2. Compare with the "molten sea" in the Temple of Solomon, I Kings 7:23-26; II Chron. 4:3-5. 3. See Doctrine and Covenants, section 128. 4. Doctrine and Covenants. 128:13. 5. See "The Articles of Faith," XIV:1-3. 6. See Doctrine and Covenants, section 116. 7. See page 105. 8. See page 137. CHAPTER IX TEMPLE BLOCK {201} Marvelous as was the achievement of the people in rearing the great Temple, and particularly so in the commencement of the work under conditions that appeared so generally unfavorable, the undertaking becomes even more remarkable when we take into consideration other building-work carried on while the Temple was in course of erection. Not only were three other Temples begun and completed during this period, but meeting-houses were reared all in the various wards and stakes, and other structures of yet greater capacity were erected for assemblies of the Church in general. The buildings constructed on Temple Block in Salt Lake City represent in and of themselves great undertakings when considered in the light of circumstances prevailing at the time. Among such buildings are the existing Tabernacle; the structure long since removed and now referred to as the Old Tabernacle, and the Assembly Hall. It is interesting to know that the first shelters erected for public gatherings within what is now Salt Lake City were boweries; among these the Old Bowery is distinctively named and known. On the 31st of July, 1847--but one week after the arrival of the pioneers in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, a detachment of the Mormon {202} Battalion,[1] which had just reached the settlement, or as it was even then called, the city, built for the accommodation of worshipping assemblies a bowery of poles and brush. This in time was superseded by a yet larger structure of the kind, one hundred feet by sixty feet, which came to be known in local history as the Old Bowery. It consisted of posts set up at convenient intervals around the sides of a quadrangle, the tops of the posts being joined by poles held in place by wooden pegs or lashed in position by rawhide thongs, and upon this skeleton-roof, willows, evergreens, sagebrush, and other shrubs were piled, resulting in a covering which was a partial protection from the sun, though but a poor barrier against wind and rain.