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
