Remarks by Levi Edgar Young

This great gathering of people is a lesson to me in faith. You have come up to conference to give your time in listening to the principles of life and salvation. From all parts of the state and all the West, you congregate twice a year on this Temple Block with the spirit of worship in your hearts. What a wonderful thing it is to go to the "holy altar of God and pay your devotions." In ancient days, the Jews went to their temples to worship God, and in the days of Christ, his followers came together to give unto each other the "light of the Spirit." Today this Temple Block has become a gathering place for the worship of the Most High God. To me the place is very sacred. Here we have the temple, which is the symbol of eternal life, for therein many hundreds of God's children are being directed to eternal truth. It took many years to build the temple. In fact, it was erected by a people who were compelled to toil and learn life's meaning by the anguish of their souls. The people who created that holy temple did so by work and faith, and they knew full well that work with faith in Christ Jesus would accomplish anything. That building is the symbol of strength ; it is the expression of the ideals of a ¶

great people who are building and working with their eyes lifted to God. It should always inspire us to great ideals. ¶

Then think of the tabernacle. Do you know something of its history? It was built before the railroad came to our doors. It, too, is an expression of great ideals and hard work. You assemble there to hear God's word ; you go there with the spirit of reverence and worship. ¶

The tabernacle is indicative of the strength of character and religious dreams of the Latter-day Saints. The only building of its style in the world, stands out as unique in the history of architecture. While its massiveness suggests a people strong in spirit, conviction, and purpose, its lines indicate a splendid adaptation of scientific principles in architecture. The tabernacle is a perfect ellipse, with focuses, which partly account for the good acoustics of the building. A plain, egg-shaped building, "studded with heavy entrance doors all the way 'round" there is no attempt at ornamentation of any kind, and yet the building is wonderful both on the exterior as well as in the interior, and is an example of the utilizing of the resources of the people for the purpose of elevating their intellectual and religious idealism. The tabernacle impresses one as a great, immense, irresistible force, "humanly .superhuman," an expression of sovereign intelligence. It is the acme of usefulness as a building; it is wonderfully artistic. It is as the great Ibsen has declared of all art, "an illuminjation of life." ¶

The pioneers who erected the Tabernacle were a high minded people. From the innermost depths of their souls, they gave their children a fine idealism of life and its meaning which they hold sacred today. Their ideals found expression in venerable and lofty institutions, and they contributed to the religious and intellectual, the ethical and civic life of the age. They madeihomes and turned the arid waste of the far West into beautiful private gardens- They built institutions of learning, and did much to improve the prevailing order of their day. They built houses of worship and fostered the drama and art, and out of that time of vitality and isocjial virility, they constructed their great tabernacle, a building that commands the respect of all people who see it. ¶

The tabernacle is one of the largest auditoriums in the world, and seats from six to eight thousand people. It is 250 feet long by 150 feet wide, and 80 feet in height- The self-supporting roof rests upon pillars or buttresses of red sandstone, which are from ten to twelve feet apart in the entire, circumference of the building. These buttresses support good wooden arches, which span 150 feet. The arches are of a lattice truss construction, and are held together with great wooden pegs and bindings of cowhide. On the interior one is impressed with the great vaulted ceiling, and "the vastness of the place grows upon one and inspires one with mingled feeling of solemnity and admiration." ¶

The immense roof, which is the principal portion of the buildELDER LEVI EDGAR YOUNG ¶

ing, rests upon forty-four piers of cut sandstone masonry, each nine feet from the outside to the inside of the building, three feet in thickness, and twenty feet in height. On each s)ide of the building are nine pillars in a straight line- From these an arch of forty-eight feet is sprung. Thirteen arches spring at each end from thirteen piers, which stand on a circle. The height from the floor to the ceiling, in the center of the building, is 70 feet. Between the ceiling and the roof, there is a space of nine feet. The roof is framed of lattice-arched bents, twelve feet from center to center, each arch converging and meeting at the highest given pdint of the main outside bents, where they are securely fastened with cowhide and wooden pegs. On the north and south sides are thirty spaces between the piers, where the windows, containing over 2,500 lights of glass, are placed. In twelve of the spaces are the doors opening outward, which affords ready egress from the building. There are four small doors in the west end of the building, and two large ones in the east end, leading to the gallery. ¶

Above the piers are over one million feet of timber; in the floor, 80,000 feet; in the joists, 100,000 feet; in the sleepers, 30,000 feet; in the doors, stand, benches, and other equipment, 290,000 feet ; in the aggregate 1,500,000 feet. The roof was originally covered with nearly 400,000 shingles, but these were replaced in 1900 by a metallic covering weighing many tons. ¶

Something now about the great organ. ¶

In the early sixties, Mr. Joseph Ridges was selected by President Brigham Young to build an organ in the tabernacle, and the idea was endorsed by other citizens, among whom were David O. Calder, Dariiel H. Wells, George A. Smith, Alexander C. Pyper, and Dr. J. M. Benedict. After submitting preliminary drafts to President Young and his counselors, Mr- Ridges began making arrangements for the construction of the instrument, and was assisted by his associates, Shure Olsen, Niels Johnson, Henry Taylor, Frank Woods, and others. Meetings were held with these men almost daily, and the reports of each man's work were listened to. While one was collecting various specimens of wood from the canyons of Utah, another was devising good tools to work the wood with, while still a third man was experimenting in making glue. So the preliminary work went on. Specimens of wood were sent by the colonists from all over Utah, and it was finally decided that the best wood was found in the hills around Parowan and in Pine Valley, more than 300 miles south of Salt 'Lake City. It was a fine grain of the white pine variety, free from knots and without much pitch or gum. For the large pipes, it was especially well adapted. ¶

The larger pipes, some of which measure thirty-two feet, required thousands of feet of timber, all of which was sawed on the ground where the trees were cut down. Over the long, lonely roads trudged the oxen day by day, hauling the heavy logs to Salt Lake City. At ¶

times there were as many as twenty large wagons, each with three yoke of oxen drawing its load. The roads were rough and dusty, and many streams had to be bridged, that the wagons could pass over without difficulty. In crossing one stream in southern Utah the logs were let down over the bank with ropes and the oxen driven some miles to find a ford, where they crossed and followed on down the bank to pick up the wagons and loads again. The timber was fjinally landed in Salt Lake City. Another important necessity for making the pipes was glue. This was made of hundreds of cattle hides as well as buffalo skins, by boiling the strips in large pots over fires. ¶

The organ was begun in January, 1866. About one hundred men were employed constantly in its construction, and it was dedicated in October, 1867. ¶

Just outside this building — the Assembly Hall — is the Gull Monument. It is one of the most beautiful specimens of sculpture ever executed in America- The sculptor was Mahonri Young, a grandson of President Brigham Young. Critics of art have pronounced it a distinct contribution to the world's sculpture. It commemorates the saving of the wheat fields in the spring of 1848 by the gulls. Have you ever carefully studied the bronze tablets on the four sides of the base ? I call your attention to; the one on the south in particular. It shows how the woman, the mother remaining true to her work, and expressing her instincts is looking up to the sky with sublime faith on her face. The gulls are wending their way over the fields from the Great Salt Lake, and are to pounce on the crickets, destroy them, and thus save the crops. The mother's look is one of sublime trust that all will be well. She is the mother, the pioneer mother, who over unknown trails has passed on to the new land with the joy of God's Spirit in her soul. The monument is the embodiment of an ideal, the family life of earlyday Utah. ¶

So, my brethren and sisters, this Temple Block is worthy of your coming- It is the symbol of God's holy place where he may be worshiped in spirit and in truth. To these grounds we must all bring the spirit of worship ; and then, as we leave them, to go our way in life, we will have a spirit of life ever-lasting; a soul full of light and happiness. To me the Temple Block is a symbol of beauty, tight, and life everlasting. ¶

A solo, "Within the sacred house," was sung by Walter A. Wallace. ¶