Page:History of Utah.djvu/345

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ing its construction, the saints in every part of the world were urged to self-denial, and it was voted to dispense with the use of tea, coffee, snuff, and tobacco, the sums thus saved to be also used for the building of the temple, which was to stand on the same block. The latter was to be built of stone quarried in the mountains, and a railroad from temple block to the quarry was chartered for the conveyance of building material.

Adjoining the tabernacle was the bowery, 100 by 60 feet, made of posts and boarding, completed three or four years later, and large enough to contain 8,000 people, a temporary structure having been erected in 1848. Among other buildings may be mentioned the tithing office, the social hall, and the seventies' hall of science. Several bridges were also built, which were paid for by the one per centum property tax.^^

Thus at the western base of the Wasatch Moun- tains was laid out the city of Great Salt Lake, its buildings being distributed over a greater area than that on which stood, in 1850, the commercial metrop- olis of the United States. ^^ Its site was on a slope, barely perceptible except toward the north, where it was enclosed by the Wasatch Range and a spur trend- ing to the westward. Resting on the eastern bank of the Jordan, it was watered by several creeks; a canal, twelve miles long, crossing three streams, being pro- posed to convey the waters of the Big Cottonwood to the farm-lands south of the city; and through each street flowed a rivulet of pure water, which was thence diverted into the garden plats.

On the 24th of July, 1849, was held the second anniversary of the arrival of the pioneers.^^ At day-

" Resolved that a tax of one per ct per annum be assessed on property to repair public highways. Ilhft. B. Young, MS., 1849, 5.

^^ Kaiie'.'i The Mo/ mom, 74; New York Tribune, Oct. 7, 1849.

■■'"The 4th and 24th of July were at first celebrated together, but on t^e latter date because bread and vegetables were more plentiful at the end of this month than at the beginning. Utah Early Record