On New Year's day Wilford Woodruff, with other members of his Quorum, all being present, except Orson Pratt, marched in a body to the homes of Presidents Young, Kimball, and Richards, and to the home of Father John Smith, the patriarch, in the order named and with loving respect wished them a happy and prosperous New Year. Each of the Presidency and Father Smith pronounced their blessings, and in return the Twelve blessed them. In the evening of that day, the Presidency and the Twelve dedicated the Social Hall for social purposes, and with about two hundred of the Saints joined in a dance with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. The 14th of February, 1853, witnessed the dedication of the site of the Salt Lake Temple. The Presidency and the Twelve broke the ground with a pick. It was an occasion of great joy among the Saints, as a temple meant so much to their hopes and faith. On April the 6th, the four corner-stones were dedicated, and speeches were delivered. Forty years thereafter, Wilford Woodruff, more than 86 years of age, presided at its completion and dedication. On the 25th of August Elder Woodruff went with members {354} of the Twelve to locate a new Weber settlement. The people there were growing dissatisfied and changed their location several times. At the October conference, following, Wilford Woodruff and Ezra T. Benson were appointed to select fifty families to settle in Tooele Valley. The work in that valley engaged his time largely during the remainder of the year until the 12th of December, when he again took up his work in the House of Representatives. The new year of 1854 dawned upon the Sabbath day. In the afternoon the Saints were addressed by Apostle Woodruff. On the evening of the 2nd there was a dancing party given in the Social Hall. The parties there were attended by the leaders, and an effort was made to give to those occasions an innocent joy and a high social quality that would uplift the dance and make it a suitable place for Saints, and not allow it to be the exclusive pastime of the sinners. In those early days there was a much greater opposition on the part of the different religious denominations of the world than there is today. This practice, from the outset among the Latter-day Saints of taking their religion with them into the social life was one of the alleged faults which the religious world condemned. In those times when there were so many difficulties, so many hardships different from those which the people had to encounter in the East, the dance was about the only sort of amusement which the Saints could enjoy.