The Temple Quarry

Brigham Young picked the spot and would not move it, even after diggers hit springs and the ground turned to bog. Sandstone would crumble in that wet, so they quarried black lava rock from the volcanic ridge west of town instead — seventeen thousand tons, some blocks coffin-sized, hauled by ox team. To make the swamp bear weight, they had to pound the rock deep. Having no pile driver, they filled an old cannon barrel with lead, rigged a hoist, and dropped it again and again until the ground held. The temple has stood on it since 1877.

What the plaque says

THE TEMPLE QUARRY THIS IS WHERE THE ROCK WAS QUARRIED FOR THE FOUNDATION OF THE ST. GEORGE TEMPLE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS. LAVA, FLOWING FROM VOLCANOES TO THE NORTH, FORMED THIS ROCK WHICH IS IMPERVIOUS TO THE ALKALI AND WATER FOUND IN THE SOIL WHERE THE TEMPLE WAS TO BE BUILT. THE STONE WAS QUARRIED INTO SLABS AVERAGING TEN FEET LONG, FORTY-TWO INCHES WIDE, THIRTEEN INCHES THICK, AND FIVE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS IN WEIGHT. THE UNIQUE METHOD OF LOADING THEM FOR HAULING WAS BY PLACING THE STONE ON SIX INCHES OF SOIL, STRADLING IT WITH THE WAGON, SECURING IT TO THE UNDERCARRIAGE, AND THEN REMOVING THE DIRT FROM UNDER THE ROCK. THE QUARRY WAS ACTIVE DURING THE EARLY EIGHTEEN-SEVENTIES. This plaque was donated by the Cotton Mission Chapter of the Sons of Utah Pioneers UTAH PIONEER SESQUICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION COORDINATING COUNCIL SITE No. 31 DEDICATED 1996

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm — 2.0 mi
  Real dinosaur footprints preserved in ancient sandstone
• Snow Canyon State Park — 7.4 mi
  Red and white sandstone cliffs with ancient lava flows
• Virgin River Gorge — 16 mi
• Hurricane Canal Trail — 19 mi
  The hand-dug canal that built Hurricane, now a walking trail blasted into the Virgin River gorge

More markers nearby

• Orson Pratt House — 1.4 mi
• Lucy Bigelow Young — 1.5 mi
• The Hardy House — 1.5 mi
• Brigham Young Home — 1.5 mi