Temple took decades of hard labor to complete

SALT LAKE CITY — If the walls of the Salt Lake Temple could talk, they'd likely tell fascinating stories of thousands of workers who brought tons of raw stone from nearby canyons and spent countless hours dressing and fitting it, fashioning it as part of the unique building the temple is.

Saturday, between the morning and afternoon sessions of general conference, LDS historian, educator and author Paul Thomas Smith visited the Church History Museum to recount how frontier workmen using frontier technology built an amazing edifice. He drew on expertise he gained lecturing on the subject for 17 years at the Temple Quarry Nature Trail, a BLM historic site in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

"Brigham Young always knew a temple would be built," said Smith.

One of the church leader's first actions, only days after arriving in Salt Lake Valley in July 1847, was to identify the location of the future temple. He planted his cane firmly into the ground at the foot of Ensign Peak and declared "here we will build a temple to the Lord."

President Young had seen the temple in vision and his hope was that it would be completed within four years. In reality, the task stretched to 40, with the dedication taking place on April 5, 1893, almost 16 years after his death.

The challenges were enormous. A population swelling by the thousands every year and isolated from the rest of the country needed basic necessities. A temple might have seemed only a nice future goal at the time. Nevertheless, in 1853, discussions began as to what materials they could use in the temple's construction. Adobe brick was the building block most used in pioneer edifices. Red sandstone was considered as well. But Brigham's counselor and ultimate successor, Wilford Woodruff, also had seen visions of the temple-to-be, and he would not give up the dream of a glorious building of "white and blue stones," Smith said.

The pioneers were blessed with resources natural to their new home. Nearby canyons of the Wasatch Mountains were rich in quartz monzonite, which closely resembles marble. So in 1860, when James Canfield Livingston, a British convert with some knowledge of quarries, was given the task, he turned to this natural trove. His workers were mainly Scots, English and Welshmen who were familiar with marble buildings or with mining practices.