Silk Industry
Included in Brigham Young’s quest for Utah Territory’s self-sufficiency, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were tasked with silk farming, sericulture—or the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk.
To begin the silk industry in 1855, Young imported mulberry seeds and silkworm eggs from France. From the seeds, he planted 25 acres of mulberry trees and built a cocoonery on his farm. One writer said that “In the mid-1850s, Young imported 100,000 mulberry trees from France. He planted them up and down the streets of Salt Lake and brought them to St. George in the 1860s. He dispersed trees all along the way and also planted them at his winter home.”[1] He gave free mulberry cuttings from his farm to anyone who wanted them.
Others followed his lead and jumped into sericulture. For instance, Susannah Cardon and her husband, Paul, became involved in sericulture shortly after arriving in Cache Valley in 1860. Both had participated in the silk industry in their native Italy. They sent to France for mulberry seeds, and when the trees were high enough to produce leaves they sent for silkworms. Susannah became known later as the best silk-reeler in the territory.[2]
In 1867 Paul A. Schettler, an ardent supporter of the silk industry in Utah, acquired land in east Salt Lake and planted five acres in mulberry trees, the leaves of which were used to feed silkworms. He built two cocooneries near this location.[3]
In 1872 Schettler and fellow sericulturist T. B. H. Stenhouse went to California to learn more about raising silkworms in the United States. During this trip Schettler visited many cocooneries, compared Utah silk samples with those he came in contact with, and imported a new French reel machine for the production of silk in Utah. Later that year he traveled to Europe and compared Utah silk with that produced in Europe.[4]
Elizabeth Von Bergen (Beck), a Swiss weaver, came from France to operate the looms installed by Schettler. Several types of looms were used.[5]
By 1868, Relief Society members were instructed throughout the territory to support the effort. Nearly all ward Relief Societies throughout the territory promoted silk production.
A movement for retrenchment among older and younger women centered on simplified meals and clothing and on consuming locally produced goods instead of imported goods began around 1870.[6]
Part of the motivation for self-sufficiency was financial. The leadership of the Church created mercantile and manufacturing cooperatives, such as ZCMI, aiming to dampen the influence of existing and incoming non-Mormon merchants that was expected to come with the Transcontinental Railroad. Most women in the territory had been primarily constructing their own clothing rather than purchasing more expensive ready made clothing.
In June 1875, the Deseret Silk Association was formed and women were instructed on growing and cultivating mulberry trees, raising silkworms, and producing silk. President Young established the association, with Zina D. H. Young as its president. “This group raised silkworms, feeding them mulberry leaves. Sister Young abhorred the worms and even suffered nightmares about them, but she obediently hatched and raised them in her own cocoonery and taught others to do the same.”
Financial difficulties closed the Deseret Silk Association and the Utah Silk Association was incorporated with capital stock of $10,000 on January 17, 1880. The Utah Silk Commission was established in 1896. Zina D. H. Young was elected as the commission's president.
In 1877, Daniel Graves, a Provo horticulturist, began to urge the local Relief Society sisters to follow the counsel of the president and manufacture silk. Those who were interested in the silk business established the Silk Association of Utah County. They planted over 3000 mulberry trees and raised silkworms. That year Graves collected enough silk thread to manufacture 25 yards of cloth.
Under the direction of Zina Young, the association raised silkworms for over 20 years. Although their work never provided much income, they were able to spin lovely silk for themselves.[7] They used the silk in clothing, scarves, shawls, gloves, ribbons, neckties, stockings, and handkerchiefs, to name a few of the homegoods. The women even made an elegant silk fringe to ornament the new St. George Temple.[8]
The most common fabrics in the 19th century were wool, linen, cotton, and silk. Wool (from sheep) and linen (from the flax plant) could be processed and woven locally, and was therefore less expensive and more available. Cotton and silk were largely imported and were therefore more expensive.[9]][10] Utah Territory had been producing cotton for several years by the time the silk industry was successfully producing fabric.
It is a testament to the tenacity and perseverance of the women and men in Utah Territory because cultivating mulberry trees, raising silkworm eggs, and extracting silk fibers from cocoons was time consuming and often distasteful.
- Silkworm eggs had to be kept at fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit and could not begin hatching until the mulberry trees started leafing. Once the silkworms hatched from their eggs, they had to be fed large quantities of chopped up mulberry leaves. The silkworms then wrapped themselves in a cocoon. During the lifetime of the silkworms, they had to be kept in a dry place between sixty-five and sixty-seven degrees Fahrenheit. The cocoons were then baked or steamed before the silkworms could become moths and break out. The cocoons were dried for two months and then washed. To make the actual silk, the threads from the cocoon were put into a reeling machine which twisted the filaments into silk thread. The thread could then be woven into silk cloth.[11]
The Relief Societies throughout the territory sent samples of their silk work to be displayed at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Sarah Saunders wove an American flag made of Utah silk that was flown at the fair and won a first prize. “They also set up a live exhibit where Utah women demonstrated how to reel and weave silk.”[https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1124&context=awe
The industry in Utah was primarily to provide cloth to women and men in the state. The industry had no other paying market outside of the region. It was hampered by the difficulty of getting machinery to manufacture silk thread and cloth and the lack of skilled workers to reel silk into thread.
Interest in the Utah silk industry declined after it became apparent that silk could be imported from Japan and China less expensively than could be made in Utah. The Utah silk association was dissolved in 1906.
