OCR Text |
Show Salt Lake Temple by Richard L. Evans (One of a series of special articles written by distinguished authors for the "See Your West" Scenic View Program sponsored by Standard Oil Company of California.) One hundred years ago, July 24, 1S47, the first major party of the Mormon Pioneers entered the valley of the Great Salt Lake, as their prophet-leader proclaimed: pro-claimed: "This is the place." Four days later Brigham Young strode forth in this treeless wilderness wil-derness of sage and salt and struck his cane between the forks of a mountain stream (the same stream where modern American irrigation methods began), declaring de-claring "Here we will build a temple to our God." Thus this ten-acre area became be-came dedicated to its present purpose, and destined to become one of the world's best known and most visited sites The Temple Square in Salt Lake City. But Brigham Young who planned plan-ned and pressed it forward did not live to see the Temple completed. com-pleted. He died in 1877 when the walls had risen twenty feet. Nor did the architect who built according to "Brother Brigham's" plan live to see it completed. Nor did many others of the generation who first took up the toil of redeeming the desert live to see the final stone in place. The finished Temple was dedicated dedi-cated April 6, 1893, by Wilford Woodruff, fourth President of the Church, forty years to the day from the setting of its cornerstones corner-stones April 6, 1853. The hard gray granite of the Temple, precisely cut and fitted, was hewn by pioneer hands and tools from huge glaciated boulders boul-ders of the Wasatch Range, and moved stone by stone, mile by mile, year by year, by the slow step of oxen, four yoke taking four days for trips to the quarry twenty miles away (above which nnv stands Alta, one of America's Ameri-ca's foremost skiing resorts). While oxen slowly served their purpose a canal was begun for faster floating of the blocks from the quarry, but was abandoned when, after twenty years, the railroad arrived to take over the task. Architecturally the Temple is uniqute, authentic in its setting, without conforming to traditional lines. It makes its own contribution contri-bution to the great buildings of the world. When it was begun, fewer than five thousand people were accessible ac-cessible to its site, for work or worship. But laborers, craftsmen anH articanc in infrpacirnr num. bers gathered from "every nation, na-tion, kindred, tongue, and people" peo-ple" and poured their faith and physical strength, their might and their means, into this massive mas-sive monument to man's conviction convic-tion of God's purposes. But their monuments were not all material. Moved by the concept con-cept that "The Glory of God is Intelligence" they brought Utah to a foremost place among the states in effectiveness of education, educa-tion, and made the Bee Hive, the state emblem, a symbol of industry. in-dustry. Such is the spirit of the people peo-ple who fashioned these things from an arid waste. Such are the facts and forces that went into the making of the six spires of the desert, which punctuate the skyline among the everlasting hills. Utah's Centennial is marked by a magnificent "This Is The Place" monument on the hillside site from which the valley first was viewed by Brigham Young. But no physical feature of the inland empire holds greater prominence than the Temple, and the Tabernacle nearby on Temple Square whence the majestic ma-jestic organ is heard in daily recitals by travelers from near and far, and whence emanates "music and the spoken word" from the "Crossroads of the West," long heard by radio's millions. mil-lions. May peace be with you, this day and always. |