BYU Virtual Tours - Mormon Church History Video

The Kearns Building

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:00:00 +0000

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The Kearns Building was named after a former U.S. senator from Utah named Thomas Kearns (1862–1918). Kearns worked his way up from the low-labor position of “mucker” in the Park City mines, finally striking it rich in his Silver King mine. Active in politics, he ran a successful bid for the U.S. Senate. Aware of his lack of education, he once confessed, “As you know, I am no orator. I am but a plain, blunt business man. What I lack in oratory I will try to make up in action.”

East entrance to the Kearns Building.
David M. Whitchurch

Kearns was not reelected, failing to fi nd the political support he needed within the state. As a parting shot in 1905, he launched a bitter attack from the fl oor of the Senate against the LDS Church. Kearns had purchased the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper with his partner David Keith in 1901, and bitter anti-Mormon rhetoric filled the pages of the paper from 1905 until 1911, when the tone significantly mellowed. National magazines picked up on the Tribune charges and published scandalous articles about the Church during this same period. Publications in Britain also got in on the fray, making the first decade of the 1900's a difficult one for Church members because of their reputation in the eye of the general public.

The Kearns Building sits on the west side of Main Street, south of Temple Square.
David M. Whitchurch

Kearns’s large and ornate Salt Lake mansion, given to the state by his wife, eventually became the official residence of the governor of the state of Utah. In a tribute published by the Salt Lake Tribune at his death, Kearns was called “a man of great natural ability and force of character . . . large in stature and great in soul. . . . He loved Salt Lake and was proud of the fact that he had been an important factor in its upbuilding.”

Thomas Kearns became a wealthy mining executive and then a senator from Utah.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

The Silver King Mines plant used a gigantic flywheel, cables, and belts to haul ore out of the mine.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

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For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

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Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

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BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

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Deseret News Building

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 15:05:00 +0000

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The original Deseret News building sat facing South Temple Street,
where the Joseph Smith Memorial Building stands today.
Note the “Deseret Evening News” sign over the gate in front of the printing office.

Daughters of Utah Pioneers

The Deseret News is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Church first became involved in the newspaper business in June 1832, when W. W. Phelps published the Evening and Morning Star in Independence, Missouri.

Even after anti-Mormon mobs broke into the Phelps’s home and destroyed the press in 1833, the Church continued to publish various newspapers in Kirtland, Ohio, and Nauvoo, Illinois. Three years after the Saints arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, the first edition of the Deseret News came off the press on June 15, 1850. Nearly 150 years later, on May 28, 1997, the new Deseret News Building was dedicated in Salt Lake City. This nine-story, circular building is constructed to represent a newspaper.

The logo found at the top of the building is identical to the masthead in the daily newspaper, and the windows are mathematically designed to the exact measurements of the columns in the daily newspaper. In addition to the unique exterior, the interior contains the latest technology. Inspiration for the Deseret News came in 1846 as the Mormon pioneers were camped on the west bank of the Missouri River at Winter Quarters.

As Brigham Young was contemplating the Saints’ future in the West, he recognized the importance of maintaining contact with the outside world. In the spring of 1847, President Young requested that William W. Phelps purchase a press and then transport it to the Mormon settlement in the West.

Painting of Willard Richards inside the Pioneer Memorial Museum.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

Later that summer, Phelps borrowed sixty-one dollars from Alexander Badlam to purchase a Ramage press in Boston.

The new building for the Desert News is located one block south and one-half block east of the earlier building.
From pioneer days, circulation has increased to more than one hundred ﬁfty thousand readers every day.
The Saturday edition includes an additional section titled Church News,
which also circulates separately throughout the world.

David M. Whitchurch

Howard Egan, a future Pony Express agent, was designated to transport the press to the Salt Lake Valley in an oxen-pulled wagon. He arrived in August of 1849. Shortly thereafter, Brigham Young appointed Willard Richards as the first editor of the Deseret News. Then in June 1850, the first issue appeared, containing news that was both momentous and trivial.

Although only two hundred copies were produced in the first printing, Brother Richards envisioned a bright future for the newspaper, selecting the motto “Truth and Liberty.”

From 1854 to 1856 the Deseret News was published in the Tithing Office.
Utah State Historical Society

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

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Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

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For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

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This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

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Pioneer Memorial Museum - International Society, Daughters of Utah Pioneers

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:00:00 +0000

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The Pioneer Memorial Museum is a fascinating place

to explore Mormon Church Pioneer History

David M. Whitchurch

Built and maintained by the International Society, Daughters of Utah Pioneers (founded in 1901), this structure was built to preserve the history, artifacts, and landmarks of Utah pioneer ancestors.

There are hundreds of examples of beds, cribs, and chairs in the museum.

Multiple floors house the innumerable donated and collected artifacts.

The objects belonged to memorable Church figures as well as lesser known pioneers of the past.

John P. Starrs

This wagon was brought to Utah by Johnston’s Army in the late 1850s.

The running gear is original, but the top part was burned,

then later restored when placed in the museum.

John P. Starrs

One could spend from a half an hour (for a quick walk-through) to a full day or two (for an in-depth historical study) here.

Furniture from the home of President Heber C. Kimball

gives an idea of the comforts of home following the earliest pioneer times.

John P. Starrs

The Museum has been recognized as one of the world’s largest collections of nineteenth century pioneer artifacts. It contains Mormon memorabilia, period furniture, and photographs.

The Pioneer Memorial Museum displays clothing typical of early days in Salt Lake City.

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Carriages like this were common conveyances in Salt Lake City until the coming of the automobile.

David M. Whitchurch

The cane in the center with the knob at the end is believed to be the cane

Willard Richards used to ward off guns at the Carthage Jail doorway when Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed.

David M. Whitchurch

Brigham Young’s uniquely bent cane is also on display in the Museum

© by Intellectual Reserve Inc.

Construction commenced on October 17, 1947, one hundred years after the arrival of the first pioneers.

The architectural design is patterned after the historic Salt Lake Theatre

that was built several blocks to the southeast at 100 South State Street in 1861–62.

Brigham Young University

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

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Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

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A great way to spend Conference weekend....

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 15:40:00 +0000

Be sure to explore BYU Virtual Tours this weekend (when you're not watching Conference of course!)

Conference Center Tour

Historic Tabernacle

Salt Lake Temple

Joseph Smith Memorial Building

LDS Museum of Church History and Art

Temple Square Arch

Stick around and explore many more!

LDS Conference Center - photo by Robert Hall

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

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ZCMI

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:04:00 +0000

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Modern rendition of the signs that marked all the ZCMI stores.
David M. Whitchurch

The cast iron façade was eventually incorporated into the modern downtown mall located where ZCMI once stood.
Kathie and W. Jeffrey Marsh

Preserved on main street is the original cast-iron façade of Zion’s Cooperative Mercantile Institution, sometimes claimed to be the first department store in America (organized in March 1868). The store began as a response to price gouging in Salt Lake City. During the early pioneer days, basic commodities from the eastern United States were scarce and expensive because they had to be hauled by ox team from Missouri. Aware of this predicament, various Salt Lake merchants took advantage of the situation and asked exorbitant prices for their goods. At one time the price for a sack of sugar rose to one hundred dollars, and something had to be done about it.

President Brigham Young’s answer was to encourage the Saints to organize cooperatives. Some private store owners joined the cooperative movement, and some communities organized their cooperatives from scratch. Soon there were 146 Church sponsored branches of ZCMI throughout the territory, all offering the same merchandise for the same prices. Each ZCMI establishment had the standard “Holiness to the Lord” sign over the front door. The Saints benefited by lowering costs and having a trustworthy outlet to sell their goods.

For a time, most businesses owned by Church members became part of the ZCMI businesses,
numerous private store owners also joined Zion’s Cooperative Mercantile Institution.
Note the small ZCMI signs on each store.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

The large department-store ZCMI building on Main Street, located behind the façade, was constructed in three sections between 1876 and 1901. During the more than one hundred years following its institution,various wings were added as the cooperative expanded and modernized (modernizations included electricity, cash registers, and elevators).

Previously, coal oil lamps lit the building and money was dropped into black kettles, which were periodically gathered by clerks and taken into offi ces, where the money was counted and recorded. The old façade has been preserved and will be part of the rising City Creek Center. It is a beautiful historic landmark and reminder of the ingenuity and industry of the early Utah settlers.

A re-creation of the old ZCMI interior found in the Pioneer Memorial Museum, Daughters of Utah Pioneers.
David M. Whitchurch

In 2000 the Church sold all its ZCMI holdings to Meier and Frank, bringing an end to Church involvement in competitive retail trade.

Delivery wagons line up on Main Street in front of ZCMI.
C. R. Savage courtesy of Richard K. Winters

Homesite of Jedediah M. Grant

The lot where the south end of the ZCMI façade now stands was the homestead of Jedediah and Rachel Grant. Jedediah M. Grant was the first mayor of Salt Lake City and served in the First Presidency as Second Counselor to President Brigham Young from 1854 to 1856. When Jedediah
died in 1856 at the age of forty, Rachel was left to raise their son, Heber, who was only ten days old. Rachel never remarried, and President Young took a special interest in the young, fatherless
son of his counselor and friend.

Heber was a frequent guest at the Lion House, just a halfblock northeast of the Grant homestead at the intersection of Main Street and South Temple. “I was almost as familiar in the homes of Brigham Young as I was in the home of my mother,” Heber explained. “I knelt down time and time again in his home in the Lion House at family prayers, as a child and as a young man.

I bear witness that as a little child, upon more than one occasion, because of the inspiration of the Lord to Brigham Young while he was supplicating God for guidance, I have lifted my head, turned and looked at the place where Brigham Young was praying, to see if the Lord was not there."

Home where President Heber J. Grant lived as a boy located near where the ZCMI façade now stands.
L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University

Heber J. Grant was the first President of the Church born in Utah. He liked to share stories from his youth about things that occurred on or near this lot. He presided over the Church from 1918 to 1945, which included the years of the Great Depression and World War II. He used examples from his life about overcoming poverty to inspire the Saints to climb out of despair and the difficult conditions that surrounded them.

“My mother was keeping boarders at the time for a living,” he explained to the Saints, in reference to his youth, “and I shined their boots until I saved a dollar, which I invested in a base ball. I spent hours and hours throwing the ball at a neighbor’s barn (Edwin D. Woolley’s,) which caused him to refer to me as the laziest boy in the Thirteenth Ward. Often my arm would ache so that I could scarcely go to sleep at night. But I kept on practicing, and finally succeeded in getting into the second nine of our club. Subsequently I joined a better club, and eventually played in the nine that won the championship of the Territory. Having thus made good my promise to myself, I retired from the base ball arena.”

Heber J. Grant (center) with his Red Stocking Baseball teammates, who were Utah Territorial Champions in August 1877.
L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University

As illustrated in President Grant’s story, he adopted a slogan in his life: “That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do is increased."

A counselor in the First Presidency and the first mayor of Salt Lake City before his untimely death in 1856.
His property was located on the block of the ZCMI building immediately south of South Temple Street.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

Horses and carriages in front of ZCMI.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

Ute Indians in front of the ZCMI at the Eagle Emporium building on Main Street in Salt Lake City.
C. R. Savage courtesy of Richard K. Winters

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

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Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

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Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

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BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

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Pioneer Telegraph Office

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 15:00:00 +0000

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Example of first telegraph equipment used.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

The telegraph office was located on the east side of Main Street, south of Temple Square.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

The overland telegraph monument marks the site where the transcontinental telegraph lines met, stretching from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans. The telegraph connection to Salt Lake City was completed on October 18, 1861, and provided the Saints with the ability to maintain contact with the outside world. It also provided much needed employment to the Latter-day Saints who supplied poles, subsistence, and transportation while constructing approximately five hundred miles of line. During the Civil War, two units of the Nauvoo Legion protected Overland Telegraph lines. This great innovation also allowed Mormon wagon trains to communicate their progress and, when necessary, to request the help of relief parties. Completion of the telegraph led to the demise of the Pony Express.

Marker on Main Street showing location of original telegraph office.
Kathie and W. Jeffrey Marsh

The First Telegram

Recognizing the impact of the transcontinental telegraph line, the Sons of Utah Pioneers erected this marker in its honor on October 18, 1955. The marker contains the first messages sent and the following inscription:

At this location on October 18, 1861, stood the telegraph pole, shown on above plaque on which telegraph wires were joined which spanned a continent and united two oceans.

On that date the first two telegrams transmitted were as follows.

“Hon J. H. Wade. Great Salt Lake City, U.T.
President of the Pacific Telegraph Company
Oct. 18, 1861—Cleveland, Ohio

Sir permit me to congratulate you upon the completion of the overland telegraph line west to this city to commend the energy displayed by yourself and associates in the rapid and successful prosecution of a work so beneficial, and to express the wish that its use may ever tend to promote the true interests of the dwellers upon both the Atlantic and Pacific slopes of our continent. Utah has not seceded but is firm for the constitution and laws of our once happy country, and is warmly interested in such useful enterprises as the one so far completed.
Brigham Young.”

The reply was as follows:

“Hon Brigham Young President
Cleveland Oct 19, 1861—Great Salt Lake City:

Sir, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your message of last evening which was every way gratifying, not only in the announcement of the completion of the Pacific telegraph to your enterprising and prosperous city, but that your, the first message to pass over the line should express so unmistakably the patriotism and union-loving sentiments of yourself and people.

With just consideration for your high position and due respect for you personally. I am your obedient servant, J. H. Wade, Pres. Pacific Telegraph Company
G. S. L. City, Oct 18. 1861"

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

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BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

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Orson Pratt Homesite

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:00:00 +0000

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In 1874 Orson Pratt was appointed historian and general Church recorder,
a position he held until the time of his death.
Utah State Historical Society

A photo of the original Orson Pratt home which faced west on West Temple Street.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

The original homesite of Elder Orson Pratt, a member of the original Quorum of the Twelve; over the years, other homes and businesses were built here. As the number of tourists visiting Salt Lake City increased in the early 1900s, additional lodging was needed. In 1930 the Inn at Temple Square was constructed across the street from the site it was named after. It was later renovated after Hotel Utah was closed. The inn offered a sense of 1930s grandeur, and its central location allowed easy access to Salt Lake City’s many sites. The structure was composed of ninety spacious rooms that offered comfort to the weary traveler. Guests were also offered access to the inn’s library and the Passages Restaurant. The inn closed in April 2006 to accommodate Church development of the property.

Until its demolition in 2007 the Inn at Temple Square sat on the site of Orson Pratt’s home.
The inn faced north on South Temple Street.
David M. Whitchurch

Orson Pratt was one of the first converts to the restored gospel; he was also one of the most influential. He was baptized by his brother Parley on his nineteenth birthday, on September 19, 1830, almost six months after the organization of the Church. He was ordained an Apostle at the age of twenty-three and served in this capacity for over forty-five years.

A portrait of Orson Pratt during his younger years.
Utah State Historical Society

Following the Martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Orson came west with President Brigham Young and the Saints. As he journeyed, he took note of the latitude, longitude, and altitude of prominent points, as well as a description of the geological structure of the country in great detail. Years later, while assisting in the construction of the Salt Lake Temple, a small observatory was erected on Temple Square, where the South Visitors’ Center now stands. From this location Orson charted the heavens.

As the original pioneer company neared the Great Basin, Orson formed an advance party of twenty-three wagons and forty-two men. On July 21, 1847, Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow became the first Latter-day Saints to enter the Great Salt Lake Valley. Orson recorded, “We could not refrain from a shout of joy.” On July 23, he dedicated the camp and the land to the Lord. Perhaps B. H. Roberts said it best when he described Orson as “Pioneer of the Pioneers.” While laying the foundations for the new city in the West, President Brigham Young recognized Orson’s skills and requested his help to plat and survey the city of the Great Salt Lake. Elder Pratt filled at least eleven missions to the Eastern States and crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Great Britain and the European continent sixteen times to preach the gospel. He was a tireless writer and defender of the faith. President Young paid this tribute to Orson Pratt: “If Brother Orson were chopped up in inch pieces, each piece would cry out Mormonism was true.”

Parley taught his younger brother, Orson, of the restored gospel.
Utah State Historical Society

In the late 1870s, he arranged the Doctrine and Covenants and the Book of Mormon into chapters and verses with footnotes and references and prepared the first American edition of the Pearl of Great Price. In 1874 he was appointed historian and general Church recorder, a position he held until the time of his death. Orson also dedicated his time to civil service, presiding over the territorial legislature and serving as the regent of the University of Deseret.

After suffering severely from diabetes, Orson Pratt passed away on October 3, 1881. His dying words, spoken to President Joseph F. Smith and forming his epitaph, were: “My body sleeps for a moment, but my testimony lives and shall endure forever.”

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Social Hall Site and Museum

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:00:00 +0000

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The Social Hall was a gathering place for early pioneer entertainment.

Utah State Historical Society

When the footings and basement walls of the Social Hall were uncovered,
a protective steel and-glass structure was built over them on the east side of State Street,
just south of South Temple. By going down several steps,
visitors can see the original basement stones and displays that explain the importance of Social Hall.

David M. Whitchurch

For seventy years, pioneers gathered here to shake off the hardships of frontier life with music, dancing, parties, theatricals (President Brigham Young had starred as the high priest in the production of Pizarro back in Nauvoo and was a patron of the arts), lectures, and good company. The Social Hall was dedicated New Year’s Day 1853, only five and a half years after the Mormon pioneers arrived in Salt Lake City. Special legislative sessions were sometimes held in it as well. It had the capacity to seat three hundred fifty people, though four hundred people often crowded into it.

Eventually, the surrounding area evolved into a thriving business center, and in 1922 the Social Hall was razed. In June 1933 the MIA and the Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association erected a marker on the sidewalk explaining the important contributions the Social Hall made to early cultural life in Salt Lake City:

The Mutual Improvement Association and the Utah Pioneer Trails
and Landmarks Association created a marker to celebrate the old Social Hall.
David M. Whitchurch

This monument marks the site of the social hall, the first recreation center in the intermountain west. Built by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints under the direction of Brigham Young. Made of plastered adobe walls with native wood floors and roof. Auditorium 40 by 60 feet, seating 350 persons— stage 20 by 40 feet—dressing rooms and banquet hall in basement. Dedicated January 1, 1853.

Seating for 350 people was provided in the main hall.

Utah State Historical Society

Here the Deseret Dramatic Association conducted many home talent theatricals, musicales and other festivities. Sessions of the legislature, official meetings, receptions, banquets and other social functions were held here. The Mutual Improvement Associations used it as theatre, library and gymnasium. In 1922 the building was razed.

Emmeline B. Wells recalled Christmas at the Social Hall.
She was a powerful proponent for women’s suffrage
and became the fifth general Relief Society president in 1910 at age eighty-two.

Daughters of Utah Pioneers

Christmas Party

Emmeline B. Wells described the first Christmas party at Social Hall:

When the Social Hall was built [in 1852], Christmas was sometimes celebrated there with dancing parties. . . . [President Young] was foremost in making the affair a grand success. . . . Hon. John W. Young, then only a boy, handed the presents down from the tree, and I recollect Brother Brigham standing and pointing with his cane, and telling John just which to take down, and so on; the children werewild with delight and some of the mothers were quite as much elated, though not as demonstrative. After the Santa Claus tree was stripped of its gifts, the floor was cleared and the dancing commenced, and there was good music, too, and President Young led the dance, and cut a pigeon wing, to the great delight of the little folks. In fact, I think the evening was almost entirely given up to the children’s festivities, and the older ones, the fathers and mothers and more especially President Young, made them supremely happy for that one Christmas eve.

The Mutual Improvement Association and the Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association
created a marker to celebrate the old Social Hall.

David M. Whitchurch

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

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Council House Site (Gateway Tower)

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:00:00 +0000

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Completed in 1850, the Council House was located on the southwest corner of Main Street and South Temple.
Church councils and the territorial legislature met here.
Shown as it looked in 1869, the building burned down June 21, 1883.
C. R. Savage courtesy of Richard K. Winters

The nineteen-story gateway tower west is situated on the southwest corner of Main Street and South Temple Street where Salt Lake City’s original Council House once stood. Built in 1849–50 of red sandstone and adobe, the Council House was used for Church and Territorial offices. Church councils and the Territorial Legislature met there, making it the first public building erected in Utah.

A crowd gathers around the burned out Council House.
Note that C. R. Savage’s photography shop, which was located next to Council House, was also destroyed in the fire.
C. R. Savage courtesy of Richard K. Winters

Latter-day Saint endowment sessions were even held here beginning in 1851 until the Endowment House was completed in 1855. By 1870 it was also the home of the University of Deseret (later University of Utah) and a business called Commercial Bazaar. It was destroyed in the early hours of June 21, 1883, when Hiram B. Clawson’s Wagon Depot caught fire and several barrels of gunpowder blew up. An adjoining building containing the photography business of C. R. Savage also caught fire and destroyed his photography plates and equipment. This spectacular fire likely fueled the creation of Salt Lake City’s first full-time fire department in 1883.

This building stands where the Council House sat until it burned in 1883.
David M. Whitchurch

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Charles R . Savage Photography

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:00:00 +0000

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A black and white portrait of an older C. R. Savage.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

Charles R. Savage (1832–1909) was born in Southampton, England. When he was nearly fifteen, Charles received his first introduction to the Church and was baptized soon afterward. After serving a successful mission in Switzerland, Charles crossed the Atlantic Ocean, arriving in New York City in 1857, where he met and married Annie Adkins. During his stay in New York, he also developed a great interest in photography and determined to become proficient in that trade.

The Savage and Ottinger Gallery.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

Charles managed to obtain a wagon and a yoke of cattle. Shortly after arriving in Salt Lake City in 1860, he joined with Marsena Cannon in opening a photography business. Later Charles opened his own business in the upper part of a house located on Main Street just south of the old Salt Lake Council House (which stood on the southwest corner of Main Street and South Temple streets where the Gateway Tower West now stands).

Charles traveled throughout the Rocky Mountain region, taking photographs of everything that interested him. He won numerous prizes for his abilities. On June 21, 1883, an enormous fire started in Hiram Clawson’s building that engulfed Charles’s Photography Shop as well as the Council House. All of his negatives portraying the growth of Salt Lake City and other areas were destroyed. His surviving photographs have become a priceless treasure of Salt Lake City’s pioneer legacy.

Located on the northeast corner of South Temple and Main Streets.
Utah State Historical Society

A portrait of George M. Ottinger, C. R. Savage’s partner.
Utah State Historical Society

This camera was used by the Fox-Symons photography studio.
It is similar to the one used by Savage and Ottinger in their early photography business.
It is now on display at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum.

Brigham Young University

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For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

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City Creek Park

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:00:00 +0000

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In this historic view from the mid-1800s, looking southwest toward Temple Square,
City Creek flows past walled Whitney properties (center right) toward Brigham Young’s properties (upper center left). The dome of the Tabernacle and walls of the unfinished Salt Lake Temple are seen in the upper center right.
C. R. Savage courtesy of Richard K. Winters

This stone commemorates the 1995 groundbreaking for City Creek Park designed to complement the Brigham Young Park immediately across the street to the south.
David M. Whitchurch

This landscaped acre in downtown salt lake city sat north of Brigham Young’s farm. In the 1990s, the park was developed by Church and city leaders to honor the nineteenth-century pioneer settlers of the Salt Lake Valley. It was also designed to complement the Brigham Young Historic Park across the street. “We’re happy to be participating with Salt Lake City in this undertaking [and develop it into] what will be a beautiful facility and a great attraction for this community,” President Gordon B. Hinckley said at the ground-breaking ceremony held on June 12, 1995.

City Creek Park serves as a gathering place where local citizens may eat their lunch and relax.
David M. Whitchurch

President Hinckley noted that the park projects were undertaken as Utah approached its centennial in 1996 and preparatory for the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) celebrations of the pioneers in 1997.

A beautiful bridge spans City Creek as it passes through the park area.
David M. Whitchurch

City Creek is significant to the history of the city and the Church. The advance party entering the Salt Lake Valley dammed up City Creek and flooded the area to the south to water the ground for the potatoes that had been planted. The water was channeled to the area of Second South and State Street, where it was used to irrigate the first crops of potatoes, beans, corn, buckwheat, and turnips. More than twenty thousand acres were under cultivation within six months of the pioneers’ arrival.

Beautiful trees and flowers have been planted in and around City Creek Park to make it cool and inviting.
Kathie and W. Jeffrey Marsh

Crossing Creeks and Ditches

Several ditches diverted water from City Creek.
Elder James E. Talmage (1862–1933), a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles,
had an interesting incident while serving as president of the University of Utah in the 1890s.
He had obtained a bicycle, which was then the new wave in transportation.

A photograph of the young James E. Talmage.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

James acquired one of the new machines, not as a hobby or physical conditioner but as a practical means of transportation. . . .

Some time after James had achieved reasonable proficiency in handling his machine on standard roads, he showed up at the front door one evening a full hour late for dinner and scarcely recognizable.

May [his wife] nearly went into shock, for her husband was a frightening sight. Battered, bruised, and bleeding profusely, clothes torn in a dozen places and covered with dust and mud, James looked as though he had been caught in a riot, or at least a fight of unusual violence. Neither, it
developed, had been the case.

Half a block from the Talmage home a single-plank footbridge crossed the ditch of running water that separated the street from the footpath. Until now, Jamesnhad dismounted when he reached this point in a homeward journey, and crossed the narrow bridge on foot. Today, he had decided that he had reached the point in his development as a cyclist where he should no longer resort to this prudent maneuver, but rather ride over the bridge in the manner of an accomplished veteran of the two-wheeler.

Having so decided, James approached the bridge resolutely, confident that he would negotiate the tricky passage in a manner to be proud of and to impress neighbors, if any should chance to be watching, with his skill and casual daring. He turned sharply from the road toward the bridge with scarcely any diminution of speed. The result was spectacular and observers, if any there were, must indeed have been impressed, but in a very different way from that intended. The professor’s bicycle went onto the plank at an oblique angle and quickly slid off the side, throwing its rider heavily into the ditch bank.

Dazed, bruised, bleeding and humiliated, Dr. Talmage was not convinced that the difficult maneuver was beyond his skill. Rather, he was stubbornly determined to prove that he could and would master the difficulty. For the next hour, the president of the University of Utah might have been observed trundling his bicycle fifty yards or so down the road from the bridge, mounting and riding furiously toward the plank crossing, turning onto it with grim-lipped determination— and plunging off it in a spectacular and bone-shaking crash into the rough ditchbank. Uncounted times this startling performance was repeated, but in the end mind triumphed over matter, will
power over faltering reflexes, and the crossing was successfully made. Not just once, but enough times in succession to convince James that he was capable of performing the feat without mishap at any time he might desire to do so. From then on, he never again dismounted to cross the bridge, albeit he never made the crossing without experiencing deep-seated qualms which he kept carefully concealed from any who might be watching.

The waterwheel of Crismon Mill was powered by water from City Creek.
Courtesy of Richard K. Winters

Crismon Mill Site and Veteran Volunteer Fireman’s Hall

One block north of City Creek Park, following Canyon Road, is a monument honoring the site of the Crismon Mill, the first gristmill built in the territory of Utah. The mill was built by Charles Crismon in the fall of 1847, just months after the pioneers entered the valley. This mill ground the wheat brought across the plains by the pioneers. Brigham Young’s sawmill originally stood nearby. Much timber came from a toll, or assessment, of those using City Creek Canyon to harvest timber. The tollhouse was located on the west side of City Creek.

Ottinger Hall, located in City Creek Canyon, was named after George M. Ottinger,
who worked as an artist with pioneer photographer Charles R. Savage.
Many of Savage’s prints were hand-tinted by Ottinger.
Ottinger later played a prominent role in Salt Lake City’s first fire department.
Kathie and W. Jeffrey Marsh

Another block north on Canyon Road is Ottinger Hall. This social hall for firemen formerly housed the first manually operated fire pump in the West (the pump is now at This Is the Place Heritage Park), and was named after Salt Lake City’s first full-time fire chief, George M. Ottinger.

Memory Grove

Just north of the Ottinger’s Hall is a secluded grove of trees planted in 1920 to honor war veterans. It was here that City Creek was diverted through the downtown area for irrigation purposes. Memory Grove is a beautifully landscaped park lying in City Creek Canyon containing a number of monuments dedicated to Utah’s soldiers who lost their lives in America’s wars.

The tree-lined road up the canyon above Memory Grove is popular with bicyclists, joggers, and hikers. A tornado which touched down in Salt Lake City on August 11, 1999, severely damaged many of the trees in this area, and efforts to repair the damage are still evident. Occasionally, moose and deer are spotted in the park. Located in the park is a full-scale replica of the Liberty Bell, one of only one hundred casts by the original maker.

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For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

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Joseph L . Heywood Homesite

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:00:00 +0000

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Joseph L. Heywood (1815–1910).
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

Joseph and Serepta Heywood’s home and property sat behind Elder Orson Hyde’s property north of Temple Square. Today the Conference Center sits on this block.

David M. Whitchurch

The Joseph and Serepta Heywood homesite is located approximately at the midblock area between State and Main streets on the north wall of the Conference Center. Joseph was baptized in the Mississippi River in 1842 after listening to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He was called as a bishop in Nauvoo and acted as a trustee of the Church in disposing of its Nauvoo properties after the exodus to the Salt Lake Valley.

A Fork in the Road
President Gordon B. Hinckley’s father, Bryant S. Hinckley, told a story
about a young man who had an unusual dream while staying at the Heywoods’.

John Morgan’s first home in Salt Lake City was with the family of Joseph L. Heywood, Bishop of the Seventeenth Ward.

Morgan was not, at this time, a member of the L. D. S. Church nor had he given it much consideration. One morning, on coming down to breakfast, he related to Mrs. [Serepta] Heywood an impressive dream he had had during the night in which he dreamed that he was back in North Georgia near the battlefield of Chickamauga where he had fought in the Civil War and he was traveling southward on a road running from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Rome, Georgia. He was perfectly familiar with the road, as it was one the soldiers had used many times.

In this dream he suddenly came to a fork in the road and for a moment was undecided as to which fork led to Rome. Then he was amazed to see President Brigham Young standing in front of a large tree in the fork. President Young told him the right hand road led to Rome, but that if he would take the left-hand road, he would have an experience that would give him a strong and abiding testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon. Laughingly, he asked Mrs. Heywood what she thought of it. “I am not interested in the Book of Mormon or its divinity, but I am interested in knowing what you think of my dream.”

Mrs. Heywood answered: “Mr. Morgan, I think I can give you some light concerning your dream. It is my conviction that the time is not far distant when you will become a member of our Church and that in due time you will be called to do missionary work in the Southern States. It is my thought that in your missionary work you will one day be following the road and will arrive at the fork you saw in your dream—but President Young will not be there. However, I counsel you to remember his instructions and take the road that will lead to the left.”

Mr. Morgan thanked Mrs. Heywood for her interpretation of his dream and soon forgot about it.

John Hamilton Morgan: Founder of Morgan Commercial College, whose students included Heber J. Grant,
Orsen F. Whitney, J. Golden Kimball, Brigham H. Roberts, and Ruth May Fox.
Utah State Historical Society

A year later, John Morgan became a convert to Mormonism and was baptized.

Ten years later while traveling as a missionary from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Rome, Georgia, he came to a fork in the road that confused him and caused him to stop. He was undecided as to which of the two roads might lead to Rome. As he was pondering, he suddenly realized that the fork in the road that lay before him was the identical place that he had seen in his dream when he had resided in the Heywood home in Salt Lake City ten years before.

The large tree in the fork was there, but as Sister Heywood had predicted, President Young was not there; but he vividly recalled the counsel given in the dream not to take the right-hand road which he said led to Rome, but to follow the left-hand road which would lead him to a remarkable experience from which he would gain a testimony of the divinity of the work in which he was engaged and a knowledge of the divine teachings of the Book of Mormon. Thrilled with his experience, he took the left-hand road and continued his journey. After an hour’s walk, the road led him to the rim of a beautiful valley in North Georgia. From a passerby, he learned that the name of the place was Heywood Valley, having the same spelling as the Heywood family, and that it was settled and farmed by some twenty-three prosperous families.

Bibles similar to this one may have been marked by a stranger
prior to the visit of John Morgan in homes in the Heywood Valley of Georgia.
David M. Whitchurch

In high spirits he traveled on and called at the first house he came to where he was received with true southern hospitality. Filled with the spirit of his mission, he spent the entire evening in gospel conversation. Three hours were engaged in his effort to explain the first principles of the Gospel to his newly made friends. As the interview closed, the head of the house brought out the family Bible, and, to Elder Morgan’s amazement, he found that many of the passages of scripture which he had used in explaining the principles of the Gospel, were underscored and in asking who had marked the passages, was advised that ten days before, a kindly looking man in very tidy apparel, and seemingly possessed of great intelligence, had come to their home and had, with their permission, marked their Bible, explaining to them that another would come in a few days who would teach them the meaning of the marked passages and explain to them in its completeness the great Plan of Salvation. They knew not who the stranger was—his name, or from whence he came, or where he went.

During the following six weeks, Elder Morgan called successively on each of the families in Heywood Valley, and in every home that the stranger had called on and had marked the family Bible and had indicated that another would soon visit them and explain to them the scriptures in their fullness, he was successful in converting and baptizing the inhabitants thereof until all but three families were led into the water of baptism. Among those converted was a Methodist pastor, who was made the Presiding Elder of the Heywood Branch and the building he had previously used as a Methodist church, now became a Mormon meeting house. John Morgan’s dream had come true.

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Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

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For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

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This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

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BYU Students Integral Part of Award Winning Video Production

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:43:00 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Scott Earnshaw

Phone: 603.472.2264

BumpLimited.com

Bedford, NH -- (August 5, 2010)

B.U.M.P. Limited is pleased to announce that Starrs Universal has won a first-place 2010 Silver Telly Award for its media production of "The Mormon Tabernacle" for Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys, part of the BYU Virtual Tours series. Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys is a co-production of Brigham Young University Religious Education and Starrs Universal.

An integral part of the production has been mentored students from BYU. More than a dozen BYU students have received professional experiences and mentoring by working on BYU Virtual Tours.

Sam Mangum, who now works for National Geographic, began as a student editor and later worked as an Associate Producer for Starrs Universal. “As a student this was a great opportunity for me to work in a mentored environment. I was able to gain real-life experience while still in school. After I graduated I continued to work at Starrs Universal as a full-time editor. The time I worked at Starrs Universal helped me to develop my creative talents and also build professional relationships. Working there helped me gain the confidence and experience I need as I continue my professional career.”

Mark Gillins, one of the student editors on the project who now works for BYU Broadcasting states, “Perhaps the most significant takeaway from my time on BYU Virtual Tours was the realization that creating something that requires so much of my time and talents better be worthwhile, not just in the sense of entertainment value, but mostly in that it should be uplifting and inspiring, ultimately drawing its viewers a little closer to my Heavenly Father, even if the content isn't strictly spiritual in nature. I do my best to apply this mindset to all of my work and when seeking new projects to take on as a professional.”

John Starrs, a graduate of BYU Broadcast Communications, and producer of BYU Virtual Tours says that working with BYU students has been a rewarding experience. "I believe that mentoring students is an excellent opportunity for everyone involved: for the students as well as the mentors. This award is not a student award, it is a professional award, and a testament to the professional quality of work of which Brigham Young University students are capable."

About the Telly Awards

Founded in 1978, the Telly Awards is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and web commercials, videos and films. The Telly Awards annually showcases the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators, and corporate video departments in the world. The Telly Awards is a widely known and highly respected national and international competition and receives over 11,000 entries annually from all 50 states and many foreign countries. Less than 10% of entries are chosen as Winners of a Silver Telly, the highest honor. Other outstanding work is awarded a Bronze Telly.

For more information, please visit www.TellyAwards.com.

About B.U.M.P. Limited

Starrs Universal is an associated company of B.U.M.P. Limited.

B.U.M.P. (Building Unity Media Productions) works to add to the ways people can “bump” into uplifting media, and to “build unity” with our friends of faith all across the globe.

B.U.M.P. Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Watchmen Institute.

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Watch the award-winning video here.

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

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William Clayton Homesite

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:00:00 +0000

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On the northwest corner, where the streets West Temple and North Temple intersect, was the house of William Clayton. Guests were often invited to social activities in the Clayton home. Dances were held in the large living room, and other activities were accompanied by instrumental music played by the Clayton children. William played several instruments and enjoyed band music.

View (looking southwest) of the Clayton homestead (middle right in yellow) and the surrounding buildings.
On the left is the easily recognizable dome of the Tabernacle on Temple Square.
The block in the forefront is now home to the Conference Center.
Utah State Historical Society

William, an early convert to the Church in England, immigrated to Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1841 at age twenty-seven. He was appointed as a personal secretary to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and later to Brigham Young. His writing and record-keeping abilities provided much useful Church history from the nineteenth-century.

William was a member of the original pioneer company to enter the Salt Lake Valley. An avid reader, William carried his collection of books under his wagon seat, which included the Letters of Voltaire and the Works of Frederick the Great. While on the journey, he kept an extensive journal, from which he later authored the Latter-day Saints’ Emigrants’ Guide, which became the primary source of information for many who traveled to the West.

As a resident of Salt Lake City, William participated in civil and religious affairs and ran a boardinghouse and a bookstore. William served God and his fellowmen faithfully until he passed away on December 4, 1879. He is buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

A portrait of William and Diantha Clayton.
Utah State Historical Society

A Pioneer Anthem

William Clayton was an excellent writer and poet. His hymn “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” is deemed the “pioneer anthem” and was written in the midst of a storm during the first pioneer trek.

Conditions were miserable and to add to Clayton’s worries, he had left his expectant wife, Diantha, with her parents in Illinois. A son was born March 31, but Clayton didn’t hear the good news until April 15 while camped at Locust Creek. . . . It was this happy news that motivated the 31-year-old pioneer to write “Come, Come Ye Saints.” His journal entry for that day reads, in part:

“This morning Ellen Kimball came to me and wished me much joy. She said Diantha has a son. I told her I was afraid it was not so, but she said Brother Pond had received a letter. I went over to Pond’s and he read that she had fine fat boy, . . . but she was very sick with ague and mumps. Truly I feel to rejoice at this intelligence but feel sorry to hear of her sickness.. . . This morning I composed a new song—All is well.” . . .

Clayton’s four short verses . . . form an American epic which has been called “one of the most beautiful hymns of western history.” It became the grand marching song of all the Mormons who trudged across the plains during the next 40 years and remains today as the rallying song of church members all over the world.

The lyrics William Clayton penned have come to characterize the hopes and desires of the persecuted and driven pioneers during their exodus to the West:

Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
’Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell—
All is well! All is well!

The Lyrics to “Come, Come, Ye Saints” in William Clayton’s handwriting are found on the right side of the page.
The song is on permanent display in the Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake City.
Ronald Read

The power and strength of William Clayton’s hymn “Come, Come, Ye Saints” can be seen from an incident told to President Heber J. Grant by his father-in-law, Oscar Winters:

One night, as we were making camp, we noticed one of our brethren had not arrived, and a volunteer party was immediately organized to return and see if anything had happened to him. Just as we were about to start, we saw the missing brother coming in the distance. When he arrived, he said he had been quite sick; so some of us unyoked his oxen and attended to his part of the camp duties. After supper, he sat down before the campfire on a large rock, and sang in a very faint but plaintive and sweet voice, the hymn, “Come, Come, Ye Saints.” It was a rule of the camp that whenever anybody started this hymn all in the camp should join, but for some reason this evening nobody joined him; He sang the hymn alone. When he had finished, I doubt if there was a single dry eye in the camp. The next morning we noticed that he was not yoking up his cattle. We went to his wagon and found that he had died during the night. We dug a shallow grave, and after we had covered his body with the earth we rolled the large stone to the head of the grave to mark it, the stone on which he had been sitting the night before when he sang:

“And should we die before our journey’s through, Happy day! All is well! We then are free from toil and sorrow too; with the just we shall dwell. But if our lives are spared again to see the Saints their rest obtain, O how we’ll make this chorus swell—All is well! All is well!”

I noticed tears in my father-in-law’s eyes when he finished relating this incident; and I imagined the reason he did not relate to me another far more touching incident to him was the fear that he might break down.

An odometer similar to the one William Clayton used to log the
number of miles he traveled.
Robert L. Hall

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

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Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

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This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

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University of Deseret

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:00:00 +0000

- - Click here to watch this weeks video - -

The first university west of the Mississippi.

The University of Utah now sits at the northeast end of Salt Lake City rather than near the downtown core.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

The John Pack family owned a low adobe house, which they made available to church members for early social and educational events in Salt Lake City. From this humble beginning would grow the University of Utah.

Officially founded in 1850, it is now the flagship campus of the Utah System of Higher Education and the state’s oldest and largest institution of higher learning.

The first University of Deseret classes were held in the living room of the Pack home beginning in November of 1850, just three years after the arrival of the Saints in the valley.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

Brigham Young suggested that John Pack make his home a multipurpose structure.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

Initially called the University of Deseret (Utah was first called the “State of Deseret”), it was the first university west of the Mississippi.

It was inaugurated in February 1850 and classes began in March. The doors officially opened November 11, 1850, with forty students enrolled the first year. Because the territorial government failed to appropriate funds for the school, tuition was often paid with produce, lumber, chickens, barrels of molasses, and baskets of fruit, which were then sold by John Pack to fund the school.

Tuition was eight dollars the first quarter. Cyrus W. Collins was the first teacher, and Wilford Woodruff, an important record keeper in the early Church, donated much of the library.

Kingsbury Hall, University of Utah.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

Sewing, weaving and other domestic arts were taught in earlier days at the University of Utah.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

The Packs demonstrated bold faith in their newfound religion after joining the Church in 1836. During the exodus of the pioneers from Nauvoo, John was chosen to be a member of the original pioneer company, arriving in July 1847. He was later called to settle the Carson Valley of Nevada.

Once while still in Missouri, he was threatened by a mob who tried to compel him to deny his newfound faith. Standing with unflinching resolve, he said, “[The mob] came to me and stopped my carriage, and asked me if I was a Mormon. I told them, Yes! I am a full-blooded Mormon!

"They dragged me from my wife into a wood, and told my wife to take a last farewell of me. [The mob leader] asked me if I would forsake the Mormons, and deny Mormonism. I told him, No! I would not; I knew that it was true, and I would not give up my faith. They condemned me to death. [The leader] then took ten men, and led me into the woods to shoot me, but no one could be found to do it.

"They quarreled among themselves, and after some time I was liberated.”

A coed class picture.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

Young men posing in a science laboratory at the University of Utah.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers

The marker sits embedded in the sidewalk to mark the corner where John Pack’s home stood and where the first university classes were held.

The stone reads: Daughters of Utah Pioneers No. 53. Erected Oct. 15, 1939. First University West of the Mississippi. The Parent School or the University of Deseret, established November 11, 1850 in the home of John Pack, was located on this corner. Forty students enrolled the first year. Produce, lumber, etc. were take for tuition and sold by Mr. Pack. Cyrus W. Collins was the first teacher. In 1851 the school was moved to the Council House, then to 13th Ward Hall, in 1867 back to the Council House, in 1878 to Union Square, 2nd West and 1st North Streets. In 1892 the name was changed to University of Utah, and in Sept. 1900, moved to the present site.

Photo by David M. Whitchurch

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

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BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

___________________________________________________________________

Celebrate Pioneer Day!

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:22:00 +0000

On the 24th of July 1847, Mormon pioneers officially entered the Salt Lake Valley.

The Mormons were unique among the many pioneers that settled the Western United States. They did not journey seeking gold or wealth; they were seeking religious freedom.

Latter-day Saints enjoy a rich history. It began in this dispensation in the Green Mountains of New England, gained a foothold in New York and Pennsylvania, traversed across the heartland of America, found refuge and flourished in the Rocky Mountains and made it's way to the four corners of the earth.

LDS Church History didn't end in Nauvoo. It continued to Winter Quarters and to downtown Salt Lake. Missionaries brought it to the world, and there continues to be an ongoing history being played out among Mormons everywhere Mormons are.

As we look back during this Pioneer Day celebration, it is important to look ahead to those who will look back at us.

Are we living today in a way that our children's children can learn and benefit from our efforts?

Gordon B. Hinckley, fifteenth President of the Church, related the following in 1997: This great pioneering movement of more than a century ago goes forward with latter-day pioneers. Today pioneer blood flows in our veins just as it did with those who walked west. Its the essence of our courage to face modern-day mountains and our commitment to carry on. The faith of those early pioneers burns still, and nations are being blessed by latter-day pioneers who possess a clear vision of this work of the Lord.

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Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

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Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

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Lest We Forget

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:00:00 +0000

- - Click here to watch this weeks video - -

The Mormons were unique among the many pioneers that settled the Western United States. They did not journey seeking gold or wealth; they were seeking religious freedom. The Lest We Forget monument, dedicated by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers in 1968, is a tribute to all those who traveled the Mormon Pioneer Trail.

The last known surviving pioneer, Hilda Anderson Erickson, died in 1968, at 108 years of age.
Robert L. Hall

Pioneer Faith

J. Reuben Clark Jr., a member of the Sons of Utah Pioneers and a counselor to the First Presidency, honored the pioneers with the following tribute:

So through dust and dirt, dirt and dust, during the long hours, the longer days that grew into weeks and then into months, they crept along till, passing down through its portals, the valley welcomed them to rest and home. . . .

That evening was the last of the great trek, the mightiest trek that history records since Israels flight from Egypt, and as the sun sank below the mountain peaks of the west and the eastern crags were bathed in an amethyst glow that was a living light, while the western mountainsides were clothed in shadows of the rich blue of the deep sea, they of the last wagon, and of the wagon before them, and of the one before that, and so to the very front wagon of the train, these all sank to their knees in the joy of their souls, thanking God that at last they were in Zion.

Anniversary photograph honoring the pioneers of 1847 taken on Temple Square in front of the Assembly Hall.

George Edward Anderson courtesy of Richard K. Winters

The Mormon pioneer trek has been regarded as one of the greatest mass movements of a distinct people since the biblical time of Moses and the children of Israel. It was said of the initial group of road-breaking pioneers: It was not just a trip of many families to new homes in the west.

It was the transfer of a whole community of 15,000 peoplewith their furniture, their food, their animals, manufacturing equipment, school supplies, and their all over a trackless prairie. . . . There is nothing like it in history.

The plaque on the monument reads:

From 1847 to 1869 approximately 86,000 persons, mainly converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, left their established homes to build anew in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains.

About 6,000 were buried along the way. Hilda Anderson Erickson, last known surviving Utah Pioneer, died Jan. 1, 1968, age 108, thus ending an illustrious era. Other late survivors were: Tora Nielsen J. Starkie, 1961; Minnie Peterson Brown, Selina Beddous Kelsey, Harriet Paris Smith Clawson, 1962; Heber Charles Cox, 1963. They were representative of the thousands of western pioneers who left to posterity a rich heritage of faith, fortitude, leadership and vision.

Gordon B. Hinckley, fifteenth President of the Church, related the following in 1997: This great pioneering movement of more than a century ago goes forward with latter-day pioneers. Today pioneer blood flows in our veins just as it did with those who walked west. Its the essence of our courage to face modern-day mountains and our commitment to carry on. The faith of those early pioneers burns still, and nations are being blessed by latter-day pioneers who possess a clear vision of this work of the Lord.

Interesting Facts

* Nearly 1,800 pioneers in ten different companies arrived in Salt Lake City in 1847.

* Brigham Young, traveling in the first company, entered the valley on July 24, 1847. This date is now a state holiday called Pioneer Day.

* The last known surviving pioneer, Hilda Anderson Erickson, died in 1968.

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

___________________________________________________________________

Meridian Magazine Features BYU Virtual Tours

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:06:00 +0000

BYU Church History professor John Livingstone had long had a vision of sharing the history and sites of the Restoration with people everywhere on the globe, and when videographer John Starrs moved into his ward it seemed that both the right people and the right technologies were coming together to make it happen.

Go to Meridian Magazine...

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Subscribe to our Free Newsletter

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

___________________________________________________________________

Mormon Tabernacle Organ

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:00:00 +0000

- - Click here to watch this weeks video - -

Only a few of the gold-leaf organ pipes in the Tabernacle actually “speak.”
Regardless, their grandeur adds to the solemn majesty of the Tabernacle.
Richard Crookston

The organ in the Salt Lake Tabernacle is one of the most famous musical instruments ever made.

Accompanying the Tabernacle Choir each week on its Music and the Spoken Word broadcast and in daily recitals and numerous performances at Church conferences and other public concerts, this organ has probably been heard by more people around the world than any other.

While not the world's largest, it is one of the finest pipe organs ever built. Constructing the original organ required artistic craftsmanship and perseverance in the face of great obstacles.

Australian-born organ builder Joseph Ridges fashioned pipes from tall, straight-grained pine that ox-drawn wagons hauled from some three hundred miles away into Salt Lake City. Since its completion, the organ has been renovated and enlarged several times.

The Aeolian-Skinner Company of Boston built the present organ. Several of the famous golden pipes, made of wood staves fashioned from Utah timber, still play today.

The Tabernacle organ is a complex instrument. Organists control over 11,000 pipes and can communicate with technicians during performances, if necessary. The organ sits on a circular platform that may be swiveled to allow audiences to see different views of the organist and the console.
© by Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

___________________________________________________________________

BYU Virtual Tours Producers on "Cricket and Seagull"

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 05:04:00 +0000

Have a listen as they explain the origins and challenges of the project, tell of the prestigious award their creation recently won, and, most importantly, talk about the church history we are each called to be part of today.

Listen to the interview from any of the following sources

Mormon Times

Meridian Magazine

The Cricket and Seagull

MP3 File

Be sure to vist Steven Kapp Perry's website here.

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

___________________________________________________________________

BYU Virtual Tours Daily Universe Interview

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:12:00 +0000

Click Here to Listen to the Interview

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Subscribe to our Free Newsletter

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

___________________________________________________________________

BYU Virtual Tours wins Major Award

hgsj@starrman.com (John P. Starrs) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:00:00 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Scott Earnshaw

Phone: 603.472.2264
BumpLimited.com

Bedford, NH -- (July 7, 2010)

John Starrs, Producer and Director of the series, is excited about the recognition. "It is very gratifying to receive such an honor from our peers in the media industry. It's nice to see recognition for an historical, educational and religious production. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make the project a reality."

John Livingstone, Executive Producer for BYUVT, and Associate Professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU says, "We have known for a long time that the quality of Starrs Universal's work is outstanding. It is wonderful to see this award verify that."

Lloyd Newell, Professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU and host of “The Mormon Tabernacle” piece, says “It is an honor to associate with the exceptional team involved in this production. Our hope and plan is to produce more quality work in the future.”

About the Telly Awards

Founded in 1978, the Telly Awards is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and web commercials, videos and films. The Telly Awards annually showcases the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators, and corporate video departments in the world. The Telly Awards is a widely known and highly respected national and international competition and receives over 11,000 entries annually from all 50 states and many foreign countries. Less than 10% of entries are chosen as Winners of a Silver Telly, the highest honor. Other outstanding work is awarded a Bronze Telly.

For more information, please visit www.TellyAwards.com.

About B.U.M.P. Limited

Starrs Universal is an associated company of B.U.M.P. Limited.

B.U.M.P. (Building Unity Media Productions) works to add to the ways people can “bump” into uplifting media, and to “build unity” with our friends of faith all across the globe.

B.U.M.P. Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Watchmen Institute.

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Watch the award-winning video here.

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Subscribe to our Free Newsletter

___________________________________________________________________

Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

___________________________________________________________________