'For a millennium' - Church News
Of what material should the great temple be built?
One of the most popular materials in early Deseret was adobe - plentiful, sturdy and cheap. Tempting as adobe may have been, sandstone was originally chosen for the subfoundation and foundation of the temple.Work on the temple, however, was interrupted in 1857. On July 24, members celebrated the 10th anniversary of their arrival with dances, speeches, and parades. The celebration was held on the banks of Silver Lake up Big Cottonwood Canyon, beneath a proudly fluttering U.S. flag. About noon, four men dashed into camp and at once informed Brigham Young that the "flower of the United States Army" - 1,500 men - were enroute to put down a supposed rebellion of the Mormons.
Brigham Young decided that if the Church was again to be target of armed persecution, this band of marauders would win for themselves nothing but charred homes and chopped down trees, adding, "Nor a particle of grass or hay that will burn be left in reach of our enemies."
Accordingly, the foundation of the temple was buried and the site smoothed over. Important Church records were hidden in the foundation, and in a dedicatory prayer offered Aug. 13, 1857, President Young petitioned that the saints "may have power to finish this temple even to the top stone."
His prayer was answered and the oncoming army eventually passed in peace.
Work resumed in 1860, but as the foundation was uncovered, a shock awaited. Stonemasons reported to Brigham Young that the foundation stones were "not laid solid, but were laid on chinking, small stones," according to Wilford Woodruff's journal. They would not support the great temple.
Brigham Young fumed and denounced such efforts. Then on Jan. 1, 1862, he ordered the stones removed and that granite be used to replace the foundation sandstone.
"I expect this temple will stand through the Millennium," he said on Aug. 23, 1862.
A typical worker who cut granite for the foundation was John Nichols. Nichols, with his brothers Alex and William, made the first adobe bricks in Springville, Utah. The three were then known as "the adobe boys."
Brother Nichols may have been content to work in adobe and build to last a lifetime. But when serving the Lord, he worked in granite and built to last a millennium. - John L. Hart
(Another in a series leading to the centennial of the Salt Lake Temple on April 6, 1993. Illustration by Deseret News artist Reed McGregor.)
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