The Building of a City
After returning from their explorations on the 28th, a council was held in the evening and it was decided to build a city. Some of the brethren suggested that they explore further before deciding on a site for a settlement. President Young replied that he was willing that they should explore until they were satisfied, but every time a party went out and returned he believed they would agree that this was the spot on which they should locate.
It was decided that the city should be laid out in blocks of ten acres each with streets eight rods wide running at right angles. The blocks were to be divided into lots containing one and one-quarter acres each, with exceptions in certain parts where the lay of the land would be inconvenient for such arrangement. The houses were to be of uniform distance from the street and only one house to a lot. “Upon every alternate block four houses were to be built on the east, and four on the west side of the square, but none on the north and south sides. But the blocks intervening were to have four houses on the north and four on the south, but none on the east and west sides. In this plan there will be no houses fronting each other on the opposite sides of the streets, while those on the same side will be about eight rods apart, having gardens running back twenty rods to the center of the block.” Such was their description. There were to be four public squares of ten acres each in various parts of the city. “Let every man,” said President Young, “cultivate his own lot and set out every kind of fruit and shade tree and beautify the city.” This plan was laid before the camp and approved unanimously.
The Place for the Temple
During the westward journey the building of a temple was a constant theme. On the evening of the 28th of July, President Young and the apostles with Thomas Bullock, the clerk, walked from their camp northward to a spot between the forks of City Creek, and there President Young designated a site for the building of a temple. Waving his hand he said: “Here is the forty acres for the temple, and the city can be laid out perfectly square north and south, east and west.”
Orson Pratt’s Survey
The survey of the city was made by Orson Pratt. His line was on the southeast corner of the Temple Block. Beginning at that point the city was marked out into blocks of ten acres each. It was decided by the brethren that instead of using forty acres for the site it would be better to have that block conform in size with the others. According to Orson Pratt’s calculations, the latitude of the north boundary of the Temple Block was 40 degrees, 35 minutes and 34 seconds. The longitude was 111 degrees, 26 minutes and 34 seconds west of Greenwich. The altitude was 4,300 feet above sea level. Later government observations varied from these of Elder Pratt but slightly.
Arrival of the Battalion and Mississippi Members
In addition to the twelve members of the battalion and the advance company of Mississippi Saints who came into the valley with the pioneers,[1] the detachments of the battalion who wintered at Pueblo under the command of Captain James Brown and Nelson Higgins, together with the main body of the Mississippi Saints, entered the Salt Lake Valley, under direction of Captain James Brown, July 29, 1847. This increased the number in the camp to about four hundred souls. They brought with them about sixty wagons, one hundred head of horses and mules and three hundred head of cattle.
Immediately after their arrival the battalion members built a bowery, the first structure in the valley in which public meetings could be held with some degree of comfort, and the worshipers receive protection from the excessive heat of the sun.