On Saturday night Dallen took me to see the lights at Temple Square. Kaitlyn and Spencer met us there and we had a fun night walking around looking at all of the lights that were set up. I like learning about the symbolism of the temple and it is amazing the thought and planning that went into the building of the Salt Lake Temple. This time I went, I noticed the big dipper on the West side of the temple on the middle spire. The East side also has stars that are pointing up which resembles our prayers going to heaven, and the stars pointing down is revelation and blessing that God pours upon us. I thought that was pretty cool. Always learning new things every day!
“I went through frozen mud and slush with my feet tied up in rags,” wrote one anonymous Latter-day Saint who attended the icy ground-breaking ceremonies for the Salt Lake Temple on 14 February 1853. “I had on a pair of pants made out of my wife’s skirt—a thin Scotch plaid; also a thin calico shirt and a straw hat. These were all the clothes I had. It was go that way or stay at home. … I was not alone in poverty; … there were many who were fixed as badly as I was.” He was one of thousands who arrived at an early hour for the ceremony, scheduled for eleven o’clock that morning.
The first stones, weighing from 1,134 to 2,540 kilograms were brought by teams and wagons from the quarry in Little Cottonwood Canyon, some thirty-two kilometers southeast of Salt Lake City. Oftentimes, it took as many as four days for workers to haul one huge block from the quarry to the temple site. Annie Wells Cannon “remember[ed] the sight of the great stones … being hauled along the streets by two yoke of oxen and we would all stand for them to pass with a feeling of awe and reverence.” Smaller stones were hauled on wagons, but larger stones were hung under them. Many wagons broke down while transporting the stones, and the road to Salt Lake City was often littered with old wagons during the summer seasons.
According to a story told by his family, John Moyle “climbed up the scaffolding on the east side of the Temple and carved ‘Holiness to the Lord,’ as his contribution to the Temple building.”
Yet with undaunted faith, President Woodruff requested sufficient funds from the Saints to finish the temple. Among those who sacrificed to meet that request was a young boy who had found employment on a nearby farm where, after several long hours of work, he was paid twenty-five cents. “I clutched the coin and ran home,” he recalled. He immediately sought out his father. “Pa, look what I have!” he announced. “The next time you go to Provo,” he continued, “I can get a new pair of Levis with this money.” The father reminded his son of President Woodruff’s request. “President Wilford Woodruff needs ten cents of this quarter for the Salt Lake Temple. Here, I’ll give you fifteen cents for the coin, and we’ll go together to give the dime to our bishop, who will send it to Salt Lake City,” the father gently suggested.
In the year that followed, carpenters, painters, plasterers, and other skilled craftsmen worked unstintingly to complete the interior of the temple. The inside of the temple was adorned with fine wood and plaster ornamental carvings, beautiful murals and paintings, mirrors, elegant curtains and draperies, the best carpets and furniture available, fine light fixtures, chandeliers, and specially ordered stained-glass art windows. All things were made ready for the dedication ceremonies, which were to begin on 6 April 1893. In an effort to complete the temple on time, workers labored even on holidays. On Thanksgiving Day 1892, “nearly all the men were at work as usual,” one worker noted.
After the dedication a Brigham Young Academy student, Amy Brown, recalled: “It was one of the most thrilling spiritual experiences of my life. … [As President Woodruff] stood there before the people with hair and beard as white as snow, the essence of purity, gentleness, and faithfulness, he reminded me of the prophets of old.” UAdd a Note
For President Woodruff, the occasion was the fulfillment of a dream. He confided in his journal, “Near[ly] fifty years ago while in the city of Boston I had a vision of going with the Saints to the Rocky Mountains building a temple and I dedicated it.”
For many of the Saints, the temple dedication provided a spiritual seal for their efforts to gather with the people of God in the Rocky Mountains. It also confirmed the Lord’s acceptance of the covenants they had made with him and the sacrifices entailed in fulfilling the vision of modern and ancient prophets that a temple would be “established in the tops of the mountains” in the last days.
-Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, "Every Window, Every Spire Speaks of the Things of God", Liahona, Nov. 1993, 8
The Salt Lake Temple is and has always been an amazing one to me! Every temple is special in its own way and is the House of the Lord, but the Salt Lake temple took so much time, dedication, sacrifice, and hard work to complete. It strengthens my testimony that the gospel is true and also deepens my gratitude towards those who sacrificed their time to such a great cause so that my generation, the ones before me, and the ones to come have the privilege to attend the temple and have the fullness of the ordinances on the earth. How lucky are we to benefit form their hard work!
