Page:The House of the Lord.djvu/153

Rh

These memorial tablets in stone and jeweled glass give the essentials as to dates in the history of the great Temple; some further data, however, may be of interest to the reader.

The Temple Block, a square of ten acres, was laid off in 1847, and is today one of the choicest sites within the city. At the General Conference of the Church held in April, 1851, an official vote was taken whereby the erection of the Temple was authorized. Be it remembered that this action was that of a people despoiled and in poverty, struggling with the unsubdued desert, the while menaced by hostile savages; and that at the time the entire population of Utah did not exceed thirty thousand souls, of whom fewer than five thousand were living within the area of the prospective city. A general epistle issued by the First Presidency of the Church, April 7, 1851, is instructive in this connection:

"A railroad has been chartered to extend from the Temple Block in this city to the stone quarry and mountain on the east, for the conveyance of building materials; the construction to commence immediately.  We contemplate laying a wall around the Temple Block this season, preparatory to laying the foundation of a Temple