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  THE POLYGAMISTS – A HISTORY OF COLORADO CITY, ARIZONA
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  By Benjamin G. Bistline 
  List Price $26.95   Soft Cover 432 p 7.44 x 9.69  Indexed.
   Agreka™ Books ISBN 1-888106-74-3  Library of Congress 2004100938   Indexed. Bibliography.

A condensed version of this book by Ben Bistline is now available. Read more.

Description   Preface   About The Author   Table of Contents  Chapter Excerpts on Page 2 

  Utah Historical Society Review 

Book Description

The author has received a warning. The FBI is now involved.

What some of the people have been forced to endure in Colorado City is little different from living in a third world country.

Ten-year-old Benjamin Bistline moved with his parents to Short Creek (Colorado City), Arizona, in 1945 to join with a group of excommunicated Mormons who believed in honoring the law of polygamy as revealed by the Prophet Joseph Smith and instituted by Brigham Young.

Mr. Bistline has compiled A DETAILED HISTORY of the significant events that shaped and sustained this community from the beginning. He tells of the shifts in power, changes in leadership philosophies, persecution from outside forces – and from within.

Mr. Bistline’s goal in writing this history is to reveal that the original leadership structure of a Council of men holding common and balancing power has slowly descended into a ONE-MAN TYRANNICAL RULE over the people.

Bistline has observed:
1) Older men being taught to take CHILD BRIDES before the girls are attracted to boys their own age.
2) BOYS DRIVEN OUT of the community for competing with older men for wives.
3) Plural wives expected to apply for WELFARE as single mothers.
4) Men out of favor are "EVICTED" from their homes with their wives and children reassigned to a more compliant man.
5) Community members AFRAID TO DISOBEY the "Prophet" out of fear for their eternal salvation.

RESIDENT HISTORIAN Ben Bistline is recognized as the most credible and knowledgeable source of information about Colorado City. He knows more about the people, their motives, their family connections, their religion, their strengths and their weaknesses than any other pundit. Mr. Bistline is contacted by media and the press from all across the country, and has appeared on CNN and Dateline NBC.

As the governments of Utah and Arizona pursue leaders for human rights violations, welfare fraud, extortion, and misappropriation of public funds for schools, etc., it is rumored that prophet Warren Jeffs will escape to Mexico with a small group of followers. The other leaders he excommunicated in early 2004 are positioning to take over, and they too believe in the One Man doctrine. With the upheaval, law enforcement ready for the violence that may occur.

The Spectrum, Jane Zhang, St. George, Utah, Mar. 17, 2004.

" . . .Bistline's 432-page textbook-sized work, often drawn from church and court documents and his personal journals, presents a comprehensive view of the FLDS church, which has survived constant internal power struggles, religious splits, government prosecutions, evictions of dissidents and court battles in both Utah and Arizona. . . ."

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Utah Historical Society Review
     The Polygamists by Benjamin G. Bistline, a lifelong, non-polygamist resident of Colorado City is a collection of reminiscences, letters, journal entries, documents, and court documents regarding polygamy, the Fundamentalist LDS Church, the United Effort Plan, and virtually all aspects of life in Colorado City. . . .Vol. 72 # 3. Summer of 2004.

Preface

"History is simply a record of man's intelligence; or lack of it." Bart Anderson

What our people did not realize is described in the polygamist’s Law Book, the Doctrine & Covenants.

"We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion." D&C 121:39

The faithful people of Colorado City gave their time, talents, money, devotion, and ongoing hard work to build their community, trusting all the while that their leaders would behave honorably and do right by them. Much of the money accumulated by the leadership-controlled UEP Trust had actually come from the people themselves: through work that produced income to the UEP, through periodic requested donations, and through regular tithing of 10 percent of their income. This same money was used to purchase land for the Trust and the people were "allowed" to build their homes on it.

The leaders acted as if the money was rightfully theirs and did not belong to the people who had produced it. The leaders did not see themselves as stewards over this money and accountable to the people. They seemed only accountable to themselves.

Lorin Woolley, who claimed he had been commissioned in 1887 by a prophet of God to keep plural marriage alive, perpetuated the movement by calling a Priesthood Council of men to "govern and make decisions together" to oversee it and keep it going. He emphatically taught them what he had been taught: Not to organize, not to proselyte, not to hold public meetings, not to set up a United Order, and not to collect tithing money from the people. Just quietly teach about plural marriage and live it in secret.

But John Yates Barlow, one of the men on the Council apparently came to believe he alone had been given the Keys of the Priesthood, which polygamists believed was a bestowal by God upon a man so righteous that he should have supreme power over others on earth. This attitude of dictator type power by John Y. Barlow was used to organize the polygamists, proselyte to gain new members, set up a United Order, organize a church, and collect tithing money from the people. He taught this One Man Rule to those around him, to the leaders who would succeed him, and to his sons whom he expected would one day take their rightful place and rule. As years passed the "one man" was called a prophet and his direction to the people was taught as coming from God and was not to be questioned. Otherwise, one’s eternal salvation was in jeopardy.

As time passed older men needing more wives were taught to take child brides before the girls were attracted to boys their own age, plural wives were told to apply for government assistance, boys competing with older men for wives were driven out of the community, and men out of favor were "evicted" from their homes and their wives and children reassigned to a more compliant man.

This "unrighteous dominion" described in the Law Book would grow into an unprecedented dictatorship secretly hidden away in a remote corner of America. It would grow and mushroom and eventually come full circle, creating a stranglehold on the people they never imagined. And one they do not even recognize today.

In 1989 I was asked by a person I met if a history had ever been written about Short Creek (Colorado City, Arizona). I realized that such a history would be important to future generations, because those persons who had seized political and religious control of the community years ago were lying about its history in order to justify their power takeover and the One Man Rule.

Since I have been associated with the polygamists all my life and have lived in Short Creek since 1945, I supposed I could compile as accurate a history as any other person living here. So I began gathering information and documents. In 1995 I became discouraged about finishing the project, because it was so hard to obtain documents from the Fundamentalists that would tell the true history.

I was, however, able to obtain some important letters written in the 1940s and 1950s that became public record due to a lawsuit filed in 1987. I also obtained some journals of the early Fundamentalist leaders. These, along with the printed sermons of Leroy Johnson, Polygamist Prophet, and several sermons of other leaders, have been sources for this history. Very important, however, is the fact that I have been an eyewitness to almost all that has occurred and I have kept a detailed journal all these years.

One major event greatly influenced me to complete this work. Martha Sontag-Bradley compiled a history of the government raids in Short Creek and the history surrounding it. Published in 1993 by University of Utah Press, Kidnapped From That Land has interesting facts and observations. She spent two or three weeks living in Colorado City, gathering information for her book. This information was all obtained from and through the Barlow Family and the residents they carefully selected. Thus it reflected only what the leadership wanted the world to hear.

While reading the book, I became so incensed in regards to the manipulation of truth by the Barlows that my determination was renewed to finish this work. That way, there will be an opposing historical view of Short Creek history so future generations will have an opportunity to determine for themselves what the truth might be.

My hope in writing this history is to try and portray that the things taught to the followers of the Fundamentalist Cult are NOT fact and that once a person begins to question such, only then will they be able to see the truth in the matter and be able to take steps to break out from under its grasp.

The hold that these religious leaders have on the people and the community is powerful because of misconceptions and outright lies. Even though many of the people suspect that things are not right, they don’t have the facts.

My goal for this book is to dispel the lies, reveal the truth as it was from the beginning, and help the polygamist members regain control over their own lives and property. Most of these people are honorable, honest, hardworking citizens simply trying to faithfully live their religious beliefs. Any people who are faithful in their hearts to a religion (any religion) can be manipulated by unrighteous leaders. Knowing the truth will help them over time develop a more open society, and one where they feel free to pose questions to their leaders and receive truthful answers. These people deserve to be depicted as they really are and not lumped into the same pile with those who abuse. For in any society, abuses occur, and those abuses are abhorrent wherever they occur.

Let’s begin with the following clarifications.

The fundamentalist group leadership in Colorado City has never been organized like The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) with a president, two councilors, and twelve apostles. They began with a Priesthood Council. The fundamentalists consider themselves a sub-culture of the LDS Church.

In 1929, Lorin Woolley formally began the fundamentalist movement and called three men, Leslie Broadbent, John Y. Barlow, and Joseph Musser, setting them apart as "High Priest Apostles," an office that the Mormon Church never had. Joseph Musser later claimed in 1935 that this office of High Priest Apostle was a higher office than that of the president and prophet of the LDS Church.

In 1933 Woolley called three more men, Charles Zitting, LeGrand Woolley, and Louis Kelsch to the same office of High Priest Apostles. He instructed them that their only authority was to keep plural marriage alive. They were not to organize a church, not collect tithing money, not to proselyte, not to hold public meetings, but they were allowed to hold cottage meetings in the homes of friends to discuss the gospel and teach that polygamy should be lived.

At the Senior Member of this council's death, the next one in seniority, according to the order in which they were called, would become the senior member, and was to lead the Council. All decisions were to be made as a Council, not by one man.

Woolley died in 1934, leaving Leslie Broadbent the leader. Broadbent died in 1935, leaving John Barlow as the leader. In the 1940s John Barlow called seven more men: Leroy Johnson, Marion Hammon, Guy Musser, Rulon Jeffs, Richard Jessop, Carl Holm, and Alma Timpson.

Barlow died in 1949, leaving Joseph Musser as the leader.

Musser died in 1954 leaving Charles Zitting as leader. Zitting died later the same year.

The next two council members, LeGrand Woolley and Louis Kelsch, declined to lead any group or organization, reverting back to Woolley's instructions not to organize. Leroy Johnson, John Barlow’s protege, then assumed the leadership position, and was the leader until 1986 when he died. Rulon Jeffs next assumed the leadership position and when he died in 2002, his son Warren Jeffs took over.

A lawsuit was filed in 1987 against the United Effort Plan, a business trust originally set up to protect the property of the polygamists, but used by the leadership to acquire deeds to the homes some of the members had built on UEP property. For lawsuit purposes, these men who had assumed power and control of the organization came up with the name "Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" (FLDS) claiming they were an organized church and had been since 1830 when Joseph Smith organized the Mormon Church. They did this in order to legally hide behind a church entity.

In the lawsuit was the first time the name FLDS was ever used. It does not identify the polygamist group before 1987. In the 1940s they did identify themselves as Fundamentalist Mormons, but never claimed to be a church, only a Priesthood group called together to keep plural marriage alive.

Here are the lies the Barlows began circulating among the polygamists.

Lie 1
The succession of Priesthood leadership and authority from God was as follows:
Lorin Woolley, John Barlow, and then Leroy Johnson.
     (To legitimize their claim of a One Man Rule, they eliminated the names of those leaders in the Priesthood Council who had believed in and followed Wilford Woodruff’s counsel to govern the principle of plural marriage as a group. With the change to a one man rule, they began calling the man a "prophet." They could not eliminate Lorin Woolley since he was the one who started the movement, but they discredited his teaching to make all decisions as a group with Lie 2.)

Lie 2
The revelation given to Wilford Woodruff in 1880 that proclaimed all apostles (council members) having the same authority -- was from Satan – and not from God.
     (Convincing the people this lie was true paved the way for One Man Rule.)

Lie 3
The United Effort Plan (UEP) was a religious and charitable trust, not a business trust as is declared in the original trust document. The property that had been donated by people to the UEP belonged to the prophet, not the listed beneficiaries (individual members) of the trust.
     (This allowed the leadership to claim they owned and controlled the property people lived on and therefore they could evict anyone who disagreed with them at any time, forcing them from their home, their family, their job. In effect, casting them out.)

Now read the history of our people, which began in Short Creek, Arizona, (which became Colorado City), then a neighboring community was created on the Utah side of the valley and named Hildale, Utah. And finally, because of a split in the group, another nearby community was developed and named Centennial Park, Arizona.

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About The Author

 Born in Logan, Utah on April 21, 1935. Son of John Anthony Bistline and Jennie Johnson Bistline. The sixth of ten children.

 Ben G. Bistline, 2004. Click photo for larger image.

Benjamin G. Bistline was born in Logan, Utah, on April 21, 1935, the son of John Anthony Bistline and Jennie Johnson Bistline. He was the sixth of ten children. His parents were active members of the Mormon Church but became involved with a few polygamist families in Milville, Utah, and were excommunicated by LDS Church authorities in 1937.

The family moved to Short Creek, Arizona, in 1945 to join a united order movement, also known as The United Effort Plan. His father soon became discouraged by Barlow's ineptness in governing his Order, and by 1948 he had repented of his decision to join with Barlows' group at Short Creek. He then decided to rejoin the Mormon Church, but his wife refused to leave, taking a firm stand. Ben’s father died in April of 1949, before rejoining the LDS Church because of their policy of a one year repentance probation period after being excommunicated.

Ben’s mother had always wanted to live polygamy and this gave her the opportunity to do so. She married Richard Jessop as his fifth wife and they moved into his large household of four wives and about thirty children.

Ben lived in this polygamous household for the next three years until the raid on Short Creek in 1953. While living with his stepfather, he became romantically involved with one of the daughters, but the Raid interrupted the courtship. Ben was eighteen and Annie was fifteen. All minor children in the community were declared wards of the state of Arizona, and were transported with their mothers to Phoenix, Arizona, in 1953. They were released and allowed to return to Short Creek in 1955

Annie and Ben were married June 24, 1955, and remained in the society where they parented and raised sixteen children. He was never allowed to marry any other wives, after being deemed unworthy of the privilege by polygamist leaders because of his "rebelliousness." His refused to take what he was told at face value, he refused to join one of the leadership cliques, and he refused to live in blind obedience Thus he was never a polygamist. He and his wife would have accepted plural marriage.

In the early 1980s Ben became discouraged with the polygamists due to their changes in religious doctrine. He was a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed in 1987 in an attempt to win title to the property on which he had built his home. The court granted him equity ownership in his home but not ownership of the property (land). In March of 2003, Fred Jessop, bishop for the polygamists, negotiated an equity agreement with Ben whereby he was able to move away from the community. He now lives on his own property in an area called Cane Beds, about two miles south of Colorado City. He and his wife are still very much involved with the polygamists due to extended family relationships.

Ben and his wife Annie joined the LDS Church in 1992. They believe the same doctrine as the LDS Church in regards to polygamy. They are members of the Kaibab Moccasin Ward where they have served in several church callings. Ben presently serves on the high council of the Kanab, Utah Kaibab stake.

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Table of Contents

Dedication
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Short Creek
Notes To Chapter One
The United "Effort" Plan
Notes To Chapter Two
The Infamous Short Creek Raid
    Joseph Musser
    Charles Fredrick Zitting
Notes To Chapter Three
The United Effort Plan Revitalized
Notes To Chapter Four
Colorado City & Hildale
    Sam Barlow
    Bountiful, Canada
Notes To Chapter Five
The Barlow Conspiracy
Notes To Chapter Six
Evicting the Faithful
Notes To Chapter Seven
The Priesthood Split
Notes To Chapter Eight
The United Effort Plan Lawsuit
Notes To Chapter Nine
Each Side Speaks Out
    The UEP Crisis
    Ben Bistline’s Rebuttal
Priesthood Shenanigans
    Rulon’s Godhead Sermon
Notes for Chapter Eleven
Final Judgment In The UEP Lawsuit
    Dramatic Changes
    Blood Atonement
    End of World Warnings & Preparations
    Warren Jeffs Takes Over
    Eviction Lost
    Rodney Holm
    First Ward Split Begins
    False Gods
    Disappearances & Wives Reassigned
    The Barlow’s Fight Back
Threats of Violence in 2004
    Ross Chatwin
Conclusion
About the Author
Bibliography
Index

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