and announced that they planned to get married. With all that Edward was doing at Santa Clara he spent little time that first year visiting Sarah. When he learned of the impending marriage, he was not pleased. Per-haps his pride was damaged a bit and felt that he should have been included in the decision. Edward's anger was probably the result of frustration, and after the initial incident, he came to like Mary's husband. Henry Clark proved to be a good man and a good husband to Mary.

Regardless of the personal challenges Edward faced, he had to find a way to help his little congregation survive and prosper in the face of the elements and the local authorities.