Wilford Woodruff Journal 6: He Predicted the Railroad, Zion's Growth, and the Gathering — All Fulfilled (1868/80)
Published April 26, 2026 at 9:47 AM
Contributed by
Todd Morgan
Beaumont, CA, 92223
In 1868, when Brigham Young and several of the Twelve visited Cache Valley, a railroad reaching northern Utah "was not even dreamed of," and building a temple in Logan "had never entered into the heart of man to do so." At a public meeting there, President Young called upon Wilford Woodruff to speak. Moved by the Spirit, Woodruff turned to the long line of children and young people who had come out to greet the prophet the night before and told them to remember the visit — because they would live to see the day when a temple would be built in that place, from the top of which they would survey a country occupied by ten thousand of their people.
Twelve years later, on August 1, 1880, Woodruff stood in the Logan Tabernacle and reminded that same community of the prophecy: "Today you are engaged building a temple which will be completed and dedicated." The Logan Temple was dedicated on May 17, 1884, and Cache Valley had become one of the most densely settled Latter-day Saint regions in the territory — thousands of Saints living within sight of the temple grounds, exactly as he had promised the children of 1868.
Woodruff also recounted a dream from years before the Saints reached the Rockies: he saw a temple built of cut granite stone in one of these mountain valleys, dedicated, with men he knew being called from it to preach to the nations. When the granite Salt Lake Temple's foundation was laid he recognized it as the temple of his dream, and whenever Brigham Young proposed building the temple of adobe or brick, Woodruff would say to himself, "No, you will never do it." He cited these fulfilled prophecies as evidence that "things are manifested to the Latter-day Saints sometimes which we do not know anything about, only as they are given by the Spirit of God."
In Their Own Words
“I remember when President Young and a party of us visited this place some twelve years ago. At that time there was no railroad here, and the idea of a railroad reaching this northern country was not even dreamed of by the people. And as for a temple, it had never entered into the heart of man to do so. While talking to the people I felt led to speak to the children and young people; and I told them that I wanted them to remember the visit which the president was making them, because the day would come when they were grown up, when they would talk to one another and say, that on such a day President Young and party visited us, and we were told then that we should see the day when a temple should be built in this place, from the top of which we would be able to survey the country around which would be occupied by ten thousand of our people. I remember that I felt a spirit of prophecy upon me at the time. I did not know how it was to be brought about, but I knew that the Lord had spoken it. Today you are engaged building a temple which will be completed and dedicated. And I have had dreams and visions of these things. I have seen temples built in these valleys of the mountains, and I have seen the time when the people would be gathered together in these valleys, and I have seen the time when the servants of God would go forth from these temples to preach the gospel to the nations of the earth. I have seen these things in vision years before we ever reached these mountains. When we were in the midst of the plains, and when we were in the midst of the mountains, I have seen these things, and I have known that they would come to pass. And when President Young would talk about building a temple of adobe or of brick, I would say to myself, No, you will never do it. I knew that the temple would be built of cut granite stone, and that it would be a temple of the Lord. And I have lived to see the foundation of that temple laid, and I have lived to see the work progressing, and I know that it will be finished.”
— Wilford Woodruff, discourse in the Logan Tabernacle, August 1, 1880
Sources & References
Wilford Woodruff, 'Revelation, Etc.,' discourse in the Tabernacle at Logan, August 1, 1880, Journal of Discourses 21:296–302 (reported by George F. Gibbs), full text: https://jod.mrm.org/21/296; LeGrand Richards, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder (Deseret Book, 1950), which recounts this prophecy Full first-person account: Journal of Discourses 21:299–300 https://jod.mrm.org/21/296
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