His birthday of that year was again celebrated in the Temple. Including the Presidency, Twelve, and leading men, and his family, with special friends, there were about two hundred and fifty present. Among those who had come to pay him honor on this occasion was his old life-long friend, President A. O. Smoot, of Provo. This was the last gathering the latter ever attended as he died in less than a week at the ripe old age of eighty years. Speaking of President Smoot's funeral procession he said: "It is the longest I have ever seen in Utah."
On the 20th of the April following he was again in Provo for the purpose of reorganizing the Utah Stake. Of that circumstance he wrote: "We met in council for the purpose of taking into consideration the appointment of a Stake President. We had no one in our minds when we came together. While discussing the subject the spirit of the Lord rested upon us and designated Edward Partridge as president, with David John and Reed Smoot as his counselors. In this we were all united."
On the 20th of March the mine explosion at Alma, Wyoming brought the distressing news that sixty-one men had been killed. Thirty-two of these were members of the Church. The circumstance was most distressing to the authorities and of course brought forth expressions of heartfelt sympathy for those bereaved.
The summer of 1895 was excessively hot, and President Woodruff at his advanced age felt the effects of the heat more severely than ever. It was finally decided that he pay a visit to the western coast, and on the 25th of June, in company with his counselors he left for Portland, where he embarked on a visit to Alaska.
On his return to Utah he paid a visit to the Lake, in August, in company with Joseph Bannigan. After taking a bath in the water he said it was the first time he had bathed there since 1847. It was from Bannigan that the Church borrowed a large sum of money.
During the year, political excitement ran high and considerable sensitiveness was manifested about Church influence. Rumors and alleged influences by leading men were constantly brought to the attention of the President. These reports were a source of considerable annoyance. President Woodruff said in his journal: "Papers are publishing lies against the Presidency of the Church. Presidents of stakes and bishops are made to say things which are false. This is done for political effect." Any attempts to correct false political statements current at the time only added fuel to the fire. Utah was on the eve of the enjoyment of statehood; both parties were clamoring for supremacy. President Woodruff frequently manifested the irritation which he felt by the constant annoyance to which he was subjected through politicians who were frequently appealing to him.
November 21st, 1894, he recorded the death of Lorenzo Dow Young who had come to Utah with the pioneers. He was the last of the brothers of President Young, and died in his eighty-eighth year. During that year Elder Woodruff traveled five thousand nine hundred and sixty-seven miles. His time, however, was greatly occupied by the business interests of the Church. Its financial obligations were constantly growing and the Church had not yet overcome the financial distress created by the confiscation of its property and the great loss that came to it from litigations in the courts.