The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-08-03
HOME OF THE MORMONS.
CHIEF POINTS OF INTEREST IN SALT
LAKE CITY DESCRIBED.
How the Mormon Capital is Situnted-sIts
tabernacle and It's Tempie--ThelS system
of Tithings and Its WORKING.

VI t'''h't sHfh y
From Ogden, Utah, to Salt Lake
City by rail is adistance of about sixty
miles, and the ride, except for an occa-
sional glimpse of the Great Salt Lake,
is uninteresting. The track runs
through IN arid, level plain, strongly
impregnated with salt and alkali. On
the east lie some spurs of the Rockies,
and on the west the white waters of
the sea of death. No natural vegeta-
ton, except the irrepressible sage
brush, grows in this plain. but where
artificial irrigation has been thoroughly
practiced excellent farms relieve the
terrible monotony of white earth and
%green-gray brush. The road is always
several miles from the shores of the
lake, and Salt Lake City itself is over
fifteen miles from the nearest indenta-
ton of its waters. At one point, only
a short distance from the city. the train
passes within a few yards of some hot
sulphur springs, the water of which is
perfectly green in color and rises at a
temperature Of a little over 200 degrees.
Rounding the point the traveller comes
within sight of the Wasatch range of
mountains, which lie a few miles to the
south of the city, and in a brief time
the great domed roof of the Tabernacle
and the cleaning white walls of the
new temple appear.
1t is customary to hear a good deal
about the beauty of Salt Lake City's
buildings and its noble streets, with
their rivulets of clear mountain water
running on either side. The beauty
of the buildings L was unable to dis
cover. The one principal business
street has some substantial brick and
stone stores, but by no means superior
average Western city of from $4,000
to 10000 inhabitants. The water is
certainly there, but as it is confined in
narrow sluice-boxes of wood which has
grown stained and discolored, its clear
ness is not s%trikingly apparent. For
merly the citizens drew their supply
for daily needs from these troughs, but
now there is a pressure force in all the
more important streets, and the open
water goes down to the valleys to sup
ply the farms and do the needed irri-
CATION, without a thorough system of
which no farming is possible in this
district. A city ordinance makes it a
punishable Offense to throw anything,
even a piece of paper, into these
streams.
If the city is not specially beautiful
in itself, its establishment and growth
in a little more than thirty years are
really marvellous. Probably no more
unpromising site was ever selected,
and the choice was made with the be.
lief that no one would dispute the
possession of such worthless land. 1t
would apparently grow nothing but
the everlasting sage brush, which SO
wearies the eyes of the travellers of the
great American desert, and which even
a jackass will refuse to eat. There
was no river, and the distant lake af-
forded no outlet for their productions.
Yet to-day the country for thirty miles
southwest of the city presents a SUE
cession of splendidly-worked farms,
and the fruits, especially apes and
plums, grown there have become ia
nous. The first step was, of course,
OlO procuring VI NdbCl dllu tlllO DIS
brought from City canon, a distance
of between four and five miles from
the site of the town. The melting
SHOWS and natural springs in this and
other canons still constitute the city's
source of supply.
The first settlers, on their long pill
grimage across the plains, after having
been driven from Illinois, debouched
upon the ground where the city now
stands, through what is called Emf
grant canon. This affords some of the
most beautiful scenery in the Terri
tory; for while the rocky passes have
not the majestic height of the Echo
and Weber canon of the Rockies. they
have the charm of wooded verdure,
and in the narrow valley, sometimes
level with the road and at others more
than 100 feet below it, nestle snug lit
tie farms and pretty cottages. In the
latter, however, the trained eye of the
observer of Mormon customs can see
the curse of the system-pleurality of
wives. The style of the cottage, with
it's various doors of entrance, will tell
how many wives the owner rejo;ces in.
The wealthy Mormon provides a sepa-
rate house for each wife; the less pres
porous divides his house into different
portions, each distinct, and having its
W door of entrance. Only the very
poorest expect the wives to live to-
gether. and this is rarely done when
there are more than two or three
The Tabernacle and the Temple have
before been briefly alluded to as the
most important buildings in the city.
The former was constructed from the
designs Of the late Brigham Young.
1t is oval in form, with a length of $50
feet by a width of $50, and has u
domed-shaped roof entirely without
central support. This is unquestion-
ably the largest unsupported roof in
world. 1t is constructed of girder
irons, and is eight feet thick. The
total seating capacity of the building
is $1,000, two thirds of whom are &C
commodated on the ground floor, on
plain wooden benches. There is no