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From apprenticeship days with his father, Folsom learned and lived by the rule that "a structure of any kind is no stronger than its foundation". Few people pay any attention to the buttresses of the Salt Lake Tabernacle. They stand like "stone hedges" erected by the Druids of old and they are not particularly attractive, yet without the permanent durability of these supports, the roof would surely fall.
Sandstones for the forty-four piers, each nine feet by three feet by twenty feet high, was cut and hauled from Red Butte Canyon, east of the city. How well these buttresses were founded and placed is attested in the journal of James Moyle, Supervisor of Stone Work on Temple Block: "After the one-year time which President Young designated for the pillars to settle before starting work on the roof, there was not over one inch difference in the measurement."
Indians in the southern portion of the Territory were using "killings" and "depredation" in order to gain revenge for white men intruding on their domain. Men were called into military service to quell the uprising. President Young issued letters calling for men to assist with brining the telegraph line into the settlements. Sixty men and their families were called to the Muddy Mission in the southwestern part of the Territory. The Church Authorities purchased a large tract of land in Hawaii and called a number of men and families to build mills, homes and schools, as well as to labor as missionaries in this field. The Saints anxiously awaited the appointment of a new governor following the death of Governor Doty on June 13, 1865. A period of unrest fell over the nation following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. There was a widespread epidemic of measles with several fatalities. As the number of immigrants increased, so did the demand for teamsters and supplies to meet the Saints in the East and assist them to the Valley. All of these projects demanded men who otherwise might have contributed services at the Temple Block.
In addition, dedicated effort was lacking among those "volunteers" who did come to do most of the actual building of the Tabernacle, because too many of them nurtured the sincere belief that such an unusual structure could never materialize! Indeed, their reaction reminds one of the difficulties encountered in rebuilding the Chapel of Saint Sophia in Constantinople. Even though Byzantium Architecture was popular in 532 A.C., some of the architects declared the roof designed for St. Sophia would fall on the worshippers. After a tremendous struggle, it was finally built and is still standing today a masterpiece of art: