Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 April 1893 — TEMPLE OF MORMON. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TEMPLE OF MORMON.

DEDICATION OF THE FAMOUS SALT LAKE STRUCTURE. On. of the Mott Remarkable and Elaborate Cathedral. In the World—lt. Wondrous Beauties of White and Gold—Vast Dimensions. After Forty Years. The great Mormon Temple, the Temple of which was begun Feb. (5.

1853, and erected at a oust of $5,000,000, was dedicated Thursday In the presence of a vast throng of : believers at Salt Lake iCity, Utah. Mormons from every olty and to wn in U tah swarmed into the city and the vast edifice was sur-

rounded by a great multitude. The temple Itself was crowded almost to suffocation and It was estimated that between 60,000 and 70,000 people entered tho building before the services ended. The Temple Is the overtowering object which strikes the eye of the traveler as he enters the Salt Lako Valley. The first idea gained on beholding It is that of an enormous castle of feudal times, and its mammoth proportions and the solidity of the great blocks of stone suggest that It will last as long as any of the grandest architectural achievements of antiquity. On a nearer approach the effeot of the battlements, which give the idea of a oastle, disappear, and the tall spires and numerous narrow windows, with tho figure of the angel surmounting the highest steeple, suggest a cathedral of magnificent dimensions. It was on the 24th of July, 1847, that tho Mormons entered the valley ot the Great Salt Lake and decided that here was their resting place, the promised land for whloh they had been In search. Four days aftorward, In making a survey of the thon sagebrush covered plain, Brighum Young, their leader, struck his cane on tho ground at a point midway between two running streams and exolalmod: "Hore shall be ereoted the temple of our God." Six years later the oorner stone of the present structure was laid. It was forty years to tho day, almost to the hour, since the oeremony of laying tho four corner-stones was celebrated In an Imposing manner by Brigham Young and all tho ohlef dignitaries of the church living at that time. On April 6, 1853, the immense excavation

having boen previously completed, all the bands and oholrs In the city wore called out and the entire population of the olty, numborlng thon about five thousand, assembled on the Temple blook. Tho southeast corner-stone was first laid. Since that time the work of building the Templo has boen prosecuted In the face of enormous difficulties. For the first twenty years the work proceeded very slowly, all the stone having to be conveyed from tho quarry by means of ox teams, six or eight animals usually being employod to transport a single rook from the quarry to the Temple Blook and four days being required to make the trip. When Johnstone’s army invaded Utah In 1857 the walls of the Tomple, which had then reached a level with the ground, were hastily covered over with earth, and the Mormons fled frotn tho city, abandoning It to the array. Astor Johnstone retired the walls were uncovered again and work was resumed where it was loft off. At the completion of the Union Pacific Railway a track was laid to the quarry, and from that time forward the work was pushed with great vigor, so that although It Is forty years since the building was commenced, not more than twenty-five have actually been expended In Its construction. Like the Jews of old, the building of temples has always held a cardinal place In the faith es the Mormons. Tho Salt Lake Temple Is the sixth building of tho kind they have completed and the seventh they have begun. The first was commenced at Independence, Mo., In 1831, and dedicated by Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonlsm, but was abandoned shortly afterward owing to mob violence. The second was built In Klrtland, Ohio, in 1833, and completed in 1836. When the Mormons left Ohio the building passed into the hands of the Josepbltes, tho anti-polygamy faction of tho church, who still hold It The third temple was built in Nauvoo, 111., In 1841, and finished In 1846, but was destroyed by fire In 1848, and razed to the ground when Nauvoo was sacked by the opponents of the Mormons. The other temples are located In St. George, Utah, built from 1873 to 1877; In Logan, Utah, built from 1877 to 1884; and In Mantl, Utah, built from 1879 to 1888. The cost of all its predecessors combined, however, does not amount to more than one-half of the money expended in the construction of the Salt Lake edifice. Some of the main dimensions of the building are as follows: Its whole length, Including towers, Is 1864 feet its width Is 99 feet; the three towers on tho east rise to a height of 2224 feet In the center and 188 feet on the sides. The three west towers are from 3 to 10 feet shorter. The height of the walls to tho top of the rook work is 1674 feet The thickness of the walls at the bottom is 9 feet and at the top 6 feet. The thickness of the footing wall Is 16 feet, and the whole building covers an area of 21,850 square feet. Each corner tower has a staircase of solid granite, cut by hand, of over two hundred steps. The building has Its own electric plant, heating apparatus, coolthg machines, power for elevators, etc., and the spectacle at night, when all the pinnacles as well as the crown ot the angel’s figure on the central tower are Illuminated with electricity, Is strlcking and brillant in the extreme. Everywhere throughout the building the prevailing style Is solidity, richness ani symmetry. White and gold are the prevailing colors, though the ceilings show some rare decorative work. Several years ago the Mormon church sent several artists to Paris to study painting and art decoration for the purpose of having them paint the ceilings and the rooms in which the most secret ordinances are celebrated, one of which Is said to be a representation of the Garden of Eden, and It Is described as a marvel of beatity by those who have beheld 1L

mtIOHAM young.

TUB H 5.000.00) MORMON TKMIM.S.