The Deseret News publishes the grand jury's audit of Salt Lake City Corporation's financial records, which show extensive transactions involving liquor. Municipal funds purchase liquor for Pioneer Day on 24 July and also for a party of Mormon Battalion veterans. The city rents Brigham Young's distillery for $2,000 annually from 1861 to 1867, after which the city government purchases its liquor directly from the Howard Distillery which is owned jointly by Brigham Young and his first counselor Daniel H. Wells. Young is also a member of the Salt Lake City Council (1872-77), and Wells is mayor from 1866 to 1876. The report observes: "After completion of the railroad, the city continued to buy liquor from Brigham Young at $4.00 per gallon, although they could have gotten better 'States' liquor at $1.25 per gallon."
[Source: The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]]
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