The St. George Temple was built by free-will offerings and by appropriations from the tithings of the people. In one year, specifically the year 1875, over one hundred and twenty-three thousand dollars were expended in the work, and the total cost of the completed building was considerably more than five hundred thousand dollars. The structure was practically finished by the close of 1876. Some parts were dedicated on January 1, 1877, so as to permit of certain ordinance work to be done before the dedication of the building as a whole, which event occurred on the sixth of April following. At the preliminary dedicatory service, January 1, 1877, twelve hundred and thirty persons were in attendance. Music, some of which had been specially composed for the occasion, was rendered by the choir, and dedicatory prayers were offered by members of the Council of the Twelve as follows: by Elder Wilford Woodruff in the basement story; by Elder Erastus Snow in the main room of the story next above the basement; by Elder Brigham Young, Jr., in the room designated as the sealing room. Addresses were delivered by Elders Erastus Snow, Wilford Woodruff, and by President Brigham Young.
Baptisms for the dead were first administered in the St. George Temple on January 9, 1877; and endowments for the dead were begun two days later.
Proceedings incident to the dedication of the Temple as a whole began on the 4th of April, 1877, and terminated on the sixth, the last day's assembly being held in connection with the annual conference of the Church, which conference had been appointed to be held at St. George, in view of the dedication. On the fourth and fifth of the month general assemblies were held in the Temple during both forenoon and afternoon, each session marked by the rendition of special music and by inspired addresses from the Church leaders. At ten in the morning on Friday, April 6th, the general conference was opened in the Temple. The presiding officers of the several quorums occupied the stands exclusively allotted. There was but little in the way of special addresses, two days having been devoted to the work of instruction and preliminary preparation. The dedicatory prayer was offered by Daniel H. Wells, Second Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church.[[3]]
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.