The House of the Lord: A Study of Holy Sanctuaries Ancient and Modern

by James E. Talmage

THE LOGAN TEMPLE

Scarcely had the St. George Temple been finished and opened to the sacred ordinances for which it had been built, when another House of the Lord was begun by the Latter-day Saints, this at Logan in the northern section of the long-time Territory and present State of Utah. The St. George Temple was dedicated on the 6th of April, 1877; the Logan Temple was begun on the 19th of September in the same year.

The city of Logan is the county seat of Cache county and the distributing center for the rich and beautiful Cache valley, a valley that has won for itself the distinguishing name of the Granary of Utah. Logan is sixty-six miles on a straight line from Salt Lake City, and one hundred and two miles as the railway runs. The Temples of St. George and Logan are therefore three hundred and thirty-six miles apart in a direct line. Logan is prominent in the valley by virtue of its commanding situation; it occupies the delta and adjoining terrace built by the mountain stream that flowed from the canyon into old Lake Bonneville, and commands a view of the entire valley with the majestic mountain-wall in the background. The Temple occupies a position of prominence in the city, situated as it is upon one of the higher terraces locally known as the Bench, and visible from practically all points in the great valley. The grounds comprise an entire city block of eight acres; and the Temple stands in the north-east quarter of this block.

The site of the Logan Temple was dedicated on May 17, 1877, under the direction of the Presidency of the Church and the Council of the Twelve Apostles. There were in attendance the full First Presidency, composed of President Brigham Young and his counselors, John W. Young and Daniel H. Wells; also John Taylor, president of the Council of the Twelve; Orson Pratt and other members of that Council, together with a large concourse of people. The dedicatory prayer was offered by Elder Orson Pratt, after which Counselor John W. Young broke the ground and threw out the first spade-full of earth; in this ceremonial moving of the soil he was followed by Counselor Daniel H. Wells and President John Taylor. Brief addresses were delivered by President Brigham Young and by Elders Daniel H. Wells and John Taylor. The remarks of Brigham Young, expressive of the purpose for which temples are built and of the unselfish spirit in which the work was to be prosecuted, were as follows:

"We have dedicated this spot of ground upon which we expect to erect a temple in which to administer the ordinances of the House of God. Into this house, when it is completed, we expect to enter to enjoy the blessings of the Priesthood and receive our anointings, our endowments and our sealings; and the brethren will be sealed to brethren to continue the links and make perfect the chain from ourselves to Father Adam. This is the object of the temple which we are about to commence building at this place. We require the brethren and the sisters to go to with their might and erect this temple; and from the architect to the boy who carries the drinking water to the men that work on the building, we wish them to understand that wages are entirely out of the question. We are going to build a House for ourselves and we shall expect the brethren and sisters, neighborhood after neighborhood, ward after ward, to turn out their proportion of men to come here and labor as they shall be notified by the proper authorities.

"This may be called a temporal work, but it pertains to the salvation of ourselves as well as our friends who have passed behind the veil, and also the generations who are to come after us. We can carry this temple forward with our labor without any burden to ourselves if our hearts are in the work and we will be blessed abundantly in doing so. We will be better off in our temporal affairs when it is completed than when we commenced, and than we would be if we did not build it. The time we enjoy is the Lord's, but we have permission to direct its use according to our good pleasure. When the brethren come to work on this temple they may expect to be blessed of the Lord according to their faith.

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"We pray for you continually that you may be blessed. I feel to bless you according to the power and keys of the Holy Priesthood bestowed upon me and my brethren with me, heart and hand, and all the Saints feel to say 'Amen.' Feel to bless each other, feel to do the work of the Lord and dismiss the narrow, contracted, covetous feelings that are so interwoven with the feelings of our natures. It seems hard to get rid of them but we must overcome them and unite ourselves together in the holy order of God that we may be Saints of the Most High, that our interests, our faith and labors may be concentrated in the salvation of the human family.

"Brethren and sisters, try to realize these things. Awake and lay these things to heart. Seek the Lord to know His mind and will and when you ascertain it also to have the will to do it. God bless you. Amen."

On Monday, May 28, 1877, the work of excavation was begun. Workmen were supplied by wards of the Logan Temple District, which at that time comprised the Cache, Box Elder, and Bear Lake Stakes of Zion. Besides giving of their time and energy,—gifts known as labor donations,—the people contributed freely of cash, livestock, merchandise, and farm produce, and their contributions were supplemented by liberal appropriations from the general Church funds. Truman O. Angell, Jr., was the architect. Rock-laying began on July 20, 1877, on what was known as the extension—a building eighty feet by thirty-six feet in area and twenty-three feet high, lying immediately north of the Temple proper and connected therewith; this has been used since the completion of the Temple for engine room, office, reception, and assembly rooms, thus corresponding to the Annex of the Temple in Salt Lake City.

On September 19, 1877, the corner stones were laid under the immediate direction of John Taylor, president of the Council of the Twelve. President Taylor laid the south-east corner stone and Franklin D. Richards offered the dedicatory prayer thereon. The south-west corner stone was laid by Edward Hunter, Presiding bishop of the Church, and the dedicatory prayer thereon was offered by his counselor, Leonard W. Hardy. The north-west corner stone was laid by George L. Farrell, president of the High Priests' quorum of the Cache Stake of Zion, and the accompanying prayer was offered by Moses Thatcher, of the Council of the Twelve. The north-east corner stone was laid by Albert P. Rockwood, one of the First Council of the Seventy, and the accompanying prayer was offered by Horace S. Eldredge, another member of the First Council of the Seventy.

The Temple as it stands is one hundred and seventy-one feet long, ninety-five feet wide, and eighty-six feet high at the square, with an octagonal tower at each corner one hundred feet high, and a large square tower at each end. The tower at the west end is one hundred and sixty-five feet, and that at the east one hundred and seventy feet high. In this feature of the east tower being higher than that at the west the Logan Temple resembles the greater structure at Salt Lake City. Massive buttresses strengthen the walls, and the masonry is of the best. As to architecture, the Temple may be described as belonging to the castellated style.

The rock used in the building was brought from the mountain quarries near by, and is a very hard, compact, dark-colored silicious limestone, locally called fucoid rock from its content of fossilized marine plants known as fucoids. A more typical limestone was used for the arches and for the uprights and lintels of doors and windows, this material being susceptible of a better dressed surface than was possible with the silicious rock. Watertables, string-courses, and the caps of battlements and towers, consist of a light buff sandstone, brought from quarries near Franklin, Idaho. As the rock used in the walls is of diversified color the entire exterior has been painted in buff.

The lumber used in the building was obtained from Logan canyon and was prepared at the Temple saw-mill, which had been specially installed for the purpose. An interesting sidelight is thrown on the spirit of earnestness with which the people went about this work of temple building, by the fact that even the saw-mill was ceremonially dedicated when first put in commission. All the lumber used was selected, and, as nearly as possible, was chosen so as to be free from defect. The principal varieties are red pine for the heavier work and white pine for such interior construction as stands and altars. The framework of the roof is of the best red pine, and is of ingenious construction, spanning a distance of ninety-five feet without under-pinning. At first the roof was covered with sheet-metal, but this proved unsatisfactory because of leakage due to fractures resulting from variations in temperature; and the old but efficient style of shingle roof was finally substituted. The workmanship throughout is high class; indeed it is said that after nearly thirty years not a door has been known to sag or a wall to crack. The total cost of the Temple when completed was approximately seven hundred thousand dollars.

The building has five full stories. The basement story is occupied by the font room and adjoining dressing rooms. In common with the practise followed in Latter-day Saint Temples generally, the font is supported on twelve oxen of cast-iron which stand in a well beneath the general level of the floor. From the basement level rise at intervals of a few feet a number of rooms used in ceremonial work. Thus, about eight feet above the basement floor is the room corresponding to the Lower Lecture Room, four feet higher one corresponding to the Garden Room, and five feet higher one corresponding to the World Room, and yet ten feet higher a room corresponding to the Upper Lecture Room or Terrestrial Room, as already described in connection with the Temple at Salt Lake City. The rest of the space in the first and second stories is occupied by offices for the president of the Temple, the recorders and other officials, library room, etc. The third story is occupied by what is known as the C Room, which corresponds to the Celestial Room elsewhere described. As in other Temples this is the most splendidly finished of all the large rooms. Connecting with this room on the east side are three small apartments used in the sealing ordinances.

The fourth floor is wholly occupied by the main assembly room with its vestries and ante-chambers. The assembly room itself is one hundred and four feet long by ninety-five feet wide, and the ceiling is thirty feet high. At the east is a large elevated platform with stands or pulpits reserved for the officers of the Melchisedek Priesthood, and at the west is a corresponding platform with stands devoted to the officers of the Aaronic Priesthood. The auditorium is occupied by reversible seats, allowing the audience to face either way according to the nature of the services at any time,—whether conducted by the Higher or Lesser Priesthood. This room provides for the comfortable seating of fifteen hundred people. The fifth floor comprises detached rooms in the east and west towers. There are no rooms in the main body above the assembly room on the fourth floor already described.

The Logan Temple was seven years in building. On May 17, 1884, the structure was dedicated to the service of the Lord and immediately thereafter was opened for sacred ordinances. The dedicatory services lasted three days, that is to say, services were held on each of two days following the official dedication, and on these later days the dedicatory prayer was read to the assembly. The ceremonies and services attending the dedication were held in the large assembly room on the fourth floor, and the seating capacity of the great auditorium was taxed to the utmost at every meeting. President Brigham Young had died before the laying of the corner-stone, and the building of the Temple had been prosecuted at first under the administration of the Council of the Twelve, which, on the dissolution of the First Presidency becomes the presiding council of the Church, and later under the direction of the new First Presidency. On the day of the dedication the prayer was offered by President John Taylor, after which his Counselors, Elders George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith, made addresses, and they were followed by Elders Wilford Woodruff and Lorenzo Snow of the Council of the Twelve Apostles. A brief address was then delivered by President John Taylor, after which the stirring Hosanna shout was rendered. Benediction was pronounced by John Smith, the Presiding Patriarch.^[[4]]