Brigham Young's 1862 Prophecy Concerning the Temple and the Millennium

In August 1862, workers had uncovered the Salt Lake Temple foundation for inspection, and Brigham Young ordered the defective original sandstone footings replaced with granite. On the evening of August 22, 1862, President Young walked the temple block with Wilford Woodruff of the Quorum of the Twelve and Isaac Morley ("Father Morley"). Woodruff recorded the moment in his journal: "President Young said I expet this Temple will stand through the Millennium & the Brethren will go in and give the Endowments to the people and this is the reason why I am having the foundation of the Temple taken up."

Young lamented that the contractor responsible for the earlier foundation "would have done it much better" had he built "the meanest House" for Nero to serve the devil in, and added a millennial urgency: "If we do not Hurry with this I am afraid we shall not get it up untill we have to go back to Jackson County which I Expet will be in 7 years. I do not want to quite finish this Temple for there will not be any Temple finished untill the One is finished in Jackson County Missouri pointed out by Joseph Smith. Keep this a secret to yourselves lest some may be discouraged. Some things we should keep to ourselves."

He then described a plan for the temple block shown him "in vision when I first Came onto the ground": a tower with a bell west of the temple, and beyond it a tabernacle seating some 15,000 — a plan the Saints later carried out in the Salt Lake Tabernacle and the temple block as it stands today. Thirty-one years after that evening walk, the Salt Lake Temple stood complete on its granite foundation and was dedicated in April 1893 — with Wilford Woodruff, who had recorded the prophecy at Young's side, presiding as President of the Church. The statement fixed for Woodruff the millennial significance and prophetic destiny of the temple: a house built, as Young declared, to stand through the Millennium.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

Last Evening while walking with President Young & Father Morley on the Temple block, President Young said I expet this Temple will stand through the Millennium & the Brethren will go in and give the Endowments to the people and this is the reason why I am having the foundation of the Temple taken up. He said the man who put in the foundation would have done it much better if he had been building the meanest House for Nero to serve the devil in than he did in laying the foundation of this Temple. If we do not Hurry with this I am afraid we shall not get it up untill we have to go back to Jackson County which I Expet will be in 7 years. I do not want to quite finish this Temple for there will not be any Temple finished untill the One is finished in Jackson County Missouri pointed out by Joseph Smith. Keep this a secret to yourselves lest some may be discouraged. Some things we should keep to ourselves. Presidet Young then said right west of the Temple in a line between the North & South gates we shall build a Tower & put a Bell in it. We shall build it square & build it as high as we please. Then west of the Tower we will build a Tabernacle to hold some 15,000 people. This plan was shown me in vision when I first Came onto the ground.