San Rafael Swell (the refuge)
From Wikipedia:
"The San Rafael Swell is a large geologic feature located in south-central Utah, USA about 30 miles (50 km) west of Green River, Utah. The San Rafael Swell, approximately 75 miles (121 km) by 40 miles (64 km), consists of a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limestone that was pushed up during the Paleocene Laramide Orogeny 60-40 million years ago. Since that time, infrequent but powerful flash floods have eroded the sedimentary rocks into numerous valleys, canyons, gorges, mesas and buttes.
Evidence of Native American cultures, including the Fremont, Paiute, and Ute, is common throughout the San Rafael Swell in the form of pictograph and petroglyph panels. From about 1776 to the mid-1850s the Old Spanish Trail trade route passed through (or just north of) the Swell. In the past 150 years, areas of the Swell have been used for the grazing of sheep and cattle, as well as for uranium mining. Although surrounded by the communities of Price, Green River, Hanksville, Ferron, Castle Dale, and Huntington, the Swell itself does not support permanent residents." (Full article here.)
This remote and largely inaccessible area is perfect for hiding a refuge you don't want found!
The Coal Mine
The coal mine where the Nengwoonts'eng live is based on one of the many coal mines found in the mountains of Carbon and Emery county, UT.
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| Photo found here |
The mine has utilized the "continuous mining" method.
From Wikipedia:
"Continuous mining utilizes a Continuous Miner Machine with a large rotating steel drum equipped with tungsten carbide teeth that scrape coal from the seam. Operating in a “room and pillar” (also known as “board and pillar”) system—where the mine is divided into a series of 20-to-30 foot (5–10 m) “rooms” or work areas cut into the coalbed—it can mine as much as five tons of coal a minute, more than a non-mechanised mine of the 1920s would produce in an entire day. Continuous miners account for about 45 percent of underground coal production. Conveyors transport the removed coal from the seam"(Full article here.)
Down in the rooms already mined and abandoned, the walls dusted white with limestone, the Nengwoonts'eng stay hidden from the watchers and slaves working in other sections of the mine.
Salt Lake Temple
Some facts about the Salt Lake Temple (from this website):
The Salt Lake Temple was the fourth temple built in Utah (though its construction was started first) and the first in the Salt Lake Valley.
The Salt Lake Temple was the only temple dedicated by President Wilford Woodruff.
The Salt Lake Temple is the largest temple (most square footage) of the Church.
The walls of the Salt Lake Temple are nine feet thick at the base and six feet thick at the top.
The Salt Lake Temple is the first temple to feature a standing angel Moroni statue, which was created by Paris-trained sculptor Cyrus E. Dallin.
The Salt Lake Temple was completed the afternoon before the dedication. That evening, invited non-Mormon government officials, businessmen and their wives were given a complete tour of the temple. It was the first time that a temple had been opened to the public prior to its dedication.
The Salt Lake Temple was dedicated on April 6, 1893—three years before Utah became a state in 1896.
Temples are the pinnacle of LDS worship. To find out more about why we have temples, see this article from the Church's official website.
Jackson County, MO
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| Valley of Adam-Ondi-Ahman |
In 1831, the prophet Joseph Smith received a revelation designating Jackson County, Missouri as the location of Zion, the New Jerusalem. From the Doctrine and Covenants 57:1-3:
Hearken,
O ye elders of my church, saith the Lord your God, who have assembled
yourselves together, according to my commandments, in this land, which
is the land of Missouri, which is the land which I have appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the saints. Wherefore, this is the land of promise, and the place for the city of Zion. And
thus saith the Lord your God, if you will receive wisdom here is
wisdom. Behold, the place which is now called Independence is the center place; and a spot for the temple is lying westward, upon a lot which is not far from the courthouse.
The early saints began to gather in Jackson county in 1831, and attempted to build a temple there, but persecution from mobs forced them from their homes and their lands in 1833. In 1838, Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued his infamous extermination order and 8,000 Latter-day Saints were forced to flee to Illinois in the dead of winter. (For more of the history of the LDS church, see Our Heritage.)