Building of St. George Temple ...... (with new pictures attached ~~~ submitted by David R. Gunderson)

Building of St. George Temple

 Work was commenced on the St. George Temple, March II. 1873; as in the past, the citizens of Mt. Pleasant readily responded to the call. Those at home donated liberally and on December 2nd. the following men and boys left their homes to perform labor on the temple: Lars Rasmussen, Christian Christensen, Hans Hansen, Soren Jacobsen, Chris Peel, August Nelson, William Olson, Jacob Jensen, Hans Davidson, Olaf Rosenlof, Thomas Coates, Christian Madsen, Thomas Fuller, Andrew Rolph, Abraham Day, Ezra Day, James C. Christensen, Joseph Burton, Fred Mauritz Petersen, Nels Syndergaard, Frank Keller, with Andrew Madsen (Harbro), Jake Bohne, Bennett Monk and Peter Rasmussen as teamsters. The four last named soon returned to Mt. Pleasant, while the others remained until during the spring of 1874. At the present writing, 1939. the only two of the entire party now living are Andrew Rolph and William Olson. At the time the party left Mt. Pleasant, they were instructed by the bishop to apply to the bishops of the Wards for shelter and supplies while camping; however, at Indian Creek or Pine Dug Way they encountered a very severe blizzard, and after vainly endeavoring to travel on, were compelled to camp in the open without any shelter whatsoever, and for a time feared they would all perish. Finally, December 14th, after having traveled in a heavy, blinding snowstorm most of the way, they reached St. George safely. January 4th, four loads of sup plies were taken to them by James Larsen, Sylvester Barton, Soren Hansen Jacobsen, and Christopher Johnson. taken from History of Mt Pleasant by Hilda Madsen