A business tourist named Joseph Lauer visited Salt Lake City while on a 1909 business trip and reported his visit in his hometown newspaper. In every way his was an ordinary visit, and he describes sights and events with which we’re all familiar. What interests me about this particular account, though, is that it came at a time when Mormonism was still recovering from the negative publicity of the Smoot hearings; more bad times were just ahead when various religious and women’s groups would raise a remarkable fuss over the silver service presented to the battleship Utah,to be followed by investigations in Great Britain, foul movies like “A Mormon Maid” and “Trapped by the Mormons,” and on and on – acceptance and peaceful times were still years away.

But as this report demonstrates, some tourists were capable of visiting the Mormon capital without a social or political agenda. Joseph Lauer was just a curious tourist. Through him we can see an ordinary day on Temple Square, and see what tourist guides were saying – even witness the famous “dropping of a pin” demonstration in the tabernacle that tourists still see today. We already know everything he’ll report to us – what’s fun is watching him report it without any hint of political commentary.

Milwaukee Times
29 May 1909

Salt Lake a Great City

I left Milwaukee on January 15th on my trip west, in the interests of the Milwaukee Glove company. In the course of about two weeks I landed I the city of Mormons, Salt Lake. Having in the past heard much about this city and its inhabitants, and curious to know more, my curiosity finally landed me at “Temple Block,” which is a tract covering ten acres square surrounded by a stone wall twelve feet high and three feet thick. Passing through the gate I noticed a small building over which were the words “Bureau of Information.” Stepping inside I found myself in the midst of numerous other travelers, both ladies and gentlemen, and was immediately given attention and informed that in a few moments an attendant would escort us through the grounds and buildings. Soon the attendant came, and our party which consisted of about twenty persons was marched through the grounds to a building called the “Assembly Hall.” The structure is built of grey granite, and is semi-gothic in appearance. We were informed by our attendant that the building was 68×120 feet in dimensions, took five years to construct, was used for religious services and public lectures and concerts in cases where the big tabernacle was too large. Our guide here called our attention to the plain seats, stating there were no pews or rented seats in any of the Mormon churches, and that they took up no collections, or had any contribution boxes, as the Mormons are guided by the ancient law given to the children of Israel, and supports the church of his own free will with one-tenth of his income.

Our guide took us then to the great Tabernacle, up a fight of steps, and to the rear end of the great building, where we were informed that we were 200 feet from the front railing, and that the custodian would at that distance whisper to us and drop a pin upon the railing. The custodian thereupon appeared, dropped the pin upon the railing and whispered, both of which we could hear plain and as distinctly as if three feet away. At this juncture our guide also informed us that this building was erected from 1865 to 1867. The building being elliptic in shape we were informed would we were informed would seat 8,0000 people. Its dimensions are 80 feet in height, 150 feet width and 250 feet long. The roof is self-supporting and made of wood and rests upon pillars 10 to 12 feet apart, and situated near the outer part, and around the whole circumference of the building. Wooden arches ten feet in thickness and spanning 150 feet are supported by the pillars. No iron or nails of any kind were used in the framework, and the arches were put together with wooden pins. The reason for this was that there was no railroad at that time running into Utah, and all manufactured materials had to be hauled from the Missouri river by ox teams, and shingles were first used, but a few years ago were replaced by a metallic covering.

Our guide paused for breath, then in a tone of pardonable pride he continued, “When I tell you that the man who planned and erected this building as well as he Temple was a glazier and cabinet maker by trade and when I also inform you that he was instrumental in creating this great commonwealth, which is noted for its law, order and religious devotion, you will admit that he must have been a wonderful genius. I refer to Brigham Young. to us he was the divinely chosen successor to our founder Joseph Smith – he was a prophet of God, an inspired man.”

At this point the face of our guide became radiant, and he went on to recite the history of Joseph Smith, which however, I shall pass over, and tell of the greatest organ it has ever been my good luck to hear. An organ recital is given to the visiting public twice a month in winter, and I was fortunate in being present at one of them. the organ was constructed thirty years ago but reconstructed at various times since, and finished five years ago, and cost $130,000.

This organ is placed above the choir seats, 500 in number. The organist when playing is seated well among the choir, 20 feet away from the organ. The size of the organ is 30×33 feet, contains 5,000 pipes, ranging in length from 1-4 inch to 32 feet. It has 110 stops and accessories. its tonal varieties are many thousands, comprising five complete organs – solo, swell, great, choir and pedal; or four keys in addition to the pedals.

Every color, shadow or tint of tone can be produced upon it. It is blown by a ten-horse power electric motor, and two gangs of feeders furnish 5000 cubic feet of air a minute when it is being played in full. When I first heard the strains, I imagined I heard a great band in the distance gradually growing louder and more distinct, until of a sudden it seemed as if I were surrounded upon all sides by bands, playing various and powerful instruments.

This performance was repeated, but instead of hearing a band I imagined I heard a choir singing and curious to see the singers I began looking about, but could see no one but the organist playing, and visitors like myself, sitting very quietly and listening with rapt attention to the wonderful reproductions of the human voice the pipes of the wonderful organ brought forth.

Now, to get back to the buildings: After our guide had explained everything of interest about this Tabernacle he led us to a position from which we had a very good view of the Temple, constructed of massive granite blocks, with six majestic spires. Here we halted, and the following facts were related to us:

“The Temple is 186-1/2 feet long, 99 feet wide, 222 feet high, including the figure ‘Moroni.’ The walls vary in thickness from 6 to 9 feet above ground while the foundation walls are 16 feet wide and 8 feet deep. For twenty years the huge blocks of stone were hauled by ox teams – a single stone requiring the strength of four yoke of oxen, and four days time to transport. After that the railroad was built to the stone quarries, and from then on transportation was easier. The Temple was in course of construction for 40 years, due to delays on account of the poverty of the people and no railroad facilities in the earlier days. The cost of the building was $4,000,000. Visitors are never admitted to the Temple, as the Temple is not a place of worship or a church, but to us it is a holy place, where we perform marriages, baptismal ceremonies and other sacred rites, some of which are for the dead.” Asked to explain the last remark he did so as follows: “We baptize and perform other rites for the dead. That is, I mean to say, we baptize the living as proxy for the dead, for we believe that there is hope in the future life for those to whom the chance has not come in this life to receive the benefits of Christ’s vicarious atonement.”

Many other interesting subjects were related to us, after which our guide takes us back to the Bureau of Information, and we each was presented with samples of gray rock of which the Temple was built. – Jos. Lauer