Joyous Celebration for Joseph’s Birthday
By Maurine Jensen Proctor; Photographs by Scot Facer
Proctor
A
bigger birthday party may have never been held than the
one celebrating 200 years since the birth of the Prophet
Joseph Smith. Twenty-one thousand people gathered in the
Conference Center in Salt Lake City, and untold numbers
joined via satellite at stake centers and in television
broadcasts across the globe.
click
on photos to enlarge
The
setting for this historic broadcast was next to the hearthstone
from the small home where Joseph Smith was born.
What
is better than cake and candles and shouting hurrah to celebrate
a birthday? Certainly having tribute paid by all the members
of the First Presidency and great-great-great-grand-nephew
Elder Russell M. Ballard, broadcasting both from Vermont
and the Conference Center. Add to that the Mormon Tabernacle
Choir singing “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet,” “Praise
to the Man,” “The Spirit of God,” and “A Poor Wayfaring
Man of Grief” — all songs widely associated with Joseph’s
life — and you have a grand party, indeed.
President
Gordon B. Hinckley said that Joseph Smith would have been
not only pleased, but amazed.
Marking
this 200th anniversary was in the same spirit
of those who made such an immense effort to celebrate the
100th anniversary in 1905. President Hinckley
said, “Only once before has a President of the Church stood
where I stand today to memorialize a centennial of the birth
of Joseph Smith Jr. That President was Joseph F. Smith,
who came here December 23, 1905. A comparable event cannot
happen for another full century.
A
Sense of History
“A
sense of history overwhelms me. I feel as if I am straddling
the centuries…
President
Hinckley stops at the monument for a moment to reflect upon
the life of the Prophet Joseph.
“A
century ago President Smith dedicated the monument which
marks the Prophet’s birthplace. Today while the sun was
shining, we walked about this magnificent polished granite
shaft, thinking not only of the man it memorializes, but
also of the providence of the Lord in bringing it into place…
It is a miraculous story all by itself.
“Junius
F. Wells is responsible for its presence. He was the son
of Daniel H. Wells, who was associated with the prophet
in Nauvoo, and who served for twenty years as a counselor
to President Brigham Young. In 1905, Junius Wells suggested
to the First Presidency that the Church acquire the old
Solomon Mack farm, which straddled the line that separates
South Royalton and Sharon, Vermont. He further suggested
that a fitting monument be erected here.
View
of the Solomon Mack Farm in 1905, when the Church purchased
it.
“The
Presidency accepted his suggestion and authorized him to
proceed. He came here and was able to check the titles
to the old Mack holdings and was able to acquire the property.
This spot where we stand was known as Dairy Hill.
“Brother
Wells then set out to find a suitable piece of granite.
Where could there be a large enough piece from which could
be shaped a dressed pillar thirty-eight and a half feet
tall, one foot for each year of the prophet’s life? He
searched through the quarries of Vermont and finally found
a suitable piece in the quarry of Barre. The rough stone
was laboriously taken from the quarry to the mill where
it was shaped and polished. More stone was required to
provide a suitable base.
Quarry
in Barre, Vermont from whence the granite was taken to form
the beautiful shaft that was placed at the birthplace in
1905. This quarry was closed in 1989. This picture
was taken December 23, 2005.
“Eventually,
the granite was ready, but there remained the almost insurmountable
task of moving it, first by rail and then by wagon to the
place where it was to be erected.
“A
bridge over the White River had to be greatly strengthened.
A special wagon was found with steel tires twenty inches
wide and axles eight inches thick. Twenty-two horses were
required to haul this load of some forty tons from the railroad
terminal up the hill. Slowly, day after day, the great,
ponderous load was moved. It was now the middle of December,
and the monument was to be in place and ready for dedication
on December 23.
Enormous
rough stone to be cut and polished measured approximately
4’ x 4’ x 40’ long. It weighed more than 40 tons.
“It
was necessary to cross through a meadow, and there a swamp
lay directly where the wagon had to go. Rocks were dumped
into the swamp. They sank out of sight. Hardwood planking
was tried, but that did not help. The onlookers asked Brother
Wells what he was going to do. He said, ‘I’m going to pray.’
“The
weather was relatively warm for December. Before retiring
for the night he opened his heart pleading with the Lord
to help him find a way to get the monument in place.
The
task of getting the polished shaft to the top of Dairy Hill
was nearly impossible.
“That
night when he was in such desperate need and offered such
a moving prayer, the temperature miraculously dropped 30
degrees in a very short time. In the morning when Junius
examined the swamp it was frozen solid. The horse-drawn
wagon was able to pass over it without difficulty.
“A
proper foundation base was prepared at the site of erection,
and by means of a great block and tackle the polished granite
shaft was raised without injuring it in any way.
Using
a hand-built block and tackle system the shaft was put in
place.
“It
was a miracle. At that time, it was probably the largest
single polished shaft anywhere in America, if not in the
entire world. It may still be so.
“Its
creation and erection were almost like Joseph’s description
of his own life when he said:
It
was truly a time of celebration to erect such a monument
as this to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1905.
“’I
am like a huge, rough stone rolling down… a high mountain;
and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed
off by… striking with accelerated force against… mobs, blasphemers,
licentious and corrupt men and women — all hell knocking
off a corner here and a corner there. Thus I will become
a polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty.’” (HC 5:401).
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