UTAH. 



745 



The Columbian Exposition. The Territory 

 made ii very creditable and satisfactory exhibit 

 at the fair. The agricultural and manufactur- 

 ing displays were good, and the mineral exhibit 

 ua- very good. Tin- I tali Sugar Works took the 

 tir>t prize for sugar. .Much interest was taken 

 in the I'tah silk exhibit in the Woman's Build- 

 ing. At tempts at silk culture, to which the cli- 

 mate is well adapted, were made very early in 

 tho history of the Territory. Utah County has 

 a flourishing silk association, and produces some 

 good material. The Utah building was flushed 

 early in the season, but the formal dedication 

 was put olT to Sept. 8, in order to have the pres- 

 ence of the Tabernacle choir. Tho singing of 

 the choir was one of the features of the exposi- 

 tion. Utah day was one of the great days of the 

 fair, only two others, up to October, surpassing 

 it in point of attendance July 4 and Illinois 

 day. 



Statehood. The bill to admit Utah as a 

 State passed the Lower House of Congress Dec. 

 13, having been reported from the Territories' 

 Committee Nov. 2. The committee discussed at 

 length the troublesome question of polygamy 

 and declared that the evil had been suppressed 

 entirely, and that there need be no fear of a re- 

 vival of the practice in case Utah be admitted 

 to the Union. 



The Escheated Church Funds. The per- 

 sonal property of the Church of Jesus Christ of 

 Latter-Day Saints, which has so long been in 

 litigation, was restored by joint resolution of 

 Congress, approved Oct. 25. 



The New Temple. The sixty-third annual 

 Mormon Conference at Salt Lake City in April, 

 from the 4th to the 25th, was one of the most 

 notable gatherings of the Latter-Day Saints that 

 have ever been assembled. There were 5 meet- 

 ings in the Tabernacle, 31 regular dedication as- 

 semblies in the Temple, 3 special meetings, and 

 two days devoted to the Sunday-school children. 

 It is estimated that at least 62.000 members of 

 the Church passed through and attended serv- 

 ices in the Temple, and about 12,000 Sunday- 

 school children in addition viewed the building. 

 People came from the different settlements from 

 Idaho to Arizona, and even Mexico, and from 

 Colorado to Nevada. The occasion of this un- 

 usual gathering was the dedication of the Tem- 

 ple, which has been forty years in building or, 

 rather, forty years have passed since it was 

 begun. 



The original Temple of the Mormons, was 

 built in Kirtland, Ohio, in 1834. Their first 

 colony had been guided thither, from various 

 localities in New York and Pennsylvania, by 

 Sidney Rigdon. Joseph Smith asserted that a 

 revelation gave him the dimensions of this Tem- 

 ple 80 feet by 60 feet on the ground. It was 

 completed in 1834, at a cost of $40,000. The 

 building is still standing, but it is under the 

 control of Joseph Smith, Jr., who stands at the 

 head of the non polygamous branch of the Mor- 

 mons. (See Ui:oK(iA.\ixKi CHURCH OF JIMS 

 CHRIST OK LATTKB-DAY SAINTS, in this volume.) 

 In outward appearance the Temple at Kirtland 

 resembles one of the older class of meet ing 

 houses in New England. 



Soon after the building of the Temple the 

 Mormons left for Nauvoo, 111., where they built 



ii]p and inhabited a prosperous city for about ten 

 \i-ar-. Here they erected their second Temple, 

 at a cost of about $1,000,000. Owing to (|iuirrcls 

 with the surrounding (Jcntiles, the Mormons 

 once more, in 1840-'47, moved across the nlnins 

 to t'tah. Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrutn 





KIKST MORMON TEMPLE, K1KTLAND, OHIO. 



had been killed by a mob, and the torch had 

 been applied to Nauvoo. The Temple was spared 

 only to be robbed, and finally burned in 1848. 

 It was a magnificent structure of sandstone, 

 with a very large seating capacity. The height 

 of the dome was 210 feet. A baptismal font, the 

 special feature of this Temple, rested on the 

 backs of 12 oxen, the whole being carved from 

 one immense block of stone. 



The Mormons have many temples in Utah. 

 Arizona, and Idaho, but the edifice dedicated 

 April 6, 1893, in Salt Lake City, claims pre- 

 eminence. It is the successor of the temples at 

 Kirtland and Nauvoo, from the fact that tin- 

 dignitaries of the Mormon Church attend within 

 its walls. But it is not the meeting place for 

 large congregations, that function being still re- 

 served for the Tabernacle that stands at the rear 

 of the Temple. The Temple itself is for sacred 

 rites, and none but Mormons are allowed to 

 enter its doors. The site of the Temple was 

 selected by Brigham Young in July, 1847, but a 

 few days after, the Mormon emigrants had 

 crossed the Wasatch range and located them- 

 selves on Mexican soil, where Salt Lake City 

 now stands. The colony prospered so rapidly. 

 through thrift, aided by irrigation, that the Gen- 

 eral Assembly of the 'church, in April, 1851, 

 voted to build the Temple. In February, 1853. 

 ground was broken, and on April 6 of the same 

 year (just forty years before the dedication) the 

 four corner stones were laid with imprei\c 

 ceremonies. At that time the building material 

 most used was adobe. At Red Butte Cafion, 

 close to the city, a red sandstone was found, and 

 of this and adobe it was decided to build the 



