Page:The House of the Lord.djvu/163

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THE GREAT TEMPLE—HISTORICAL
147


"The only difference between the tower buttresses, and the one just described is, instead of Saturn being on them, we have clouds and rays of light descending downwards.

"All of these symbols are to be chiseled in bas-relief on solid stone. The side walls continue above the string course, or cornice, eight and a half feet, making the walls ninety-six feet high, and are formed in battlements, interspersed with stars.

"The roof is quite flat, rising only eight feet, and is to be covered with galvanized iron, or some other metal. The building is to be otherwise ornamented in ihany places. The whole structure is designed to symbolize some of the great architectural work above.

"The basement windows recede in, from the face of outer wall to sash frame, eighteen inches, and are relieved by a large caveto. Those windows above the base recede from face of wall to sash frame, three feet, and are surrounded by stone jambs formed in mouldings, and surmounted by labels over each, which terminate at their horizon, excepting the oval windows, whose labels terminate on columns which extend from an enriched string course, at the foot of each window, to the center of major axis.

"My chief object in the last paragraph is to show to the judgment of any who may be baffled, how those windows can be come at, etc. All the windows in the towers are moulded, and have stone jambs; each being crowned with label mouldings.

"For further particulars, wait till the House is done, then come and see it.

"The whole House covers an area of twenty-one thousand eight hundred and fifty feet."

The entrance of the Union Pacific Railway into Utah, in 1868, served temporarily to retard work on the Temple, as the call for laborers on the great trans-continental line was deemed imperative. Eventually, however, the activity in railroad construction operated as a great assistance in the undertaking; for, to the main line, branches succeeded; and, by 1873, a side line had reached the granite quarries. From the city station a track was constructed up South Temple Street, and into Temple Block.

The work of construction proceeded so slowly as to