The community are concerned with. Beyond get giving Salt Lake City its name, the Great Salt Lake is intertwined with the history of all of utah. Now in the early 21st century its been overshadowed by the mountains and by the grand National Parks of utah. But in the 19th century it was a focus of tour im of fascination, it was a focus of industry of mineral extractions, so for all those reasons the lake was and remains an integral part of utahs history. All weekend long, American History tv is featuring Salt Lake City, utah. The city awe Significant Growth after the trance Continental Railroad was completed in 1869 connecting the area to both the east and west. Together with our Comcast Cable parters, cspans local content Vehicles Team recently visited many sites exploring the citys rich history. Wilford woodruff was a very good journal keeper, he kept jurn aals from the time he joined the church in 1833 and continued keeping them up until his death in 1898. This is his very first journal and it shows you how meticulous he was in his journal keeping. He would spend as much as an hour a day writing in his journal, and for very important events he would add a little decoration. Here, for example, is the entry for his marriage date. As can you see here hes decorated it with lots of filigrees to make it look almost like a marriage certificate. At the end of his journal he kept sta test cal account of what happened to him in a given year. Table for 1837, summarizing his life during that time period. He essentially tells how many meetings he had, how many miles he traveled, how many letters he wrote. So very meticulous sta test cal sta testical record. I blessed two children i wrote 30 letters, i received 30 letters. He kept up this journal keeping his entire life in the church. From 1833 until 1898, a period of 65 years. And some of the entries are very poignant. He lived in the city of nauvoo with the founder of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints, joseph smith. He was there after Joseph Smiths death in 1844, and in 1946 the church completed the temple that was begun under Joseph Smiths direction before his death. This temple, to which he and other latterday saints had devoted an enormous amount of time and money became a symbol of the great sacrifice is that had given. So when the people of illinois drove out to latterday saints in 1846, woodruff made an entry in his journal, and he where, wrote, i looked upon the temple and city of nauvoo as i retired from it and fell to ask the lord to preserve it was a monument of the sacrifice of his saints. I think its very poignant. Getting his last glimpse of this building and asking god to protect it, as a monument to his peoples sacrifice. The importance of temples to latterday saints is that they are the buildings in which they perform ceremonies that they believe will link Families Together for eternity. In most of todays world when people marry they believe that marriage is until death. Latterday saints value families highly and believe that they can be for eternity and that temples of the places where the ceremonies are performed that make link an together for eternity possible. So leaving a temple was leaving a place of great sake rdness to latterday saints. In the case of Wilford Woodruff, he crossed iowa and then in 1847 the following year he crossed the great plains of north america into the great base sin and finally reached the Salt Lake Valley. When he reached the Salt Lake Valley he was traveling with Brigham Young. And in his journal for that time period, he makes a note of the impression that he and Brigham Young had when they entered the Salt Lake Valley. He says president young expressed his full satisfaction in the appearance of the valley, as a resting place for the saints. They have been driven from place to place and at last they thought here was a place where they could have freedom of religion and peace. He says while we contemplate that in not many years that the house of god would essentially be built here in this valley in what they call the tops of the mountains. Having left their temple in nauvoo the moment they interthe Salt Lake Valley theyre already contemplating that in that valley will be built the temple. They arrived in 1847 on a saturday. On sunday they paused to worship. On monday they climbed a nearby peak and on that peak they got a look at the valley and essentially declared this was the place they were going to be. And then Brigham Young went down into the valley between the two forks of a dleek flowed out of a nearby mountain, put his cane into the ground and essentially said here will be our new temple location. Wilford woodruff was there on that occasion, he took a stake and drove it into the ground to mark the place where young said the temple would be bit. In 1853 they finally began construction on that temple and it look 40 years to complete. In the meantime, the peculiar form of marriage practiced by latterday saints, what Common People call polygamy, but which latterday saints call plural marriage became an object of derision across the country. In 1862, a federal law was passed prohibiting this kind of marriage. The latterday saints ignored the law largely because it wasnt enforced and because they believed that the law was unconstitutional, that it violated their civil rights. Finally, 20 years later, the pressure to discontinue plural marriage increased with the passage of another law in 1882 and then an even tougher law in 1887. Combined with those laws were Supreme Court decisions essentially saying no these laws are constitutional. So the latter day saints who during this period of time practiced plural macial and believed in the importance of temples were forced to a choice. And Wilford Woodruff talks about that choice in his journal. He essentially records a document that he released in september of 1890 beginning the ending of that practice of plural marriage. And this is the journal in which he recorded that. So under the date of september 25 1890, he recorded in red ink official declaration and when ever he put anything in red ink that meant it was important. So official declaration, then he copies into his journal a document that was released to the public and later called the manifesto. This did not en plural marriage, but it started the ending of plural marriage in the church. In this document the operative language most important language was this language down here that is in fine print which basically says i hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws, meaning the laws that had been passed and found constitution l and to use my influence with the members of the church over which i preside to have them do like wise. Thats the operative language, thats what began the end of the practice of plural marriage in the church. As i mentioned it didnt end immediately. People who had may marriage covenants with multiple women continued to support them, and they continued to live their lives. But the number of new marriages began to decline between then and a period of roughly 14 years until 1904 when there was a second manifesto issued. After that time period they dropped off considerably, and now of course today latterday saints havent practiced plural marriage for generations and the fact not only is polygamy prohibited in the church, but anybody found practicing polygamy is excommunicated from the church. That decision to choose the presser vagues of the temple, thats what drove this, Wilford Woodruff felt inspired to say that if things continued to go the way they were, the federal government would take over the churchs temples temples and make it impossible for people to have the ceremonies that would join Families Together forever. So by issuing this manifesto, he and the members of the church were able to complete the salt lake temple. And on april 6, 1892 when they finished the exterior, they had a ceremony in which they put the angel statue on the top, over onto the cap stone. And in his journal, woodruff records that event under the date of april 6, 1892, he i writes this was the most interesting day in some respects the church has ever seen since its organization. The temple cap stone was laid with imposing ceremonies with electricity. By this time electricity had reached the Salt Lake Valley, so they dropped the angel onto its high pedestal using an electronic switch. It was presided over, he writes by president Wilford Woodruff. It was judged there was 50,000 on the temple grounds, and so this was a huge public event, the largest public event in the history of utah to that point. So a year later april 6, 1893 they completed the temple and dedicated it. From that time to the present its undergone a number much remodellings, but the exterior that you see in this 1892 photograph is essentially the exterior that you