On Wednesday we saw a continuation from a week ago of the installation of the exterior panels of the temple. As a tribute to Brigham City and the pioneers, living peach trees will be planted in the grounds. The precast concrete panels have a peach blossom motif that will also be continued for the interior design, etched into the windows, stained glass, and other artwork. You can see the peach blossom motif on the walls in the photographs (click to enlarge).

Brigham City History

The Co-op (continued)

Not all Co-op enterprises were in Brigham City. For example, the dairy was established in Collinston, about 20 miles north of Brigham City. Christian Hansen managed the dairy. His wife Elizabeth, who had made cheese in her native Denmark, supervised the dairy’s cheese production. They asked farmers to give the dairy use of their cows in the summertime in return for cheese and butter. Between 300 and 700 cows were left there each summer.

Brigham City’s Pioneer Days celebration in 1875 featured displays from 29 cooperative departments. The Brigham City Co-op became a model for other Mormon settlements to follow.

The Co-op maintained a high level of success until the late 1870s when a series of disasters occurred. Some of the problems were crop failures due to drought and grasshoppers, destruction of the woolen mill by fire and loss of the saw mill to the federal government. In 1878 a federal tax was levied on local currency used for trade, and $10,200 had to be borrowed to pay the assessment.

The combined losses were so great that after 1878 only the mercantile business remained in operation. In 1884 the federal government returned some of the tax money, and the new Brigham City Merchantile and Manufacturing store was built and opened in 1891. It continued to operate until the Co-op closed down in 1895. (From: Brighamcity.utah.gov)

Photo Credit: Jill Willoughby

It has been almost two weeks since we last had photographs of the Brigham City Temple. The news last time was the beginnings of the west spire. But just today the walls of the temple were being attached to the frame. Jill tells me that yesterday they were not in place.

I didn’t know that the walls were prefabricated offsite. Anyway, enjoy the photographs. I expect that the next visit will show an even more startling transformation.

Brigham City History

The Co-op

In 1865, Lorenzo Snow asked all the Brigham City merchants to unite their businesses for the common interest of the community. The purpose was to provide jobs for everyone and to make the people self-sustaining. Most supported the request, and on December 7, 1865, the cooperative enterprise was formed.

Lorenzo Snow, Samuel Smith, William Thomas and Alvin Nichols were the first stockholders. Stock was sold at $5 a share, and produce and labor as well as cash, were accepted. The first business was a mercantile store. When the store had made enough money, the association established its first industry, a tannery.

To comply with the Territorial Incorporation Act of 1870, the cooperative was incorporated December 15, 1870 and became the Brigham City Merchantile and Manufacturing Association, commonly known as the Brigham City Co-op. Almost every resident of the community was involved in some way.

The cooperative grew quickly during the 1870s adding such departments as a woolen factory, planing mill, boot and shoe shop, farms, harness shop, carpentry department, butchery, saw mill, adobe and brick yards, and a dairy. (From: Brighamcity.utah.gov)

Photo Credit: Jill Willoughby

Take a look at the Brigham City Temple construction two weeks ago and compare it with today. There is quite a difference as the east spire girders clearly show. It is exciting to see the progress towards the anticipated completion of the temple in 2012. Click on the images to enlarge.

The Temple Spires

I like the closeup photograph of the spire girders. Jill, that is a fantastic shot. The temple will have two spires and will face east toward the tabernacle. I have never followed the construction of a temple so closely before. It is great to see it gradually take shape.

The Tabernacle Spires

For a 150 years the lighted spire of the tabernacle has been visible to travelers along I-15 or coming down Sardine Canyon. But the tabernacle really has 17 spires for the large main spire is accented by sixteen much smaller spires topping brick buttresses. The temple’s angel Moroni will reach several feet higher than the highest point of the tabernacle spire.

The man you can see at the bottom right of the Tabernacle photograph below told Jill that he is obsessed with the new temple. He says he walks down every day to see the construction. He lives two blocks away.

The Spires

I really like this shot of the old and the new spires.

Brigham City History

Colonization (continued)

Small businesses established during the 1850s included a cabinet shop, a water-powered saw mill, a tanyard and a grist mill built in 1855-57 to produce flour and meal. The Box Elder County Courthouse, begun in 1855 and completed in 1857, was used for city and county business, theatrical productions, religious meetings and school.

Children attended school only when there was no farm work to be done, so most of them had little schooling. Many were taught to read and write by their parents or older siblings.

Very young children were given important responsiblities. As soon as Minnie Lund and her sister were large enough to hold an axe, they chopped all the wood, milked sixteen cows morning and night, and cleaned stables. When she was nine, she was sent out on the hillside to herd the family’s sheep. She taught herself to crochet lace, to braid straw, and to make straw hats for her family and friends. Before her twelfth birthday, she went to Honeyville to work for an aunt. By the time she returned home, her father had four polygamous wives, and she went from one to the other to assist with house and farm work. At age 14 she cared for a lady who had just given birth. She said, “I never had any childhood. It was work, work, work.” (From: Brighamcity.utah.gov)

Photo Credit: Jill Willoughby

Yesterday’s visit to the Brigham City Temple construction site showed a continuation of building and the use of several cranes. Similar to last week, the most visible sign of construction is the addition of more girders. As the temple has gained in height it appears that more cranes are needed, as can be seen in the photographs. Click on the images to enlarge.

Construction Cranes

The Tabernacle

The date stone of the Tabernacle has the year 1876 in Roman numerals engraved upon it. Construction of the Tabernacle was begun before this year but 1876 was when work resumed in earnest. If there is some other signification to the date I do not know it.

Brigham City History

Colonization (continued)

By the summer of 1855 Lorenzo Snow, his family, and all those he had chosen to bring with him had arrived. This influx of settlers transformed the small settlement to a sizeable town which was renamed Brigham City in honor of Brigham Young.

Apostle Snow became the first political and religious leader of the community. He had the town surveyed and familes selected lots and built permanent homes. The Snow family home became the stopping place for Brigham Young and his company of tourists whenever he visited the northern settlements. The Snow family often entertained as many as forty guests at once.

The men began clearing the land, tilling the soil, planting crops, and driving away grasshoppers “when those insects came in swarms like large clouds hiding the sun and devouring crops.” They also dug ditches, built roads and worked on public buildings. (From: Brighamcity.utah.gov)

Photo Credit: Jill Willoughby

It has been a week since the last photographs of the temple. The most visible sign of construction is the addition of more girders. In the third photograph, the height of the crane stands out — I wonder if it will be hoisting the statue of the Angel Moroni to its place atop the temple? In the last photograph in this series, you can also see the Tabernacle. Click on the images to enlarge.

Brigham City History

Colonization

In October of 1853, Mormon Church President Brigham Young gave Apostle Lorenzo Snow a special assignment. He was to choose 50 families to take with him to live in Box Elder. There he would organize a system of cooperative living in which the people would produce everything they consumed. Snow selected tradesmen with various skills important to the development of a pioneer community.

The newcomers began arriving in the spring of 1854 and joined the settlers already living near Box Elder Creek. Many of those who came in 1855 spent their first winter in dugouts. The men dug cellars in the ground and covered them with roofs made of poles, willows and dirt. Small openings were left in the makeshift roofs for light and for fireplace chimneys. These dugouts provided immediate shelter until more permanent log houses could be built over the cellars.

The only meat eaten that winter came from animals that had frozen or starved to death. In the early spring, people found sego lilies and a few wild tomatoes. For two months many had nothing to else to eat. Those fortunate enough to have a little flour made a thickening to put over the boiled segoes. Others ate them raw.

A Salt Lake City resident sent the Box Elder settlers a cow to add milk to their sparce diet. The cow ate a poisonous weed and died, and the people didn’t know what to do. They were starved for meat, but afraid to eat it because of the poison. Jensine Christensen fried a piece and fed it to her cat. the next day the cat was feeling fine so the people divided the meat, cooked it, and enjoyed it immensely. (From: Brighamcity.utah.gov)

Photo Credit: Jill Willoughby

Since last week, the temple has visible signs of more construction. The floors, instead of being just a framework of girders, now look like one could walk on them without falling through. In the last photograph in this series, you can also see the renowned Brigham City Tabernacle. Main Street runs between the two buildings. Click on the images to enlarge.

Brigham City History

Early Settlement

William Davis was the first white man to make his home in Shoshone Indian country near Box Elder Creek. He came in 1850 to explore the area, and in March 1851 he returned to stay. He brought his family and a few friends with him and the small group set to work building a fort for winter shelter and protection from Indian attacks. Eight families spent that winter in the crudely-constructed fort which soon became infested with insects. In the spring of 1852 they moved out of the fort onto farm plots.

By 1853, 24 Mormon immigrants were living along Box Elder Creek. Sarah Peters, who moved as a child to the Box Elder settlement in the spring of 1853, remembered the hostility of the Indians. One night when Sarah’s mother was home alone, she heard someone trying to open the door. As she approached, an Indian shoved his arm through the doorway. Pushing a table against the door, she grabbed a butcher knife and ran the back edge of it along the arm. The intruder withdrew his arm and then left the premises as the woman screamed for her husband, even though she knew he was nowhere near the home.

As Indian threats continued, the settlers were instructed to form a second fort for protection. They started building it in July of 1853. Individual houses were joined close together to form a block about an acre square. Openings at the north and south ends had to be guarded. (From: Brighamcity.utah.gov)

Photo Credit: Jill Willoughby

In just a week, since our last visit, the Brigham City Utah Temple has gained another floor. In the last photograph in this series, you can see where the Brigham City Tabernacle stands in relation to the temple. Although you cannot see it in the photograph, Main Street runs between the two buildings.

A plaque on Main Street reads:

BOX ELDER TABERNACLE – BUILT 1867-1890 Pioneer settlers used stone and wood from nearby mountains and their finest craftsmanship to built this place of worship. It was finished and dedicated in 1890. Six years later in 1896, it was gutted by fire and had to be rebuilt. The building was finished and rededicated in 1897.

Click on the images to enlarge.

Photo Credit: Jill Willoughby