1. Deseret Weekly, April 1, 1893, 45b.

2. See Ensign 23 (March 1993): 2–43; Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Every Stone a Sermon (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1992); Nelson B. Wadsworth, Set in Stone, Fixed in Glass: The Great Mormon Temple and Its Photographers (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1992).

3. Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1855–86), 1:278, February 14, 1853 (hereafter cited as JD).

4. Young, in JD, 1:278.

5. William Ward to Magazine Printing Co., March 1892, Temple Souvenir Album 7 (April 1892): 7–9.

6. Ward to Magazine Printing Co., 7–9.

7. Truman O. Angell, Letter to Editor, “The Temple,” Deseret News, August 17, 1854. This figure represents the sum of the side and center arch heights. In Angell’s 1874 description, these rooms were to be thirty-five feet high. See Millennial Star 26 (May 5, 1874): 273–75.

8. Heber C. Kimball, in JD, 1:162, October 9, 1852.

9. Young, in JD, 1:220, October 9, 1852; italics in original.

10. Salt Lake Temple Architectural Drawings, Archives Division, Church Historical Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (hereafter cited as LDS Church Archives).

11. Young, in JD, 3:249, March 16, 1856.

12. Wallace Alan Raynor, “History of the Construction of the Salt Lake Temple” (master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1961), 70. This valuable 229-page thesis is the basis for W. A. Raynor, The Everlasting Spires: A Story of the Salt Lake Temple (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1965).

13. Jennifer L. Lund, telephone conversation with author, November 15, 1993.

14. Raynor, “History of the Construction,” 73 n. 14.

15. Raynor, “History of the Construction,” 81 n. 27.

16. Raynor, “History of the Construction,” 26–27.

17. A footing is an enlargement at the base of a foundation wall or other supporting structure. The footing distributes the weight on the wall.

18. See photo in Raynor, “History of the Construction,” 127; and drawing in [C. Mark Hamilton], The Salt Lake Temple: A Monument to a People (Salt Lake City: University Services, 1983), 65.

19. Ken Hacking, interview with author, November 8, 1993, Salt Lake City.

20. [George Q. Cannon], House of the Lord, Historical and Descriptive Sketch of the Salt Lake Temple ([Salt Lake City]: Geo. Q. Cannon and Sons, 1893), 14.

21. A stone box placed in the foundation of the Salt Lake Temple on August 13, 1857. “Items Recovered from Stone Box in Temple Foundation,” Church News, August 21, 1993, 7; Holzapfel, Every Stone a Sermon, 19. The second record stone is the capstone, which was placed April 6, 1892. See James E. Talmage, The House of the Lord: A Study of Holy Sanctuaries, Ancient and Modern (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1971), 126.

22. “Items Recovered,” 7.

23. Talmage, House of the Lord, 148.

24. “Items Recovered,” 7.

25. “Items Recovered,” 7.

26. Talmage, House of the Lord, 157.

27. See Wadsworth, Set in Stone, 289; see also photograph 726.14, page 63, photo archives, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City.

28. Robert W. Edwards, telephone conversation with author, November 3, 1993.

29. [Hamilton], Salt Lake Temple, 115.

30. [Hamilton], Salt Lake Temple, 64.

31. [Hamilton], Salt Lake Temple, 57.

32. Wallace A. Raynor, telephone conversation with author, October 27, 1993; Peter Danzig, interview with author, March 6, 1970, Provo, Utah.

33. A buttress projects from a structure, such as a wall, and supports it. On the temple, the buttresses are made of stone.

34. [Hamilton], Salt Lake Temple, 64, 70.

35. Truman O. Angell Journal, May 31, 1867, LDS Church Archives; italics added.

36. Salt Lake Temple Exhibit, Museum of Church History and Art, Salt Lake City, 1993.

37. Wadsworth, Set in Stone, 63.

38. Danzig, interview.

39. See photo in Raynor, “History of the Construction,” 171; Raynor, “History of the Construction,” 170.

40. Talmage, House of the Lord, 146–47.

41. A Journal History entry of June 25, 1875, pertaining to the new ZCMI building states: “Inside of the wall, at distances of only 12 feet apart, will be 18 inch square buttresses, in each of which will be two thimbles for ventilation registers, one row about two feet above the footing and the upper one about fifteen inches below the ceiling, to carry away everything in the shape of foul air, the flumes running clear to the roof.” Deseret Evening News, June 26, 1875, quoted in Martha Sonntag Bradley, ZCMI: America’s First Department Store (Salt Lake City: ZCMI, 1991), 192.

42. [Cannon], House of the Lord, 20. For a 1911 photograph of the fireplace, see Wadsworth, Set in Stone, 366.

43. Hacking, interview.

44. Raynor, “History of the Construction,” 21.

45. Valerie-Anne Giscard d’Estaing, The World Almanac Book of Inventions (New York: World Almanac Publications, 1985), 167.

46. Giscard d’Estaing, World Almanac Book of Inventions, 167.

47. Derek Birdsall and Carlo M. Cipolla, The Technology of Man (London: Wildwood House, 1980), 204.

48. Giscard d’Estaing, World Almanac Book of Inventions, 118–19.

49. Samuel Irenaeus Prime, The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, LL.D.: Inventor of the Electromagnetic Recording Telegraph (New York: Appleton, 1875), 442–43.

50. Giscard d’Estaing, World Almanac Book of Inventions, 120.

51. Young, in JD, 1:132, April 6, 1853.

52. Giscard d’Estaing, World Almanac Book of Inventions, 120.

53. Giscard d’Estaing, World Almanac Book of Inventions, 169–70.

54. Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830–1900 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1970), 228–29.

55. See [Hamilton], Salt Lake Temple, 74, 75, 78, 79.

56. Salt Lake Temple Architectural Drawings, LDS Church Archives; see also [Hamilton], Salt Lake Temple, 70.

57. Talmage’s statement that there were “two commodious elevators running in separate shafts of granite” might give rise to speculation that shafts were cut specifically to size for each elevator. Talmage, House of the Lord, 168. Such is not the case since the two elevators occupy only a portion of one large shaft.

58. Eugene Young, “Inside the New Mormon Temple,” Harper’s Weekly, May 27, 1893, 510. See also [Cannon], House of the Lord, 29.

59. James H. Anderson, “The Salt Lake Temple,” Contributor 14 (April 1893): 287.

60. Talmage, House of the Lord, 168.

61. Salt Lake Temple Architectural Drawings, LDS Church Archives.

62. Salt Lake Temple Architectural Drawings, LDS Church Archives.

63. Hacking, interview.

64. Birdsall and Cipolla, Technology of Man, 224.

65. Talmage, House of the Lord, 168.

66. Raynor, telephone conversation.

67. Danzig, interview.

68. Elevator plans from 1889, Salt Lake Temple Architectural Drawings, LDS Church Archives.

69. Edwards, telephone conversation.

70. Edwards, telephone conversation.

71. Deseret Evening News, August 16, 1873.

72. Photograph 726.14, page 19 (taken in 1887), photo archives, Utah State Historical Society. See also Ensign 23 (May 1993): 66.

73. Giscard d’Estaing, World Almanac Book of Inventions, 120, 170.

74. Kate B. Carter, comp., Development of Lighting Systems in Utah ([Salt Lake City]: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1944), 458, 476.

75. Thomas G. Alexander and James B. Allen, Mormons and Gentiles: A History of Salt Lake City, The Western Urban History Series, vol. 5 (Boulder, Colo.: Pruett Publishing, 1984), 107.

76. Furring is generally wood or metal mounted on a wall to provide a level surface or an airspace. Lath, in this case pieces of wood, is placed on the furring. Then plastering is spread over the lath, creating a smooth surface.

77. Hacking, interview.

78. For plot plan and photographs of these buildings, see Anderson, “The Salt Lake Temple,” 245, 283, 286.

79. Dean C. Jesse, ed., Letters of Brigham Young to His Sons (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1974), 264.

80. Holzapfel, Every Stone a Sermon, 34.

81Edwards, telephone conversation.

82. A knife switch consists of four pieces of metal mounted on a plate. Two pieces are mounted above the other two and can be brought into contact with the lower two.

83. [Hamilton], Salt Lake Temple, 116.

84. Young, “Inside the New Mormon Temple,” 510.

85. [Cannon], House of the Lord, 15.

86. [Cannon], House of the Lord, 15.

87. Salt Lake Temple Exhibit, Museum of Church History and Art, 1993.

88. Salt Lake Temple Exhibit, Museum of Church History and Art, 1993.

89A dynamo, or dynamoelectric machine, is a generator, changing mechanical energy into electrical energy..

90. Anderson, “Salt Lake Temple,” 283.

91. Temple Souvenir Album, 29.

92. Hacking, interview.

93. A transom is a horizontal crossbar in a window, over a door, or between a door and a window above it.

94. Deseret News, January 1, 1893, 5.

95. [Cannon], House of the Lord, 21.

96. Utah Maps II: Urban Salt Lake County, Utah, 1884–1916 in Fire Insurance Maps of Utah, 1884–1950 (Pelham, N.Y.: [Sanborn Map, 1950]), 1898, microfilm (hereafter cited as Sanborn Maps).

97. A newel is the post a spiral staircase wraps around or the post at the bottom or on a landing of a straight staircase.

98. Hacking, interview.

99. Talmage, House of the Lord, 153–54.

100. Talmage, House of the Lord, 154 n. 1.

101. Sanborn Maps, 1911.

102. Talmage, House of the Lord, 173–74.

103. Danzig, interview.

104. Danzig, interview.

Paul C. Richards

BYU Studies Publications