feet, and sixty-five feet high in the clear. The top of the spire was one hundred and sixty-five feet above the ground and bore the figure of a flying herald sounding a trumpet. The plan of construction was that of a solid and stable four-walled building, two and a half stories high, with a hexagonal tower at the front rising in four terraces and a dome. Over the front center door, and immediately beneath the base of the tower, appeared an inscription:
The House of the Lord
Built by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Holiness to the Lord
On the outside were thirty pilasters, nine on each side and six at each end. At its base each pilaster presented in hewn relief the crescent moon, and ended above in a capital of cut stone depicting the face of the sun allegorically featured, with a pair of hands holding horns. Above the capitals was a frieze or cornice in which appeared thirty star-stones. In the late hours of April 30, 1846, the Temple was privately, yet officially, dedicated, in the presence of such general authorities of the Church as could be convened. President Joseph Young of the First Council of Seventy offered the dedicatory prayer. The semi-private character of the dedication was due to the thought that possibly there would be interference in a public ceremony, so active was the spirit of intolerance and persecution. On the day following, that is to say May 1, 1846, services of a general and public nature were held in the Temple, under the direction of Elders Orson
