History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

THE NAUVOO TEMPLE DESTROYED. 235
ons, and in the long procession might be seen vehicles
of all descriptions, from the lumbering cart, under
whose awning lay stretched its fever-stricken driver,
to the veriest makeshifts of poverty, the wheelbarrow
or the two-wheeled trundle, in which was dragged
along a bundle of clothing and a sack of meal—all of
this world's goods that the owner possessed.
On arriving at the banks of the Missouri, the
wagons were drawn up in double lines and in the form
of squares. Between the lines, tents were pitched at
intervals, space being left between each row for a
passage-way, which was shaded with awnings or a
lattice-work of branches, and served as a promenade
for convalescents and a playground for children.
And what became of Nauvoo? The temple was
destroyed by fire and tempest, 40 and all the wood -work
consumed, while the rock was utilized for miles around
as foundations of houses, for door-steps, and other purposes.
A French company coming in later bought the
stone from those in possession, and built wine-vaults.
Foundations of buildings were broken up, and houses
once surrounded by carefully tended flower-gardens,
pillaged of all that was valuable, were now abandoned
by their ruthless destroyers. 41 "At present," writes
Linforth, "the Icariansform the most important part
of the population of Nauvoo. . .They live in a long
ugly row of buildings, the architect of which and of
the school-house was a cobbler." In the house built
for the prophet and his family dwelt in 1854 the
prophet's widow, his mother, and his family. 42
*°The temple was half destroyed by fire ou Nov. 19, 1848. Nauvoo Patriot,
in Millennial Star, xi. p. 46; and on May 27, 1850, further damaged
by a tornado. Hancock Patriot, in Mackay's The Mormons, 210. For cut of
remnants, see Linforth's Route from Liverpool to G. 8. L. Valley, 62, and
Hyde's Mormonism, 140. See also George Q. Cannon, in Juvenile Instructor,
vol. ix. no. 5, and Wells' Narrative, MS., 41; Deseret News, Aug. 24, 1850;
Frontier Guardian, July 24, 1S50.
41 As James Linforth describes in writing of Nauvoo in 1858.
a Route from Liverpool to G. S. L. Valley, 63.