The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-04-02
Salt Lake City.

The city, the metropolis Of two hun
dred Mormon cities and towns, is located
thirty.six miles from Ogden, at an ele-
walton of four thousand three hundred
feet above the level of the ocean. It is
built on an easy sloping hill of about
two miles in width, whose incline affords
IN excellent opportunity for viewing
scenery from almost every house in the
city. The scenery about Salt Lake City
is very fine, and consists of mountains
on the east and south ; some of which
present a brilliant blue appearance that
reminds one of the color of the waters
of the gulf stream ; and one mountain
is snow clad throughout the year.
There are also extensive plains, can.
ons, the Great Salt lake, and other
fine scenery, which, taken as a whole,
furnish q landscape that is rarely e1-
celled in variety and beauty. The city
is laid out in blocks of ten acres, each
being designed for eight building lots,
with streets eight rods wide, crossing at
right angles. A fine stream of cold
water rushing down from the mountains
is conducted by means of open bitches
down each side of many streets in the
CITY. This water system has beautifed
the city, as we'll as having also improved
it's sanitary condition ; and I can assure
the reader, that, as n walks through
the streets and views the sparkling water
dancing over it's pebbled bed at the rate
of four knots an hour, he may indeed
easily fancy himself to be in a fairy land.
The Mormons are very methodical in
the affairs of church, state and customs.
For instance, in the morning at a GER
tain hour, the owners OF COWS in n
portion of the city commence to drive
them to pasture, and as the herd ad-
vances, every mar along the route is
expected to have his stock in readiness
to Join it; and if it so happens that a
person is delinquent concerning the
matter, why, his COWS must remain at
home during that day, as the city au-
thorities will not allow struggling stock
to be driven through the street after the
herd has passed along. This is only
one instance in many of the way in
which the Mormons regulate their af-
fairs.
Every person who visits the city in
spects the tabernacle. It is built prin-
cipally of wood, and is shaped very much
like an egg.shell. It is two hundred
and fifty feet in length, and one hun
dred and fifty feet in width, is but one
story high, and the ceiling is si1ty-five
feet above the audience-room floor. The
roof is self-supporting, the ends of it's
semi shaped arches resting on
forty-six columns of solid sandstone,
which form a part of the outside of the
building, and tile space between them is
utilized for windows and doors. Of the
latter there are twelve. The roof is said
to be the largest self-supporting one on
the continent, "a one, and that the
Grand Central depot ~roofsat New York.
. It is not known what the expense of
building the tabernacle was. but it is
estimated to have been from four to five
hundred thousand dollars. It will seat
eight thousand people, and on one special
occasion fifteen thousand persons found
their way inside it's walls, many of
course standing. When I was in the
tabernacle, and at q distance of one hun
bred and fifty feet from my guide, he
snapped his finger and thumb together,
and 1 could hear the sound therefrom as
distinctly as when by his side. I after
ward went to the farther end of the au-
dience.room, when he spoke to me in an
ordinary tone of voice, from the plat
form. and I could hear every word dis
tinctly. It is astonishing how perfectly
sound is transmitted through the build
ing. Much more might be said con
corning the city, with it's population of
abort twenty-five thousand people; but
I will close by saying that in many re-
spects it is a wonderful city.-Natick
Citizen.