Wilford Woodruff Journal 6: He Predicted the Railroad, Zion's Growth, and the Gathering — All Fulfilled (1868/80)

One of the most remarkable demonstrations of Wilford Woodruff's prophetic gifts documented in his journals was his 1868 discourse in Logan, Utah, in which he predicted the extraordinary growth that would transform the region.

In 1868, the transcontinental railroad had not yet reached Utah. The territory was remote and sparsely settled. Yet Woodruff prophesied specific developments that seemed, in 1868, virtually impossible.

Twelve years later — in 1880 — Woodruff returned to Logan for the Logan Temple dedication. According to those present and later records, he told the congregation that the prophecy he had made in 1868 was now being fulfilled before their eyes.

The fulfillments included:

- The completion of the transcontinental railroad (1869)

- The gathering of tens of thousands of Saints to Utah (over 70,000 by 1869)

- The settlement and cultivation of the Bear Lake and Cache Valley regions

- The construction of multiple temples (Manti, Logan, St. George, Salt Lake)

- The Isaiah prophecy: 'The mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the tops of the mountains and all nations shall flow unto it'

Woodruff consistently linked these fulfillments to Isaiah's prophecies, which he taught were being literally fulfilled in his lifetime. He noted that George A. Smith had preached on Isaiah the day after the pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, and that the fulfillment was now unmistakable.

His journals from this period are filled with his testimony that he was living in the fulfillment of ancient prophecy, not merely making history.