Temple to stand through the Millennium

Brigham knew exactly how Heavenly Father wanted the Salt Lake Temple to be built because he saw it in vision. “I scarcely ever say much about revelations or visions, but


. . . I . . .see it [the temple] as plainly as if it were in reality before me.”

The granite used to build the temple was taken from Little Cottonwood canyon, twenty miles away. At first the workers used oxen and wagons to pull the blocks of stone. But some of the granite blocks were so large that took four days to drag them to the temple site. Brigham started to dig a canal so the granite could come by boat. But before the canal was finished, the railroad came to Utah so a rail line was laid to the quarry. It was much easier to bring the rock by rail car to the temple site.
Brigham was very particular about the construction of the Salt Lake Temple. When he found that the workers had put small shavings of granite in between the blocks of stone, rather than cement, he made them take it all out and start again so the building would be strong. He said, “This Temple is to stand throughout the Millennium.”

Later, Brother Truman O. Angell, the architect, told Brigham that they had forgotten to leave room to put chimneys up to heat the building. Brigham thought for a minute and then said to him, “When the time comes to heat it, there will be a way provided!”6 When the temple was finished in 1893 (40 years after it was begun), central heating had been developed, and the temple didn’t need chimneys.