JESSE KNIGHT

Back in the days of pioneers and fire pokers, there was a man named Jesse Knight. He had
married a good religious woman but he himself, was against the religion. He’d come from a poor
family and he wasn’t much better off as his ranch business was still in its starts ("Uncle Jesse").

Years passed and the local well for water became contaminated, spreading sickness to Jesse’s
youngest daughter. Jesse refused to have the religious elders pray over the child but his wife
stubbornly demanded to have them come. After the Elder’s administered to the young girl, she
recovered and Jesse was a changed man. From then on, he sought repentance and sought
after God (Mangum).

After his life altering experience, Jesse went back into mining. He’d been in the mining
community in his younger years so he had experience, but at first, he got himself into a lot of
debt. However, through it all he had faith and he had revelation from God. It was in 1896 he
struck gold in a mine he named, “Humbug”, because of the claims that the mine was pipedream
(“Jesse Knight”). Regardless, Jesse’s Humbug mine became the most lucrative in the west.
From then on, he became an employer and provided income for men, which grew to families,
which grew into mining communities. Through his wealth, Jesse helped to finance the church
through some of it’s worse financial crises and he donated to BYU, helping the school from
foreclosing during the time of the Great Depression. Because of what he built and what he gave,
BYU has been able to become what it is today. Today, it is the college where I attend, and I too,
hope to be able to build and to give for future generations.

My college experience didn’t start at BYU. Earlier this year I was attending Southern Virginia
University, and although I loved it, when COVID hit, I knew I needed to restart. BYU became the
place for me. This is a place with opportunities larger than I could hardly dream, yet, during
Jesse Knight’s time, it was not that. It was a struggling college where people were just building
their lives.

Knight himself, had many times when he needed to restart his life. When he got married, he no
longer worked for the mining companies, and had to restart his career. When his daughter was
healed, he had to restart his spiritual aspect of life. When he fell into debt, he had to restart with
faith that the Lord would provide. With each restart in his life, he created something better from
the pieces of his past life. He took the lessons he learned and he applied them to the life he
wanted to live. In his efforts to help build communities and jobs to employ people, he helped to
create a future, not just for himself but for many others.

Right now, on campus, I know a lot of people, myself included, are faced with another restart.
Another change. Change comes with all kinds of emotions. Sometimes happy, sometimes sad,
sometimes angry. When the ‘right now’ gets too hard, that’s when I choose to look beyond the
now. If all I focus on right now is the quarantine, then I know I will get lost. If I choose to have
hope, to see past today and envision a day when, like Knight, I will be able to help others, and
have the resources and ability to do so, then I can hold on.
A future is something that can be given or created depending on how we want to act. We can be
victims of our surroundings. We can choose to give into whatever hardships we are faced with,
or we can choose to act, and to change and find joy in whatever situations we are living in.
When we choose to act, we choose to build. When we build our future, we are also creating a
future that others will live in as well. Like it or not, what we do will inevitably affect those around
us. We can choose, however, what kind of influence we have on those around us. Knight’s
influence was one that kept BYU afloat during a national crisis. Each of us can do things to help
keep BYU going too. What we do today, will effect tomorrow. How we choose to act, how we
choose to view what is going on around us will affect tomorrow. What do we want tomorrow to
look like? Whatever it is, we are building it now.

Sources:

“Jesse Knight.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Aug. 2020,

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Knight.

Mangum, Diane L. “Jesse Knight and the Riches of Life.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
Day Saints, www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1993/10/jesse-knight-and-the-riches-of-
life?lang=eng.

“Uncle Jesse” I Love History: People, ilovehistory.utah.gov/people/difference/knight.html.