Silk, Mulberry Trees, and Brigham Young

Dear Madame Elle,

I have a question. I am learning how to sew, and I just bought some silk and this got me thinking, I've heard that there are mulberry trees in Utah because Brigham Young thought it would be a good idea for the pioneers to grow silkworms, which eat mulberry trees, so that they could have silk and be even more self-sufficient. My question is this: why isn't Utah a great silk producing area? What happened to this project?

Thank you for researching this for me.

Dear Mulberry,

Thank you for this interesting question and the chance to learn a little more about the history of the early LDS settlers of Utah. The mulberry trees of Utah are a living reminder of a phase of LDS history that lasted from about 1855 to 1905.

Brigham Young ordered 100,000 mulberry trees from France and had them planted all over the state. He also spent about $25,000 to import silkworms, and by 1870 most of the local Relief Societies in the state were involved in silk production.

Brigham gave his wife Zina D. H. Young responsibility for silk production. She hated the silkworms but she was obedient and, as the president of the Deseret Silk Association, traveled around helping women get their silkworms to hatch, eat mulberry leaves, and make silk. Madame L recommends this article about the home silk industry.

Susan B. Anthony wrote in a letter thanking a woman for a gift of silk fabric made from the Utah silkworms: "My pleasure in the rich brocaded silk is quadrupled because it was made by women politically equal with men. The fact that the mulberry trees grew in Utah, that the silkworms made their cocoons there, that women reeled and spun and colored and wove the silk in a free State, greatly enhances its value." (Quotation is from "The life and work of Susan B. Anthony: including public addresses," by Ida Husted Harper.) (Ms. Anthony went on in her letter to deplore other aspects of women's lives in Utah.)

 

Not everyone is a fan of mulberry trees. Madame L is a member of this non-fandom (Oh, please, OED pick up this word for a future edition!) because of the messy purple berries. Madame L also feels great sympathy for Zina Young in her abhorrence of silkworms (EEEeeeuuuuww, yuck!)

Scholarly articles, such as this one by Clark S. Monson, in Economic Botany, have been written about the Utah silk industry. The Daughters of the Utah Pioneers have placed a monument to the pioneer silk industry in Salt Lake City.

But, Dear Reader, you already knew all that, didn't you.

What you asked was why the Utah silk industry faded out by the early 20th century. According to this article from the St. George Temple Visitor Center, cheaper (though less fine) silk became available in Utah as the railroad made its way there, younger women weren't interested in the tedious work of raising the worms and producing the fabric, and the pioneer spirit of adventure and cooperation that fueled the Great Silk Experiment had waned.

Thanks again for your question. What, may Madame L ask, are you making of your silk fabric?

Best,

Madame L