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Stone Quarries and Railroads Tracks

How the Pacific Railroad Affected the Miners of Little


Cottonwood Temple Quarry

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By Mikal Norton

About the Little Cottonwood Quarry Site

The archaeological site being reviewed and investigated in this


research paper is the Little Cottonwood Temple Quarry site. This site is
currently located within the Wasatch National Forest in Little Cottonwood
Canyon, just north of
Granite, the site
beginning only a few
miles into the
canyon. This site is
currently being
preserved by the
Unita-Wasatch-Cache
National Forest
Services, an agency that works to maintain over a 150 national forests. This
agency works with multiple public and private agencies, including local and
state government agencies, businesses, and private land owners.
In this research paper I will be studying the Little Cottonwood Temple
Quarry site and giving a detailed description of the site, a brief history, and
present two research questions. The two research questions will pertain to
the effects the Transcontinental Railroad had on the quarrys workers and the
cultures found there, which I will provide the hypothesis and methods to, but
I will not answer them. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate what the
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Little Cottonwood Temple Quarry site is, how it can still provide us with
valuable historic archaeological information, and inspire historical
archaeologists to research further into the site.

Little Cottonwood Temple Quarry Today

Its not hard to find the Little Cottonwood Temple Quarry site, it is
currently part of a trail called the Temple Quarry Trail up in Little Cottonwood
Canyon. The whole canyon is part of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest,
which means the trail is continually being maintained and protected.
Unfortunately, this also means the site itself is constantly being altered by
the thousands of hikers that go on that trail most months of the year. With
the site being set as public land, theres no way to keep historically
significant material that hasnt be excavated already from being stolen,
damaged, or moved except by threat of federal law.
At the present what is left of the site is mostly a few ruined buildings,
some scattered granite stones that still have chisel marks on them, and
some church site makers that the LDS church had set up in the 1990s. There
are also sections of the canyon walls that clearly show where quarrymen had
cut huge sections of stone out. All of these quarry relics are under constant
danger from human vandalism and the elements, which means any detailed
research that could be found from this site is becoming harder to find with
every passing year. Luckily the site is protected by federal law, but that is
not guarantee the sites will remain well preserved.

Why Investigate the Temple Quarry Site?

Though the quarry had been abandoned decades before the Wasatch
National Forest was made and most of the buildings, tracks, and signs of
human life had been lost to time, theres still a lot that can still be learned
from this site. I personally havent seen much research concerning
excavation at the Little Cottonwood Temple Quarry site outside of LDS church
records, and even those records are very limited in detailed information. My
interest in studying the Little Cottonwood Temple Quarry site is mainly to see
what life was like for these various quarrymen who had labored for nearly
four decades to help complete one of the greatest architectural
achievements in Salt Lake Valley history.
Since the site had been opened from 1860 to almost the turn of the
century theres undoubtedly a lot of human signs of the changing times that
happened as the quarry was in use. One of the biggest changes that would
alter life at the quarry entirely was the completion of the Transcontinental
Railroad, which not only made goods and services available from the eastern
states, but they could also haul granite blocks straight to Salt Lake City.
Historic information of all kinds still waits in the quarry site, so its imperative
that the site be excavated and research as much as possible.

A Brief History of the Little Cottonwood Temple Quarry

The Little Cottonwood Temple Quarrys origins began when the


Mormons settled in a valley that was in a territory outside of the U.S., which
would later be known as Utah. The Mormons had been persecuted and driven
out of their homes years before they even thought of crossing the mid-west,
all of it starting on April 6th 1830 when Joseph Smith organized the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Manchester, New York. Though many
people converted to this new religion, many more openly opposed and
persecuted Latter-day Saints, or Mormons as they were branded. The
saints tried to make homes were ever they were welcomed and even erect
temples in relation to the ancient temple of Jerusalem, yet their stays rarely
lasted long. Many times the saints were chased out from one state to
another, then after building their own town in Nauvoo Illinois their church
leader Joseph Smith was murdered in Carthage Jail on June 27th 1844. This
was soon followed by a mass exodus as the saints were forced to leave the
U.S. entirely and find a new home in unclaimed territory.
Under the leadership of Brigham Young the saints were lead across the
plains of the mid-west and over the Rockies to what is now the Salt Lake
Valley. Here the saints began to rebuild their lives again and create new
temples to worship in. It was decided by church leaders that the Salt Lake
Temple be built entirely out of granite, as such a resource for granite had to
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found close enough to carry granite blocks to Salt lake Temple Square. In
1860 the Little Cottonwood Temple Quarry was opened and construction
began on the Salt Lake Temple. A Scottish immigrant named James C.
Livingston, who was a stone cutter by trade, was appointed to oversee the
quarry and teach his trade to those who needed it.
It overall took forty years to complete the Salt Lake Temple, thirty-nine
of those years were spent just working on the stone work of the temple. This
was due to many problems, delays, and events that plagued the temples
construction. Two of the major reasons was a military incident that eventually
led to the foundations of the temple being completely torn out and replaced,
and the other was the tedious method of transporting granite to the temple.
Not long after the sandstone foundations for the temple had been
placed, shocking news reached them that an impending army of federal
troops were marching towards them. This army had been sent due to fictions
reports of a Mormon insurrection taking place in the Salt Lake valley,
leading U.S. president Buchanan to hastily put a stop this supposed threat.
In an effort to keep the federal troops from desecrating their temple
site Brigham Young had the saints bury the foundations and make it look like
a freshly plowed field, then he had them desert Salt Lake City until the troops
had passed on. Luckily the troops did pass by without incident, but when the
time came to dig up foundation again the saints were dismayed to find that
foundations stones had all cracked and were left useless as a foundation. It

was then decided that the entire foundation be torn out and replaced entirely
by granite, unfortunately it had already taken four years just to lay the
foundation. It would now take longer to replace the work that had already
been done.
Then next biggest hindrance to the temples construction, in fact the
one of the leading reasons why progress was so slow, was the time it took to
transport the granite blocks from the quarry to the temple grounds. Each
block of granite that was cut and shipped weighed anywhere from 2,500 to
5,600 pounds, and one block would take three to four days to transport, even
with good weather and a team of strong ox to pull the wagon.
This incredibly slow transporting process is what led to the decision to
shut down the quarry. This shut down was only temporary though, due to the
coming arrival and near completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. In 1868
all manpower was diverted to helping in completing the railroad. In which
time a lot of conflicts arose with the saints and the railroad workers, not all
physical conflicts, but a good deal of moral conflicts. The famous Hell on
Wheels, the movable towns the railroad builders carried with them by train,
was the source of a great deal of strife for many of the saints, particularly the
saloons, brothels, and accompanying criminals.
At one point during work on the railroad explosives were used to widen
a canyon for the trains to pass through easily. James Livingston had been
reassigned from overseeing the quarry to directing the saints as they worked

on the railroad. During these demolitions a major piece of canyon had to be


removed, but when the charges were set off not all of the dynamite blew. It
was Jamess responsibility to have the dynamite reset, so he set off up the
canyon with a bag full of dynamite. On his way up James slipped on some
rocks and as he rolled down the dynamite in the bag went off as it hit the
ground. James was badly injured and his right arm was severely damaged,
yet he managed to recover from the experience. His arm unfortunately had
to be amputated and it was replaced by a wooden prosthetic limb with a
hook at the end of it. Not long after he recovered James went back to
overseeing the quarry, he would direct the quarry until the temple was finally
finished.
With the Transcontinental railroad completed a whole new wave of
opportunities came to the saints. Not only did they have a direct way to get
goods and services from the eastern states, which greatly improved life in
the quarry and the valley, they also had a faster, more effective way to ship
granite to Temple Square. A track was built from the quarry to the temple
and huge shipments of high quality granite were being shipped straight to
Temple Square. Sometime later as derricks were built to haul stone blocks
high above a steam powered engine was purchased to work one of these
derricks, a sign that technological advancements were on the rise.
The temples stone work was finally completed in 1892 on the 6th of
April, and soon after the quarry was closed. The Salt Lake Temple was fully
completed and dedicated only a year later and the quarry was soon
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completely forgotten. The train tracks that had connected Salt Lake City to
Little Cottonwood were disconnected and mostly taken apart. It wasnt until
the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest was founded in the mid 1900s that
the site became active with people again, mainly with hikers and historian
enthusiasts. The remnants of this once thriving quarry can still be seen in the
chiseled stone blocks and only ruins that dot the canyon today.

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What Im Researching about the Temple Quarry

As I mentioned before, this site holds a lot of great history that


captures the life a quarryman during the early settlement years of the Saints
in Utah to the turn of the century. I wish to be able to excavate and research
this site so that I can provide more information about the life styles that were
found at this site, the culture was both generally and individually seen, and
changes that came to the quarry with the passing of time.
In order to properly research this site I have two main questions I want
to find the answers to that will give a deeper look into the Little Cottonwood
Temple Quarry site. Along with the questions I also have two hypothesis for
each question that I plan to test out at the site.
1. What was life like for the typical quarryman before the completion of the
Transcontinental Railroad?
Hypothesis 1:
I believe that with the majority of the quarry workers being local saints
and converted immigrants from the England, Scotland, Ireland, and Denmark,
there would be a large increase mixed American and European goods and
items.
Hypothesis 2:

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Since the quarry was completely owned by the LDS church and
manned by church members who basically had to live at the quarry I believe
that one of the ruined structures still found at the quarry site was a LDS
church building.

2. How did working conditions change for the quarry workers after the
completion of the Transcontinental Railroad?
Hypothesis 1:
I believe that the time the workers spent helping build the railroad had
caused an increase of more vices hidden into their working community,
especially after contact with Hell on Wheels, such as liquor consumption,
smoking, and gambling.
Hypothesis 2:
With the Transcontinental railroad finish and goods from the eastern
states now available to Utah I believe that and increase in more finely made
tools, lifting machines, and food stores will be found at the site.

With these questions I intend to give the world a greater look into who a
quarryman was, as a community and as an individual, and demonstrate what
factors altered that identity. This research will go a long way into helping us
understand more about the saints who first settled in the Salt Lake Valley and how
they chose to adapt to the change world around them. All of this research is
specifically geared toward understanding what makes life and culture in Utah
unique and how it got that way.
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My Research Methods for Excavating the Little Cottonwood


Temple Quarry Site

In order for me to properly research each of the questions I have


before stated I need to be able to study the site extensively. Proper studying
requires that I do deep excavation of the site, so in order to accomplish this I
need to be able to get together a team of well-seasoned historical
archaeologists and volunteers. I will also need to obtain a special permit from
the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest Services, considering this type of
excavation will cause the Temple Quarry trail to be shut down.
Once at the site I will have our workers go about cataloguing and
survey the area for the extent of human activity pertaining to ground level
sight. With approximate perimeters set individual features and portions will
be sectioned off for specific studying. Possible artifacts such as cans, bottles,
tools, clothing pieces, and other various human relics will be identified,
catalogued, and stored. In this part of the excavation I hope to be able to see
whether my hypothesis about heavy cultural exchanges of American and
European took place at this site. I also hope to find evidence of whether
drinking, smoking, and gambling was present in the quarry and whether it
appeared after the railroad was supposed to have been built. Lastly I also
hope to find evidence that tools, can food goods, and other goods from the

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eastern states could be found that date back to after the Transcontinental
Railroad being built.
Digging and heavy examination will commence around old structures
in an effort to ascertain what the function of the buildings were for. Provided
the proper safety precautions are taken we will dig within the ruins to find
evidence as to what function each building played a part in the quarry. I hope
to find evidence that one of the ruins was once a church building where the
LDS members gathered together to worship.
To further expand my research other more sophisticated techniques
will be employed into order to ascertain deeper information. Metal detecting
techniques will be used to find deeper artifacts hidden about, such as broken
tools, a possible blacksmithing location, or even a lost machine. Soil
resistivity will be used to find possible locations of major quarrying activity or
any other types of activities. Magnetonetry may even be used to find
possible concentrations, like a fire pit, a dump, or possibly even a grave site.
Other methods may be required as work continues, but ultimately I am
certain that the methods I have mentioned thus far will be more than enough
to determine whether my hypothesis to my questions are true or not. For all
I know everything I hypothesize could be completely wrong, or theres just
not enough evidence left to come to any conclusive answer. The fact is that
this site possibly holds a great deal of knowledge and I am determined to
find out what may be hidden in this obscure little section of human history.

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Summary

In conclusion the Little Cottonwood Temple Quarry site is a major place


of investigation to learn about the culture of Mormons and other Salt Lake
valley residents as they have lived in this valley since it was founded. This
quarry can give us a strong glimpse into the workings of LDS and late 1800s
culture. This site also hold evidence that shows the progression of industry
and architecture as the turn of the century came about. As we study sights
like the Temple Quarry we gain more knowledge of our identity as human
beings and learn what leads us to be who we are today.
I hope this research paper had been of some help and inspiration to all
those interested in historical archaeology or those who are simply interested
in Utah historic sites. I hope this paper will bear fruit someday as historical
archaeologist due excavate the Little Cottonwood Temple Quarry site and
discover what is hidden there. These sites require our attention and we must
do all we can to learn from them and keep that knowledge safe for all our
posteritys sake.

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Bibliography

Holzapfel, Richard Neitzel


1992 Every Stone a Sermon. Bookcraft Inc., Utah
Barter, James
2002 Building the Transcontinental Railroad. Lucent Books Inc.,
California.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
2006 Our Heritage: A Brief History of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. Intellectual Reserve, Inc., Utah
Colvin, Don F.
1975 Quarrying the Temple. Ensign. October; 10
Hell on Wheels
PBS.org. Electronic document,
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/generalarticle/tcrr-hell/, accessed Nov 26, 2016.

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