Temple Building

When Brigham reached Utah, he immediately surveyed the site for the Salt Lake Temple. But the Saints struggled to survive in their new land for several years before they were actually able to begin the temple. The ground was dedicated on February 14, 1853, six years after the pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley.


Brigham knew exactly how Heavenly Father wanted the 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.”

Temples

When Brigham reached Utah, he immediately surveyed the site for the Salt Lake Temple. But the Saints struggled to survive in their new land for several years before they were actually able to begin the temple. The ground was dedicated on February 14, 1853, six years after the pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley.


Brigham knew exactly how Heavenly Father wanted the 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.”

Temple Work

"I have built myself a house, and the most of you have done the same, and now, shall we not build the Lord a house?" Brigham Young



Brigham Young loved temple work. During the last days the Saints were in Nauvoo, he guided them to finish the temple and perform the ordinances that Heavenly Father had revealed to Joseph Smith. Brigham was anxious to see that the blessings of the temple were received by all the Saints in Nauvoo. “I have given myself up entirely to the work of the Lord in the Temple night and day, not taking more than four hours sleep upon an average, per day, and going home but once a week.”

Sailing

Brigham built a boat to sail on the Great Salt Lake. He named it “Timely Gull.” The paddle wheel was powered by horses walking on a treadmill. The Young family sailed the boat only a few times, and then it was dashed to pieces by a storm.

Swimming

There was even a swimming pool behind the schoolhouse that was twenty feet square and five feet deep for them to play in. The pool was also used as a baptismal font. For the girls, bathing suits were made out of linsey dresses (plain cotton and wool) with pantalettes (long pants worn under their dresses) for the girls. The boys wore shirts and overalls. Brigham made them a bath house out of an old band wagon where they could change their clothes. It had benches on each side and a roof on top.


Sometimes Brigham and the children liked to soak in a warm spring about a mile from the house. He also loved to take visitors, along with a few of his children, to the Great Salt Lake. It took a full day to go to the beach and back because it was twenty miles away. Everyone changed their clothes behind a huge black rock – boys on one side and girls on the other. Swimming in the lake was a fun experience because the salty water held them up. They could float or roll in the water without sinking.

Physical Activites for Children

Brigham Young wanted his children to have all the opportunities for physical growth, as well as educational advantages. He remembered his own childhood of hard work and sadness after his mother died, and he wanted things to be better for his children.


Brigham built a gym for his family on the porch at the back of the Lion House that ran the full length of the building. There were ladders and bars to climb, jumping ropes, hoops, roller skates, wooden swords, swings, barbells, and big balls to play with. Teachers came to train the children in the use of the equipment, as well as dancing. The gym was lots of fun and helped the children develop confidence in their physical abilities as well as strong bodies.

"Become the Best that you can be."

Brigham took time for his children. His daughter Clarissa Young Spencer said of her father, “No child ever loved, revered, and cherished a father more than I did mine.” Another daughter, Susa Young Gates said he was “an ideal father. Kind to a fault, tender, thoughtful, just and firm . . . None of us feared him; all of us adored him.”


Brigham Young wrote to his sons often when they grew up and went away to school. He counseled them to keep the spirit of the Lord with them always. “Cultivate this spirit and you will find that it shall be a wall of fire around you, and your glory in the midst of you.”