The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1868-01-09
From the st. Louis Republican,
THE MORMON TEMPLE AT SALT LAKE.

The temple block is forty rods square, and
contains ten acres. The court of the Tenn
pie is one hundred and fifty-six feet and a
half west of the east line of the block. The
entire length of the building is one hundred
and eighty-six feet and half, including
towers, and the width ninety nine feet. On
| the east front there are three towers,
and corresponding to these are three towers
on the west or rear end. The north and
south walls are eight feet thick, clear of pc
destal. They stand upon foot wall 16 feet
wide at the bottom, which slopes feet on
each side to the height of u feet. The
! footings of the towers rise to the same
as those of the sides, and consist of solid
piece of masonry of rough ashlars laid in
good mortar. The basement OF the main
| building is divided into many apartments
by walls all resting on broad tootings. The
line of the basement and floor is six inches
above the top of the footings. OF the tow
ers named there are four, one at each corner
1T the building, cylindrical in shape, seven
teen feet in diameter inside, within which
| stairs ascend five feet wide, with landings at
the various sections of the building. The
whole house covers an area of 81 $50 square
feet. Freeman o. Angel Is the architect
| The massive blocks of stone OF which the
foundations of the temple are built are
granite, hauled, We believe, Il distance of
nearly twenty miles, the teams and the labor
being furnished by the Saints. 1t was at
one time the purpose of Bingham Young to
turn neighboring river over to the quarry
and thence build canal ON which to trans
port the stone.
Quite as interesting as the Temple is the
Mormon Tabernacle, which is built for the
use OF the immense Mormon congregations
which meet every Sunday TO hear preaching
fI,a Ri
| associated apostles. 1t is in many respects
| the most remarkable building on the Cont
nent of America. 1t stands ON the Temple
block, west of the Temple. We may state
that it is oval in shape, the interior being.
above and below, and all around, shaped
like the inside of an egg. tits 2S2 feet long
by 1872 wide in the clear. The height from
floor to ceiling is IS feet; running lengthwise
of this egg-shaped affair are A pillars, aver
aging IA feet in height, three feet thick and
nine feet deep. Resting upon the pillars are
arches of lattice work and rib, and each rib
requires $4,000 feet of lumber. Each rib
has a rise in the centre of Sc feet The en-
tire Tabernacle consumed one and a half
millions feet of lumber in the building. 1t
will seat 10000 people. The stand from
which the apostles deliver themselves is adj
vanced about sixty five feet from the west
end, standing, say, about in one of the foci
of the elliptical structure. This stand is di-
vided into sections for the Bishops. the Pres
ident, the Twelve Apostles and the First G
President. .t-..-
One remarkable structure inside of this
immense building is the grand organ, stand
ing upon base twenty-three feet wide by
thirty deep. The front of this organ is oc-
tagonal in form, rising to the height of for
ty-five feet. 1t contains 1890 pipes, two
banks of keys and thirty-fve stops on the
register 1t contains $500 feet of lumber,
which was brought on wagons from Iron
county, a distance of three hundred miles,
The longest piece of lumber used in the
pipes ofthe organ is thirty-ive feet in length.
The lumber of which this organ is built has
been three years in seasoning. 1t requires
four men to blow the bellows. The builder
of it is Joseph H. Ridges, and every portion
of it was made by Salt Lake workmen
and Mornons. 1t is undoubtedly one of the
largest organs in America, surpassed, per-
haps, by that in Boston only. -