September 8, Salt Lake City

We spent all day in Salt Lake City. First we went to used book stores and a quilt shop then we went touring.

This is the Utah state capitol building which is huge and beautiful.

This view is from the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Temple Square. More desert mountains which are on 3 sides of Salt Lake City.

This is the Church of the Latter Day Saints - Salt Lake Temple. This was also taken from the 10th floor of the Smith Memorial Building. It was begun in 1853 and completed 40 years later in 1893.

The walls at ground level are 9' thick and at the top they are 6' thick. It is 210' tall and is made entirely of granite.

In the beginning the workers hauled the huge pieces of granite from the quarry 23 miles away in ox-drawn carts. Many Mormons worked in building the Transcontinental Railroad so after the completion of that they built a narrow gauge railroad to the quarry and granite was then hauled by train. The first year after the railroad was completed they hauled 78 million pounds to the temple site. This is some of the original tracks from that railroad.

This is the interior of the Mormon Tabernacle where the famous Mormon Tabernacle Singers perform. While we were there, the organist was practicing. The sound in there is phenomenal! Anyone is free to be there when the choir practices on Thursday. Bummer, we were there on Saturday. They say the acoustics in there are perfect.

This was the lobby of the largest and nicest hotel between Denver and San Francisco for many decades before it closed. The Mormon church now uses it for offices and there are many wedding receptions, balls and other events in it. It is now called the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

This is one of the dining rooms. The building is so beautiful that people are very quiet as they walk through it.