Thomas Rhoads, The Forgotten Mormon
Born in 1796 in Kentucky, Thomas Rhoads fought for the U.S. Army in the War of 1812. Marrying his first wife Elizabeth Forter in 1817, having sixteen children together, he then converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1835. Rhoads belonged to the Danites and to the Nauvoo Legion as Lieutenant. He moved his family from Illinois to Missouri and finally to California. Rhoads led the first LDS pioneers into future Utah Territory in 1846, before continuing west into California, where he struck gold. After Samuel Brannon refused church leaders’ call to return to Great Salt Lake City, Brigham Young wrote to Rhoads asking him to lead members and tithes back to Salt Lake.
Arriving in 1849 at the head of a wagon train, the Saints hailed Rhoads as a hero in a parade wherein Young spoke of Rhoads’ vital contributions of gold to the territory. Submitting four thousand dollars’ worth of gold members had sent as tithing, Rhoads then gave his own seventeen thousand dollars of gold. In exchange Rhoads was given an exceptional plot of land near the temple in Salt Lake and credited with over ten thousand dollars in the church bank ledger, the only man to receive his own dedicated page in the ledger aside from Brigham Young himself.
Rhoads served Brigham Young in many ways to help establish Utah Territory’s economic footing over the coming years. Young handpicked Rhoads multiple times to accompany him on scouting parties around the state to determine future settlements. Furthermore, Rhoads continued to provide a steady supply of gold each year to the Mormon mint. Multiple primary sources describe his deliveries in person; however, the church ledgers do not record the deposits, and scholars debate the amounts. Ultimately, the income was crucial to the young community facing extreme opposition as minted gold coins contributed to the perpetual immigration fund as well as construction of the temple.
Just as the amount is contested, so are the various sources. Accounts detail how Rhoads knew about a multitude of old mines in the mountains, abandoned by the Spanish. Several of these mines have been located and confirmed, others were claimed to have been found but were not accessible, while others still are lost. Most controversial amongst these is “Carre Shin Ob” located near White Rocks Canyon in the Wasatch Forests of Eastern Utah. As the story goes, in 1852 Brigham Young and Utes Chief Walker entered an arrangement thanks to Isaac Morely, wherein Rhoads would be permitted to travel alone deep into Indian territory to retrieve gold for the Mormon church. Walker was a convert and believed in the church, giving three simple rules: only Rhoads may know the location, he only takes the specified amount, and no Ute Indians would transport gold.
Dozens of accounts detail Rhoads’ travels; and the days absent compared to confirmed distance traveled proves wherever Rhoads retrieved gold from, he did not have to mine it himself. Scientific analysis of remaining Mormon mint coins matches the chemical makeup of old Spanish gold mined in the era. There are critiques that doubt the stories of Rhoads’ lost mine; regardless, Rhoads gathered gold from somewhere and this gold was immensely important to the foundation of Salt Lake City and eventually Utah.
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