Plasterer SLC and St. George Temples
submitted by: SUP Trail Marker Pioneer Stories June 2023
Plastering the St George Temple |
William Burt |
By Richard D. Kirkham, AVP Pioneer Stories
William Burt was born in Scotland in 1832. His father was a master plasterer. William learned the trade from his father. At age 19 William met missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was baptized a member of the church. He soon emigrated to Utah aboard the ship The Constitution landing in New York harbor in August 1868.
At the time of his arrival in Salt Lake City, the beautiful and elaborate Salt Lake Theater building was just being built. There was a 120 foot ornamental cornice to be run, but no one had been found who could do it. Someone who had heard that 36 year old William Burt had just arrived in Utah and told the contractor of this plasterer from the “old country”. He was contacted to see if he was able to do this intricate work. This was Burt’s first job in Salt Lake City. According to Burt family history, William and his helper ran the cornice in one day. He was paid $100.00 for himself and $20.00 for his helper. To earn $100.00 in one day in 1870 was a great blessing and must have meant that he was a good plasterer. Later he also did plastering in the Lion House.
Burt eventually went to St. George to work on the Temple there. He was put in charge of all the plastering of this pioneer House of the Lord, doing all of the ornamental molding and casting throughout the temple himself. In the volume “Temple of the Most High” it mentions how William Burt worked on the St. George Temple as a master plasterer. The book also relates that when the site for this temple was dedicated, President Brigham Young took the first shovelful of dirt from the foundation and made this statement, “There will not be any persons who will lose their lives on any of the works of this temple.”
Both William and his son, John, labored together on the St. George temple. One day John was plastering at the top of the temple nearly 90 feet above the ground, a man with him stepped off the scaffold causing the plank on which John was standing to tip. He jumped onto a scaffold 3 or 4 feet below but the plank broke and he went right on through, falling 84 feet to the ground landing on scattered rock and dirt. The workmen rushing to him found him still conscious and in just ten days he was walking around the streets of St. George! The fall did not disable him in any way and he was soon able to be back at work on the temple. For a man to fall 84 feet onto rocks and be able to be back to work in a few days was certainly a direct fulfillment of President Young’s promise!
One of the great messages in the Book of Mormon is the story of King Benjamin who preached to his people from the top of a tall tower. King Benjamin commanded the tower to be built so his words might be heard. From that platform Benjamin gave his people a ‘new name’ and invited them to enter into a covenant with the Lord. A careful reading of the story might make one wonder, “Who were those that built the tower?” Logic tells us that because there was a tower there had to be tower builders. Those who do this important work are precious to the Lord. Their offerings are not unnoticed by Him. Tower builders in all dispensations are those who make it possible for the rest of us to actually hear the word of God.
Tower builders are those behind the scenes faithfully doing their part so that “His name can be exalted”. William Burt was never a prophet or king. He never served as an apostle or a great church leader. But he was a tower builder. He used the skills and abilities the Lord had given him to build the temples of the Most High God. May we be grateful to William and John Burt, and to all the tower builders who have come before us, and also those who mingle amongst us today.