Salt Lake City, which is still the headquar ters of the Mormon Church, and both capital and metropolis of the State of Utah, is famed for its beauty of situation, its wide and excel lent streets and its many imposing structures. The great tabernacle, a building begun in 1864 and completed in 1867, is oval in plan, 250 feet long, 150 feet in greatest width and over 70 feet high from floor to ceiling at the centre. The roof is a great dome of lattice-work con struction and is self-supporting, the vast span being without a single pillar. As first con structed the enormous beams and trusses, en tirely of wood, were held together by wooden pegs and rawhide thongs, for in that day iron spikes were unobtainable. The seating capacity of the building is over 9,000; but, with aisles and other standing space occupied, assemblies of nearly 11,000 are not uncommon. The great organ in the tabernacle is of world-wide fame, and the choral service is scarcely less renowned. The temple is built of solid granite, with walls eight feet thick in the first story and six feet above. This building was begun in 1853 and was dedicated in 1893, the time occupied in its construction being 40 years to the day. It is
of composite architecture, with dimensions of 186 feet length, 118 feet width and 210 feet from ground to highest pinnacle. There are three other temples in Utah, one in Canada and one in Hawaii. The temples are used in ordi nance work and not for worshiping assemblies in general. A characteristic of Mormon prac tice is the rendering of vicarious service in baptism and other ordinances for the dead; and this labor is performed only within tem ples erected and dedicated for the purpose. Or dinances for the living are likewise adminis tered in these structures; and the distinctive ceremony of "celestial marriage" is confined to the temple administration. This order of marriage involves a covenant between the par ties for time and all eternity, and not only until death shall them part. No marriages are sol emnized in the temples or elsewhere among the Mormons except such as are authorized by the license of the State. See SALT LAKE CITY;