USA > Utah > Cache County > Logan > Utah gazetteer and directory of Logan, Ogden, Provo, and Salt Lake Cities for 1884 > Part 27
USA > Utah > Salt Lake County > Salt Lake > Utah gazetteer and directory of Logan, Ogden, Provo, and Salt Lake Cities for 1884 > Part 27
USA > Utah > Utah County > Provo > Utah gazetteer and directory of Logan, Ogden, Provo, and Salt Lake Cities for 1884 > Part 27
USA > Utah > Weber County > Ogden > Utah gazetteer and directory of Logan, Ogden, Provo, and Salt Lake Cities for 1884 > Part 27
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The red sandstone-and it is a beautiful red-is taken from one of the most remarkable quarries imaginable. It is situated about a mile and a half from the temple, almost, if not entirely, due north, and is exceedingly easy of access. Here, for
almost any distance, can be traced a solid sandstone formation. For nearly half a mile it has been opened without showing break or a flaw, while its depth is as yet unascertained. The supposition seems reasonable that it should be a mountain of solid and unbroken sandstone, for the whole country is composed of sand, sandstone and volcanic rock. Blocks of any size call be cut out, and it is susceptible of a beautiful and a smooth dressing. This quarry has not a like in Utah. These quarries are referred to in this con- nection because it is to the temple that their opening and development is due, and they are a natural and an immediate outgrowth of temple-building. The quantity of rock used is 1,900 cords, or 17,000 tons. The structure from the water table up is plastered and whitewashed and stands grand and solemn in the centre of the plain. Perhaps the greatest exertion enforced
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by the building of the St. George Temple, was made necessary in securing the timber, which had to be hauled a distance of some eighty miles-over sand, broken mountains and through sandy plains-from Mount Trumbull, in Arizona. Fully 1,000,000 feet was used in the building. The basement contains fourteen rooms. The first main room is ninety-nine feet by seventy-seven feet. The ceiling is elliptical, and the centre of the ceiling is twenty-seven feet above the floor. On each side of the upper of this main room, eighteen feet from the floor, are eight rooms, each being eleven feet six inches by thirteen feet four inches and ten feet in height. The second main room and side rooms are duplicates of the first. The baptismal font in the basement is of iron, and cost at the foundry in Salt Lake City, $5,000, being a donation made by President Brigham Young. The weight of this font complete is 18,000 pounds. The temple was finished and received its preliminary dedication January Ist, 1877; and was opened for ceremonial purposes on the 9th day of January of the same year; and in the following April, on the 6th day of the month, at the general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held therein, the temple was fully dedi- cated. The architect was Truman O. Angell, W. H. Fulsom, assistant, and George Romney, master mechanic.
It stands in the plain a thing of magnificence and beauty, and inspires awe, no less on account of its magnitude than because of the difficulties mastered, the obstacles surmounted and the sacrifices endured by the people in its building, and which necessarily grew out of the adverse conditions and the poverty of the people by whom it was erected.
LOGAN TEMPLE
is situated on the edge of a commanding eminence which skirts Logan City on the east, sloping gently to the north, while the descent on the south and the west is abrupt. It is within half a mile of the Tabernacle and the same distance from the principal, street. The hill rises abruptly; while, seeming to grow out of the brow, is a huge structure, pleasing and sym- metrical in shape. The position of the building is calculated to add to its magnificence as giving a wider general view and enhancing in a remarkable degree, and in a metaphysical way, the dimensions which, even cold and unrelieved, are colossal. But it is only when one stands at the foot of the stupendous and splendid edifice, only when he compares his own stature- with all his boasted pride and egotism-that his insignificance and the insignificance of surrounding edifices dawn fully and forcibly upon him. Nestling at the base of this hill lies the charming city of Logan, plainly visible as one runs down the divide between Box Elder and Cache County. After gazing on the city, the eye, lifted to the magnificent mountains still further east, is arrested by a huge building that seems to stand as an eternal sentinel to watch the peaceful habitations of men at its feet. It is the first view the stranger has of the building, and the eye seems never to tire as its outlines become clearer and more distinct with the rapid approach of the great iron civilizer, gliding through the long stretches of meadow and farm land lying in the centre of the valley between Mendon, the first settlement reached, and Logan, the capital of the county. The picture of the valley as seen from the top of the great structure and-as framed by the chain of low mountains on the south and east, and stretching away to the north a distance of sixty miles into dim and undefined outlines, while at hand and almost perpendicular rear the heads of the highest Wasatch towers-is one of surpassing beauty. Far away to the south lies Paradise, resting in a calm and lovely little valley; nearer, and on a hill slop- ing towards the structure, is Hyrum, the next largest settlement to Logan in the county; still nearer are Millville and Providence. To the southwest and lining the foothills of the chain hiding Brigham City, is Wellsville, the spot
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where the Pioneers to the valley first settled, at which time perhaps little was dreamed of the imposing ceremonies a later day was to witness ; six miles north and almost west of Logan is Mendon, one of the oldest cities in the county. To the north the eye falls on Hyde Park and Smithfield, Franklin and Richmond being hidden by intervening hills, and to the northwest, Newton, Benson Ward, Lewiston and Oxford in Idaho. The radical changes of the season can never drstroy the beauty Cache Valley presents viewed from the top of the Temple: in whatever garb coy Nature may choose to attire herself, whether the uncertain tints of summer, the bright red and the dark brown of autumn, the spotless robe of winter or the verdant hue of a tardy spring, whatever be her choice, this valley can never be other than beautiful. But that which pleases most the eye and leaves the deepest and most lasting impression on the mind of the intelligent spec- tator is the pleasant homes that surround this splendid monument to the efficacy of the united industry and public-spirited sentiment of Cache Valley's people. It is not that the homes are so pleasant, not that they are sur- rounded by thriving orchards, not that they are located in Logan alone; it is that out of this one structure many on which the eye rests in Logan and elsewhere have grown and do exist in a real and a taxable form, enriching the county and lightening the burden of taxation by sharing that burden. Not only is it parental as a matter of fact, but it is typical both as to struc- ture and to its commanding location.
The site is 4,650 feet above the level of the sea. In 1877, during the visit of the late President Brigham Young and his Counselors, together with some of the Twelve Apostles, the site was chosen. He is accredited with having then made the assertion that a finer location could not have been chosen, and he knew not where to look for a better one in the Terri- tory. The choice made, the ground was surveyed by Jesse W. Fox, of Salt Lake, and James H. Martineau, of Logan. This Temple district, so-called, then-as now-embraced Cache, Box Elder, Bear Lake and Rich Counties, and C. O. Card, now President of the Cache Valley Stake, was appointed Superintendent of the Temple work, being also in charge of the Tabernacle building then in progress of construction. On the seventeenth day of May ground was broken, the First Presidency of the Church, mem- bers of the Quorum of the Twelve and quite an assemblage of others being in attendance. The dedicatory prayer was offered by Apostle Orson Pratt. On the twenty-eighth day of May, of the same year, excavations for the foundation began. The corner-stones were laid on the 19th of September following, there being a large assemblage of the Church authorities present at that time. The dedication took place May 17, 1884, the event being the occasion for an immense gathering of people from every part of the Territory.
The Temple is 171 feet long, 95 feet wide, and 86 feet high. At the east and west ends are large towers, that on the east being 170 feet high to the top of the vane, the western one being a few feet lower. At each corner is a tower, octagon in shape and with a height of 100 feet. It is understood. there are something over forty rooms in the building, the main or assembly room being 80 feet wide, 104 feet long and some 30 feet from the floor to the ceiling. In addition to the Temple, a one-story building has been erected on the north side, the object for which is to provide offices, reception rooms, a kitchen and a department for the janitor. Rock laying on this extension, which is 80 feet long by 36 wide by 23 feet high, began in July of 1877. The structure is of solid rock, and one of the most commendable features connected with this building is the fact that, as largely as possible, the materials used in the construction have been drawn from the resources of the county. Thus the vast rock deposits of Cache County were developed while, at the same time, a local structure was being built from local material. Some of the stone is almost of the hardness of emery, and is barely suscep-
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tible of being dressed. It is surmounted by an iron roof, while the walls out- side have been plastered and washed, or painted, a tinted color-the tenderest, softest pink, or flesh tint-that gives the whole edifice a warm and cheerful appearance, at the same time producing a most agreeable, yet strange sensa- tion to the eye. The interior is elegantly finished, much care having been taken and the highest perfection of the decorator's art, no less than the skill and ardent fire of the artist, have been enlisted in the cause and have, by their combined efforts, contributed to make the interior as pleasing and charming to the eye as the exterior conveys the idea of massiveness and durability-an idea that is materially enhanced by the heavy buttresses or pilasters that give light and shade to and break the monotony of the build- ing. A furnace, from which flues radiate in all directions, furnishes warmth and adds to convenience and cleanliness. The building lengthwise is east and west, the result being a very imposing appearance viewed at a distance either from the north or the south. The plans for the grounds are calcu- lated to contribute materially to the attractiveness of the building, which, in return, will give a finish to the landscape decorations contemplated in the near future. The grounds are ample, and are to be seeded down in lawn grass, inplanted with shrubs and flowers and cut through with walks where a pleasant stroll may be indulged in when so desired. The fact that the Temple grounds go over the brow of the hill, or bench, or plateau, upon which the Temple is built, affords an unusual opportunity for the display of taste and care in this direction, which, if what is already to be seen may be taken as an evidence, will be well considered, properly and determinedly acted upon by the enterprising inhabitants of this fair and prosperous valley.
THE MANTI TEMPLE
was commenced next after the St. George. It is situated in Sanpete Val- ley at a point nineteen miles southeast of the terminus of the Sanpete Valley Railroad and skirts the northeastern edge of the city of Manti, the largest town in the Valley. It is a superb structure and is of certain durability from the foundation. One thing peculiar about this Temple is the fact that it is built on a solid hill or mountain of rock. All through the eastern part of Sanpete Valley there are indications of an underlying white oolitic stratum. Knolls or hills covered with a few feet of dirt show themselves in all directions, having unquestionably been left while the earth, which at one time surrounded them, was washed away by primeval floods and rivers. It is on one of these mountains that the Manti Temple is built. It is from the same mountain that the rock, of which the structure is built, has been taken. Like all Mormon Temples, and all Tabernacles, that at Manti faces the east. It is elevated a considerable height above the surrounding country and presents a noble sight, as, grandly and solemnly, it rises from the hill top in lonely magnificence. In fair weather, it can be seen a great distance. From the top of the hill in the rear, and at the east end, entrance can be gained to the upper story, or large assembly room. The face of the mountain has been cut down and one portion of the Temple and a passage leading from one of the upper floors is built into the solid rock of the mountain. Underneath this passage, and below the solid mountain wall is a beautiful archway giving room for a splendid drive around the Temple, which is reached by a gradual ascent of the hill from the north. There are two quarries, both within half a mile of the Temple, and from both of which an excellent quality of oolitic rock can be taken. There are also places at the quarries, where the stone is so soft and pliant that it forms an admirable and even perfect cement. Running a line south direct from the Salt Lake City Temple to a point opposite the Manti Temple, it will be found the latter is just twelve miles east of the former. The site was settled by Presi- dent Brigham Young, and ground was broken on the last day of April,
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1877. Rock-laying began on the 14th day of April, 1879. The build- ing is 171 feet 6 inches long and 95 feet wide. The distance from the ground to the top of the parapet is 92 feet 6 inches. On the east and and the west ends there are towers, the distance to the top of that on the east being 179 feet and to the top of that on the west side 169 feet. Both these towers are thirty feet square at the base. The walls are 3 feet 6 inches at the bottom and 3 feet at the top. The interior of all these Temples is practically the same, though a difference is understood to exist in some of these details. Adjoining and connected with the Temple is a structure 100 feet long, 40 feet wide and two stories high, in which the apparatus designed to heat the whole building is placed. The side building is occupied by the janitor and assistants, and is also a reception room. The buildings are heated by steam, while water is conveyed through pipes. A spring, the water from which is carried a considerable distance through pipes, will supply the Temple with what water is needed.
The opportunities for enhancing the external attractions of this temple are manifold, and will be taken advantage of. Elevated as it is, above the valley, it cannot fail to attract and even command attention. The county road runs at the foot of the hill upon which it is erected. The side hill lead- ing up to the temple is laid off into four terraces, each 17 feet high. These terraces are walled a distance of about 1,000 feet each, on the eastern and southern descents. At every terrace is a landing 16 feet in width, while from the first to the top one, there are 163 steps. The walls surround- ing the terraces are of considerable width, and will be used as walks, while the space intervening between the top of one wall and the base of the other will be planted in grass and flowers and shrubbery, and be made as attract- ive as art can devise and means insure. Beginning at the north end of the terraces, will be the drive, referred to before, and it will lead to the temple, which is east of the terraces. On the south, the hill on which the temple is built, turns abruptly to the east, giving a full and splendid view of the whole length of the structure from the south. No grander sight can well be imagined than this temple will present, on a clear day, when it is completely finished, and when the artificial improvements referred to above are com- pleted. It will be a spectacle well worth a pilgrimage. The valley itself is not without attractiveness, but there is nothing to compare with this. The scene presented to the eye from the top of the temple cannot even be imagined. Spread out beneath and a little to the south is Manti; seven miles north is Ephraim, and up the valley still other streams. West, the Sanpitch River, which sinks into the ground opposite Ephraim, reappears and winds through stretches of meadow land until lost to the view. To the south lies a long stretch of fair country running into Sevier county; west a range of mountains blends the vision, while immediately at the east, rise the mount- ains on the foot hills of which the temple stands. On a clear day the sight is beautiful beyond description. The sides of the building are broken by frequent buttresses, which relieve it from bare monotony; while the pure and clear color of the rock of which it is built, needs no paint nor plaster nor artificial coating to add to its beauty or effect. It is superb in every respect. It is 125 miles from Salt Lake by rail over the Utal Central and San Pete Valley, and some nineteen miles by stage or team. The trip can easily be made in a day, and the drive in fair weather and with dry roads is a delight- ful one, the traveler passing through Wales, Chester, Ephraim and staying at Manti, while Fountain Green, Moroni, Spring City and Mount Pleas- ant are visible on the opposite side of the valley from Wales.
SALT LAKE TEMPLE.
Of the four temples, completed and in course of construction, in Utah, the largest, most substantial, and by long odds the most costly, is the one
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being erected in Salt Lake City. The Tabernacle, the Salt Lake Assembly Hall, and the Temple are all on the one block, surrounded by a high wall, and from the fact that the Temple is being erected in this square, it has become familiarly known as the Temple Block. The ground enclosed within the wall was consecrated and set apart for a Temple building, that ceremony taking place on the 14th day of February, 1853. On the 6th day of the following April, the corner stones of this magnificent edifice were laid with imposing ceremonies, all the leading dignitaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints participating and a large concourse of people witnessing the event. For fully twenty years the work moved along slowly, owing to the great difficulty in securing material and the less wealthy condition of the people than latterly. The material chosen as that of which the Temple should be built, is a gray granite, found in inexhaustible abun- dance in the Wasatch Range, near. In the days when work began the quarries were imperfectly opened; new roads had to be built; facilities were few, money not very plentiful and the stone had to be hauled by wagon eighteen to twenty miles. Under such difficulties, decreasing as the popu- lation increased, the construction of the Salt Lake Temple commenced. Progress was necessarily slow, as a consequence the great difficulty and cost of hauling by team such massive rocks as were necessary in the building. President Brigham Young conceived the idea of constructing a canal in which to haul the rock by boats. The idea was carried out and the canal now known as the old canal, following for a distance the route and being incorporated as a part of the Salt Lake and Jordan Canal was constructed. In the desire to carry the water too high above the city on the north, the water did not run in a small portion of this end. Before, however, the evil was remedied, trans-Atlantic rail communication was effected and the building of the Utah Central Railroad commenced. When this was com- pleted to Sandy, fourteen miles south of Salt Lake City, the rock was hauled from that point by rail; and when the Wasatch and Jordan Valley was built it was made possible to bring the rock the whole distance from the quarry into the Temple block by rail. Since that time work has gone on with a great deal more rapidity than previously. Some seven years ago unusual efforts were put forward to push the work ahead, and the progress made since that date has been most satisfactory. About ten years ago the build- ing was pushed along to the base; during the intervening period it has been carried up to the battlements. The rock is cut to a plan or to given dimensions at the quarry at Granite, some twenty-four miles by rail from Salt Lake. In the rough state it is brought to the Temple block. where every piece is dressed and numbered, placed in a certain locality, so that it is taken, laid and fit into the exact spot for which it was designed and fashioned. It is estimated that one-sixth the stone is lost in dressing it. The largest blocks weigh not les's than three and a half tons, from which they run down to a minimum figure. Not less than 5,000 cords of rock will be used in this colossal structure. Of the rockwork-both in dressing and laying, perhaps one-fifteenth yet remains to be done; and it will take not less than four years to complete this part of the work. The walls are 16 feet at the foundation; the main walls at the base are 8 feet thick, tapering to 6 feet in thickness at the point where they receive the weight of the roof. The length of the building is 184 feet; width, 116 feet, and in height it is 102 feet to the top of the battlement. The principal part or front of the Temple is the east; it is the same with all the Temples, the figurative idea being that from the east comes the greatest light. There are to be three towers at the east and three at the west ends of the structure, the principal tower on the east will be 196 feet from the ground to the ball: the towers on either side will be 171 feet in height from the ground. The towers at the west end will hold the same relative heights as those on the
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east, but will all be six feet lower. When the mason work is finished, a vast amount of carpentering labor will have to be done, and it is roughly thought that it will take from two to three years to complete this part, after which considerable time will be required to finish it. It will, in all proba- bility, be eight years before the Salt Lake Temple is finished and ready to be dedicated.
It is unlike the rest in one respect. It does not, and never will com- mand the marked attention that the others do. It is a larger and vastly more imposing structure, its size is not so noticeable, for the reason that it is not elevated above the surrounding country as are the Logan and Manti, while it does not stand alone in a plain, in solemn and imposing whiteness, as does that at St. George. It is in a city filled with large buildings; but is much sought by the stranger and always will be. It was the first great undertaking of the kind by the Mormons, has grown with them in Utah, and much of their most important history has developed with its growth. It is full of historical associations, and is likely ever to remain one of the most imposing and interesting structures in the Territory of Utah. It was commenced in 1853, and 1890 will have been passed before it is finished. The probabilities are that forty years of events in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will have passed into history while this Temple was being constructed. Truman O. Angell is the architect; Truman O. Angell, Jr., assistant architect; and the work of construction has gone on under their direction.
TABERNACLES AND CHURCHES.
The Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, is by long odds the largest building in the Territory. It is situated in the Temple Block, less than a stone- throw from the Salt Lake Temple. It is elliptical in shape, the roof is con- vex and unsupported by pillars. A gallery runs around the south, north and east ends, while the stand and large organ occupy the west end of the structure. The interior of the building presents an oval arch, without any centre support, and is said to be the largest self-supporting arch in America, with the exception of that of the Central Depot, New York, and probably the largest in the world which is constructed wholly of wood. The bents of the roof are composed of a latin truss, and rest upon forty-four sand- stone piers, each 3 feet by 9 in size, and from 14 to 20 feet in height. The gallery, which extends around the building, except at the west end, is 480 feet long by 30 feet in width. It has twenty doors, most of which are 9 feet wide and all open outwards so that an audience of 7,000 or 8,000 could gain egress, in case of an accident, in a very few minutes. The large organ, second to none in the United States, in appearance and sweetness of tone, and exceeded in size by but one, was constructed entirely by Utah mechanics, under the direction of Joseph Ridges, Esq. A small amount of the material used in its construction was imported, but the principal part of it was produced at home. To hear the full tones of the organ richly repays a visit to the Tabernacle. The front towers of the organ have an altitude of 58 feet, and contain the 32 feet gilded pipes; the side towers are nearly the same height as the front. The dimensions of the organ are 30 by 33 feet, and it requires four blowers.
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