Dr. John P. Livingstone: This is the standard stone quarry where stone for the Kirtland temple was quarried years ago. Joseph Smith himself acted as the stone quarry foreman for a time. This is that in what is known today as the Chapin or Chapin forest preservation park.
Subscript: The drill marks in the stones seen today were made in the late 19th century and were not part of the process used during construction of the Kirtland Temple.
Dr. John P. Livingstone: It is about two miles south of the Kirtland temple of course you can see in the quarry area where they drilled holes course there was a small stream going off here. they would take the stone after it had been cut, they would lay it out to dry in the sun. Originally the Kirtland temple was designed to be built of brick until they open the stone quarry.1 At that point then it was possible for everyone to be involved. Those who had wagons could draw the stone the two miles to the Kirtland temple, those who didn’t have wagons, of course, would help in the preparing and the cutting of the stones. They would cut enough stone in a day to keep the Masons busy for an entire week on the Kirtland temple. It really didn’t matter what your position was in the church whether it was First Presidency or just as a brand new member, why, people could all be involved in working on the Kirtland temple. They felt ownership, they felt commitment, they felt they were truly serving the Lord here in the stone quarry.
Voice over for Heber C. Kimball: “When we arrived in Kirtland, Joseph said, “Come, brethren, let us go into the stone-quarry and work for the Lord.” And the Prophet went himself, in his tow frock and tow breeches, and worked at quarrying stone like the rest of us. Then, every Saturday we brought out every team to draw stone to the Temple, and so we continued until that house was finished.”2
“The whole church united in this undertaking and every man lent a helping hand those who had no teams went to work in the stone quarry and prepared the stones for drawing to the house.”3
1“Plan of the House of the Lord, between 1 and 25 June 1833,” p. [2], The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed September 26, 2017, http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/plan-of-the-house-of-the-lord-between-1-and-25-june-1833/2; “Minutes, 2 April 1833,” p. 19, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed September 26, 2017, http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/minutes-2-april-1833/1; Elwin C. Robison, The First Mormon Temple (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1997), 32-34; See Also: Lisa Olsen Tait and Brent Rogers, “ A House for Our God”, 15 July 2015, https://history.lds.org/article/a-house-for-our-god?lang=eng; See Also: Josh E. Probert and Craig K. Manscill, “Artemus Millet: Builder of the Kingdom,” Mormon Historical Studies, 59-61; Barbara Walden and Lachlan Mackay, House of the Lord: The Story of Kirtland Temple, (John Whitmer Historical Association, 2008), 6.
2Journal of Discourses, 10:165.
3Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1945), 68.
