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Source: Church History Vol. 3 Chapter 34 Page: 667 (~1872)

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667 round the history of its building, although the one at Jackson County was supposed to be the one most likely to be accepted when completed. This temple at Nauvoo was begun under circumstances of adversity; its erection was continued during the period of the greatest activity in the promulgation of the gospel abroad, and the gathering to the west, as the states of Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa were then designated. It was during the building of this edifice that Nauvoo became, by charter, the 'City of the Saints;' it was also during this period that other public measures were adopted, and culminated, as we shall trace further on in our article.

"It has been stated by those whose duty it was to know, that the Temple at Nauvoo was finished, 'completed as Joseph designed.' This statement is not true. In no sense can it be said truthfully, that any part of the Temple at Nauvoo was completed, with the possible exception of the main assembly room into which the front doors opened. The basement, in which was the font, was incomplete; the stairway to the left of the front was not relieved of the rough boards laid on the risings, on which the workmen went up and down; the upper assembly room was not accessible, the floor not being laid, neither the doors hung nor the walls plastered. Besides this, the inside ornamentation was by no means finished even in those parts called completed. There are plenty of persons now living who were frequent visitors to the Temple after the people who built it left Nauvoo, who will testify that the building was not completed; among them, David LeBaron, who had charge of it for some time; Major L. C. Bidamon, for years proprietor of the Mansion House; Dr. Weld, of Nauvoo; Amos Davis, living near the Big Mound, on the Nauvoo and La Harpe road; George Edmunds, of Sonora, and the writer, with a host of others.

"It is further rumored that after the death of Joseph Smith the plans and specifications were altered; and that such parts as were nearly completed were not so completed in accordance with the original design. Of this we cannot testify, never having seen the original drawings nor read

(page 667)

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