OCR Text |
Show 1 0 Fall 2000 Discover Dinosaurland i y : r 1 ; ., --v ?- " m Vernal Temple was built from the historic Vernal Tabernacle. r MING - 7 1 O U N T R Y Outdoor recreation is the best reason to visit Flaming Gorge Country. We truly have something for everyone, especially families. Biking Fishing Hiking Camping Rafting Boating The Activities Arc Endless!!! For more information contact: Dinosaurland Travel Board 1-800-477-5558 or 435-789-6932 www.dinoIand.com Church builds, preserves, rebuilds century of history The Vernal Temple was dedicated Nov. , 2-4. 1997. by LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley. It had been three years since the announcement had been made that the old Uintah Tabernacle would be renovated into a temple. The Uintah Stake Tabernacle was completed com-pleted in 1907. Tabernacle construction was quite ordinary for LDS communities at the turn of the century. Talk about constructing con-structing their own tabernacle in the Uintah Basin started in 1890. By 1895, lumber was cut and stacked before the project was even approved. Approval finally came and construction plans confirmed con-firmed in 1896. In the stake conference held in May of 1898. the members of the LDS church excitedly agreed to supporting support-ing the construction of the new tabernacle. In doing so, the saints donated time, money, livestock, crops and more. Many, and most times these donations were a sacrifice. The foundation was built from limestone and sandstone quarried at Steinaker Draw and Coal Mine Basin. After the difficult chore of hauling the foundation stones fawn the mines, they "went through a preparation process that took two years. The lumber for the tabernacle was cut from Taylor Mountain, East and Government parks, and Dry Fork Canyon. Local stories handed down through the generations say that gravel and sand from the Green River were mixed with lime-"stone lime-"stone to make the mortar. The brick was made by Abncr and Kick Swain. They used red clay, to form "dobies" (unfired clay or mud bricks). The walls were built with three to five layers of brick to provide pro-vide a sufficient base for the weight of the heavy dome and rocf. The dome and roof were designed by self-taught architect, William Cook. The roof was set at a steep pitch founded on huge, hand-hewn trusses. The octagonal octago-nal tower was capped with a tin dome, similar to the domes on the Nauvoo and Kirtland temples. After these were completed the interior work began. After constructing a 'U shaped gallery, staircase, pine floors and pillars, a pulpit, and more, the tabernacle was complete. Total cost of tabernacle construction was $37,058.15. Of this amount, $16,360.92 was paid in disbursements for materials. All but $1,885.91 of the funds had been paid for at the time of the dedication on August 24-25, 1907. For years to come, the tabernacle was used for stake conferences, funerals, meetings, meet-ings, and for other various reasons, however, how-ever, in the 1970s the practical uses of the tabernacle were limited, and the expense and liability of the building became a heavy responsibility. Still, by the mid 1980s the Uintah Tabernacle was one of the only tabernacles left standing of the some 40 that had been built in Utah and the surrounding states at the same time. In an effort to ensure mat the same fate would not come to the Uintah Tabernacle, the Save The Tabernacle Committee was formed. Impressed by the "Save The Tabernacle" effort, director of the Division of State History, Melvin Smith printed an article about the importance of preserving historical roots, and buildings mat symbolize symbol-ize those roots, in the Deseret News on June 25. 1984. A year later, famous actor. Robert Redford, wrote a letter to die editor of the Vernal Express supporting the effort to save and restore the tabernacle. Also in 1984, the tabernacle was under the direction of G lines Stake President Gayle McKeachnie. He and his presidency felt they were left with only three options for the old building. None of the three were very appealing. Two of McKeachnie's associates suggested that perhaps the building could be converted to a temple. The following seven years of proposals, reorganization of area leadership, rejection, rejec-tion, and new proposals, the efforts of converting con-verting the tabernacle to temple were generally gen-erally unknown to Church members. Still, another three years passed before serious efforts were revived to restore the tabernacle, taberna-cle, this time, the efforts were successful. The announcement that the Uintah Stake Tabernacle would be renovated into a temple tem-ple was made throughout the newly created creat-ed 12-stake district on Feb. 13, 1994. Once again the Church members excitedly agreed to support the reconstruction of the tabernacle. And again, they donated time, money, whatever it would take to transform trans-form the tabernacle into a temple. A tabernacle open house was held through the last few days of April and the first few days of May 1994, so that community com-munity members could walk through the tabernacle and see what the old building looked like before renovation began. An auction was held to sell the miscellaneous miscella-neous tabernacle furnishings on April 15, 1995. The ground breaking ceremony was held on May 13, 1995. During the 15 month interval between the announcement and ground breaking, architectural and building build-ing designs were finalized. Some of the tabernacle pews were saved for restoration and reuse in the temple, the old seminary addition on the east end was torn-down, and by June 14, 1995, excavation excava-tion for the addition had begun. The stairs were removed, the tabernacle interior was dismantled, and the brick was stripped from interior walls. Bricks from the Reader Home, donated by Nick Meagher, provided replacements for the holes in the tabernacle and in the west gate of the finished temple. The ' addition was built and waterproofed. water-proofed. The old towerdome was. removed and was later placed in the Ashley Valley Community park. The chimneys and one-third of the roof were removed, west interior wall dismantled brick by brick, and pipes were installed to anchor the west exterior wall After much more work, dismantling, and building the temple was finally finished and McCullough Engineering turned the building over to the Church on Sept 16, 1997. The temple open house and tours were held throughout October for Church and community members. The Cornerstone Ceremony was sched- See Temple on page 11 ir |