Conditions in Kirtland

 

We hear the stories of how poor the Saints in Kirtland were, and how the sisters gave up their china dishes to crush and add to the plastering of the exterior so that it would sparkle; I think we gloss past the deeper realities. Certainly I could not understand as a child what I can comprehend now as an adult. I didn't realize how desperate their condition was because most of the members had been sent to Missouri--there were only a hundred people or so, around twenty families, actually living in town, and given this burden.

The very  next day after this rebuke was given (section 95) and made known, the brethren began digging the trench for the foundation.  The house was to be sixty-five feet by fifty-five feet, and the cornerstones were laid out six weeks later.  Missionaries were asked to preach the gospel in other communities and take up collections for the temple-building as they did so.  The Saints in Missouri were instructed that they should build a temple also, but they didn't get farther than designating the site.

Artemis Millett was the construction manger, leaving a prosperous business in Canada, where he employed thirty-six Scottish masons.  Missionaries had been sent to him specifically, as he was known to some of the members.  There was a stone quarry two miles from the temple property, and when all the wagons in town were shuttled there on a Saturday, they were able to cut and haul enough stone to keep the masons busy all week.

A wealthy farmer named  John Tanner , who had come to Kirtland, sold all his holdings in Bolton, New York, including a sawmill, gristmill, and about twenty-two hundred acres.  He contributed funds for the bishop's storehouse and to pay off the debt on the temple site.  Eventually he would sacrifice almost everything he owned, as those without means got food and help as they worked long hours on the building, and the debts of the Church had to be met.

The work was beautiful.  They built it of stone, not wood or logs as would have been more feasible in their dire financial situation.  The best season they had for weather, the second summer, many of the men left as 'Zion's Camp' to try to redeem the lands in Missouri from which the members had been illegally driven away.  The woodwork, the finishing, the windows are striking.  The central pillars in the interior  rise a full seventy feet, from the stone footings below the ground level all the way to the attic level.  The ranks of pulpits were as the Lord directed, singular in their design. 
Each rank had three seats, for the quorum presidents and counselors.              







 
The men had to have guards as threats mounted.  Sometimes they didn't even go home, but slept on site. They couldn't tend to their livelihoods as normal, and often had to be fed from the bishop's storehouse.  The work took three years, while new converts were encouraged to come to Kirtland, to contribute to the work and gather with the Saints.  By the time of the dedication, there were about 1300 members in Kirtland, and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles had been called, and the miraculous experiences of the dedication lay ahead.

 There is an excerpt from one of the films of Church history here, showing the call and process of the building of the Kirtland temple.  Remember that the hardships were severe, and the blessings were profound.  We sing, "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven," but we want to have those blessings as easily as possible; sacrifice is something we get forced into rather than seeking, most of the time.  That's human nature.  These disciples were called to give everything they had and much that they didn't know they had.