ST. GEORGE TEMPLE

In the old days of construction, buildings took longer to build, materials were often hand made, and the art of mass production was no where near being perfected. Unfortunately the world grew up and now days entire buildings can be designed and built in under 3 to 6 months. As a construction superintendent every week I sit in meetings where the primary theme is how can we build faster, not compromise safety, and build cheaper.
The church also has adopted modern construction techniques where instead of designing a unique temple for each city it chooses to build in, they instead use the same basic design, and mass produce the same temple over and over again. The church even defends this system of mass producing temples by stating that the work needed to be done inside the temple is what is most important, and with their mass production approach and smaller standard design, they can build fast and maintain temples more efficiently while increasing the amount of work done on behalf of the dead
Fortunately most of the older temples are still maintained by the church, and one of my favorites is the St. George Temple. The official birth of the St. George Temple started on April 5, 1871 when Brigham Young wrote to Erastus Snow, officially giving the green light for the designing of plans for the temple.
The first step in building the temple was to determine a building site in which to build the temple. Rumor states that Moroni originally dedicated the site for the temple, but the closest research I could find was from a statement published by David Henry Cannon Jr. 1942
David Henry Cannon Jr. Statement: I am 82 years old tomorrow. I am the only living person, so far as I know, who heard and saw what I am about to relate. At the time of which we shall speak, I was a lad of 11 years, all-seeing and all-hearing, and drove a team hitched to a scraper.
Brother Brigham Young had written to Robert Gardner, president of the stake high council. In this letter he expressed a wish that a temple be built in St. George. Also, the Brother Gardner select a few leading brethren, and, as a group, visit sites where it might be best to build the Temple. This they did. Visiting spots each thought might be best. They could not agree, and so informed President Young.
President Young, arriving later, somewhat impatiently chided them, and at the same time asked them to get into their wagons, or whatever else they had, and with him find a location. To the south they finally stopped. "But, Brother Young," protested the men, "This land is boggy. After a storm, and for several months of the year, no one can drive across the land without horses and wagons sinking way down. There is no place to build a foundation." "We will make a foundation," said President Young.
Later on while plowing and scraping where the foundation was to be, my horse's leg broke through the ground into a spring of water. The brethren then wanted to move the foundation line 12 feet to the south, so that the spring of water would be on the outside of the Temple. "Not so," replied President Young. "We will wall it up and leave it here for some future use, but we cannot move the foundation. This spot was dedicated by the Nephites. They could not build it, but we can and will build it for them." ----------- David Henry Cannon Jr.
The official dedication of the Temple site took place on November 9, 1871. A Swiss band from Santa Clara played music for the occasion and President George A. Smith offered the dedicatory prayer. After the prayer the congregation then sang a hymn "Spirit of God like a fire is burning" after which Brigham Young standing on a chair conducted the Hosanna Shout.
Truman O. Angell who worked as a carpenter on the Kirtland and Nauvoo Temples was selected by Brigham as the architect for the St. George Temple. Brigham gave instruction to Truman to model the temple after the Kirtland and Nauvoo temples, which he did but also added a castellated Gothic style appearance that he had derived from serving a church architecture mission to Europe in 1856. (See http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/TAngell.html for the Autobiography of Truman Angell)
Teams of horses pulling scrapers started the excavation work. At 12 feet below grade level the workers ran into soft limestone on the north side and mud, water, and sinkholes in gypsum formations on the other 3 sides. The true problem was that they were digging for a foundation directly over a spring. The solution was to design a drainage network that would capture the spring water and route it to another location. The exact same drainage system is in place to this day.
Since the site, didn't furnish a solid foundation, it was necessary to make a firm foundation on which to build. Once the excavation was completed, they filled in the footing and a portion of the bottom layer using volcanic rock quarried from a black ridge west of St. George. In order to set the volcanic rock in place the workers were creative and filled a cannon barrel full of lead, constructed a 30 ft tower and would use horses to pull the cannon up to full height and then release the cannon to pile drive the rocks down below.



At ground level the crews switched from volcanic rock to red sandstone that was quarried from the hill north of St. George. The sandstone brick work went fast and on April 1, 1874 a large group assembled on the Temple Block for a solemn occasion. On this occasion Brigham Young and others met to place a box of records, church publications, and and engraved plate within the southeast corner wall of the Temple. Items that were deposited were: Bible, D&C, Book of Mormon, Spencers Letters, Voice of Warning, 3 Sermons to Polygamy, Plural Marriage, Laws of Utah, Deseret News, and other various writings.
The volcanic rock for the temple came from a quarry that is located by the airport today. Sunny and her mom and I hiked this trail and found the leftovers from the volcanic rock that they left behind. We hauled some rock out of there, and wouldn't you know it when we got back to the car, Sunny not knowing had picked a rock that had drill marks in it from when the original workers were cutting in to the rock. What a great find for us.
The red sandstone quarry is a bit of a mystery. The old people tell me that the quarry is over by the Dixie Red Hills golf course. The internet says that it is where St. George Blvd meets the red cliffs about a mile or so east of the 15 Freeway. If someone truly knows they aren't saying and from my best guess it is over by the golf course. Sunny and I hiked back in there and took some samples of the red sandstone back to California with us. We did get alot of looks from people when they saw us hiking the rocks across the course back to the truck.

The lumber for the temple came from the Pine Valley Mountains, the buckskin mountains in the Kaibab Forest, but most of it came from Mt. Trumbull in Northern Arizona about 80 miles from St. George.
Overall it took 17,000 tons of rocks, one million feet of lumber, 92 interior doors, 6 exterior doors, 50 round windows, 8 extra long windows, 58 long windows, for a combined cost of $800,000.00 to build the St. George Temple.


Letter from Brigham Young to my 3rd Great Grandfather WilliamBringhurst
For me personally, I took great satisfaction that my 3rd Great Grandfather who was in charge of the Provo Manufacturing Company owned by Brigham Young supplied the carpet for the St. George Temple.
Eventually the temple was finished and on January 1, 1877 Brigham Young presiding, Wilford Woodruff dedicated the temple. Maybe at another point in time I will write a blog that goes into all of the experiences that has taken place inside the temple. As for now I would just like to show my appreciation for the countless amounts of hours that the early saints dedicated into the building of the St. George Temple by writing down some of the construction methods that went into building the magnificent structure.

SWORD OF LABAN

SWORD OF LABAN - A few years back I decided more out of curiosity to research the Sword of Laban. I ran across some interesting research and thought I would share it with the rest of the blogging community. As a disclaimer I only display this information as something to think about and don't necessarily believe it to be absolute fact. Some of the information is based on assumption and pure guessing. Read and believe at your own risk.
Point 1: The sword of Laban is referenced through out the Book of Mormon and was brought by Nephi to the Americas.
1 Nephi 4: 18-19 Therefore I did obey the voice of the Spirit, and took Laban by the hair of the head, and I smote off his head with his own sword.
2 Nephi 5:14 And, I Nephi did take the sword of Laban, and after the manner of it did make many swords, lest by any means the people who were now called Lamanites should come upon and destroy us.....
Jacob 1:10-12 The people having loved Nephi exceedingly, he having been a great protector for them, having wielded the sword of Laban in their defence, and having labored in all his days for their welfare........
Words of Mormon 1:13 And it came to pass also that the armies of the Lamanites came down out of the land of Nephi, to battle against his people. But behold, king Benjamin gathered together his armies, and he did stand against them; and he did fight with the strength of his own arm, with the sword of Laban.
Point 2: The 3 witnesses were given the opportunity to see the sword of Laban.
D&C Section 17:1-2 Behold, I say unto you, that you must rely upon my word, which if you do with full purpose of heart, you shall have a view of the plates, and also of the breastplate, the sword of Laban, the Urim and Thummim................
Point 3: Who was Laban that he should posses such a fine sword? Answer: According to Hugh Nibley, Laban was of noble descent, of the same ancestry as Lehi himself and of a more direct line to the patriarch Joseph. For the genealogy was kept in his family (1 Nephi 5:16) and the archives were housed at his official residence.
Point 4: Why did Nephi bring the sword of Laban with him to the promise land? Answer: To be honest, Nephi and his brothers at the time were more concerned with attaining the plates of Brass. Which again begs the question why would Laban have ownership of them. More important who are the author or authors of the plates of Brass? Did the book of Lehi publish his full genealogy that was supposedly on the plates of Brass? Was the Sword of Laban and the Plates of Brass passed down from generation to generation as items commonly were according to the rules of Birthrights? Nephi as humble as he was, probably learned of the importance of the sword either through inspiration, divine communication, Zoram told him, or he took a liking to the sword and decided to keep it for his own personal weapon.
Point 5: Swords were items of importance in Old Testament times. Methuselah slew myraids of demons with a "wonderful sword", Abraham is said to have inherited Methuselah's sword. Esau thus received it , as a heirloom from Isaac since he was the first born. This sword passed to Jacob when he purchased the birth-right". This miraculous sword of Methuselah, described as being "more precious than money." Eventually Jacob "bequeathed it to his favorite son Joseph."
Point 6: If the legend is true that Abraham had inherited Methuselah's sword (which isn't a hard concept to grasp, but hard to prove) then it's possible that the sword would have been passed down through the generations to Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and eventually Laban. That being true, why would Laban be allowed to be in possession of such a sacred sword. Perhaps that is why the book of Mormon supplied us with the account of Omni maintaining the Gold Plates as well as the Sword of Laban I am assuming.
1 Behold, it came to pass that I, Omni, being commanded by my father, Jarom, that I should write somewhat upon these plates, to preserve our genealogy--
2 Wherefore, in my days, I would that ye should know that I fought much with the sword to preserve my people, the Nephites, from falling into the hands of their enemies, the Lamanites. But behold, I of myself am a wicked man, and I have not kept the statutes and the commandments of the Lord as I ought to have done.
Point 7: If there is a connection from the sword of Laban from Nephi to Methuselah, then it is only important to know where Methuselah attained the sword. Noah who was the grandson of Methuselah received the sword shortly before Methsuselah died, thus preserving the sword from the great flood, but Methuselah I am assuming received the sword from his father Enoch, who would have received it from Jared, who would have received it from Mahalael, who received it from Kenan, who received it from Enos, who received it from Seth, who would have received it from Adam.
Point 8: The last known information comes from Brigham Young as stated in the Journal of Discourses.
Brigham Young, on June 17, 1877, related the following: "I lived right in the country where the plates were found from which the Book of Mormon was translated, and I know a great many things pertaining to that country. I believe I will take the liberty to tell you of another circumstance that will be as marvelous as anything can be. This is an incident in the life of Oliver Cowdery, that he did not take the liberty of telling such things in meeting as I take.
"I tell these things to you, and I have a motive for doing so. I want to carry them to the ears of my brethren and sisters, and to the children also, that they may grow to an understanding of some things that seem to be entirely hidden from the human family. Oliver Cowdery went with the Prophet Joseph when he deposited these plates. Joseph did not translate all of the plates; there was a portion of them sealed, which you can learn from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. When Joseph got the plates, the angel instructed him to carry them back to the Hill Cumorah, which he did.
"Oliver says that when Joseph and Oliver went there, the hill opened, and they walked into a cave, in which there was a large and spacious room. He says he did not think, at the time, whether they had the light of the sun or artificial light, but that it was just as light as day. They laid the plates on a table; it was a large table that stood in the room. Under this table there was a pile of plates as much as two feet high, and there were altogether in this room more plates than probably many wagon loads; they were piled up in corners and along the walls.
"The first time they went there the SWORD OF LABAN hung upon the wall; but when they went again it had been taken down and laid upon the table across the gold plates; it was unsheathed, and on it was written these words: 'This sword will never be sheathed again until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and his Christ." I tell you this is coming not only from Oliver Cowdery, but others who were familiar with it, and who understood it... I take the liberty of referring to those things so they will not be forgotten and lost." (19 Journal of Discourses 38)
Conclusion: The Sword of Laban may very well be the Sword of Adam, it may very well be not. Regardless their is a special meaning to the Sword of Laban, and how special would it be if the sword had been passed through the generations from Adam to Joseph Smith.
To emphasize the importance of swords, there is only one place where you can see Joseph Smith's sword that he wore as General of the Nauvoo Legion. That place is in the Nauvoo Temple. Most people don't know about it and the old people working there only take you to where it is hanging on the wall in the recorders office when you ask them nicely.
Overall, I am not saying I believe all of this, I am just saying it would be nice if it is true. I am interested in anyone's comments about this posting on the Sword of Laban.

The Best Wife Ever

I thought for my first blog I would send out a loving shout out to my wonderful wife Sunny. She is pretty, smart, and fun. What a perfect combination. Someday our love will grow older and stronger than the tree shown in this picture. I wish everyone's wife could be as eternally great as mine.......

I love you Sunny.