HISTORICAL NOTES

Warning!
The historical background below contains spoilers for House On the Hill.

Background of the Book

Changes Made in the History

Indenturing of Native American Children

Literature

Logan Temple Construction

My Grandparents' Home

Solar Eclipses

Writing on the Wall

Background of the Book

I have had a love of Logan and its temple since I was a child. My grandparents, August and Frieda Miller Luthy, raised their family of eleven children in Logan, and my grandfather worked as a temple groundskeeper for several years. My parents were married in the Logan temple, as were my husband and I.

Several years ago my parents’ copy of Nolan P. Olsen’s book, Logan Temple: The First 100 Years caught my eye. Because of our family connection with the temple, I borrowed the book and read it, enthralled with the rich stories and heritage of the temple and the people who worked on it. I couldn’t get the images out of my mind. Later I reread the book, this time taking meticulous notes and creating a master chronology. Soon characters and a story began forming, demanding to be told. This book is the result.

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Changes Made in the History

Due to the length of the temple’s construction and constraints on how much time and information the story could cover, I reluctantly left out large portions of the fascinating history of the temple. I also took a few liberties as follows:

• Scofield, the site of the coal mine in central Utah where Joshua goes to help George build a home, was settled two years later than in the novel.
• Although I didn’t find a firm date, Truman Angell probably decided to even out the towers of the temple a bit later than mentioned. According to Olsen’s book, this was a decision based solely on aesthetics; the temple simply looked more proportional with even towers.
• The King and Osterholdt tragedy actually accident took place in 1880, a year later than in the novel. In my first draft I invented details about Billie King’s wife and child. Interestingly, when I went in search of their real identities, I discovered I had picked the correct gender and age for his child and even selected his wife’s real name. However, Helen’s home life and background are purely fictional.
• The details surrounding Hugh McKay’s fall from the temple walls—including landing with the rock on him, standing up immediately afterward, and his miraculous eleven-day recovery—happened about a year and a half later than I placed it, six months after the King and Osterholdt tragedy, not before.

Otherwise, all dates and events are, to the best of my knowledge, accurate.

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Indenturing of Native American Children

I used many cultural details from the period as well. For example, a number of Latter-day Saints between 1850 and 1870 purchased Native American children in an effort to “save” them, be it spiritually or from the slave trade or other harm. According to a paper written by Brian Q. Cannon found in the compilation Everything Imaginable, prices varied between twenty-five dollars and forty-five dollars, or consisted of goods like weapons, ammunition, livestock, food, and clothing. Parents who bought and indentured Native American children were bound by law to clothe, feed, and educate them from age seven to sixteen.

The situation described with Abe’s adoption (being sold by his mother as she fled her husband with another man) really happened with a child adopted by Christopher Arthur and his wife. In some cases the families didn’t fully accept their new family member, particularly if the child didn’t embrace the religion.

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Literature

All the literature mentioned during this period is accurate. The reader may note that Aunt Louisa tends to send Lizzy contemporary literature, while Abe’s mother had mostly older works in her collection. Although books were quite scarce in the decades before the story is set, at this point they were much more readily available, and novel reading began to be more culturally accepted.

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Logan Temple Construction

To the best of my knowledge, the historical details of Logan, building the temple, and so forth, are accurate. Quotes from Church leaders at the cornerstone ceremony were taken directly from Brother Olsen’s book. A few of many real elements used in the story include:

• A circus really was the same day as the laying of the cornerstones
• A little boy named Joseph was heard to complain about the length of the cornerstone services
• Sabbath eggs for the temple fund
• The eclipse and rockslide at the quarry
• The stone cutting shed
• Old Jim
• The details surrounding the King and Osterholdt tragedy, including how their bodies were found, the community finding out about the accident during a dance (which they really held that late at night), and the facts about Billie King’s widow and son.
• And many, many others. If it sounds unbelievable, chances are it really happened.

Some facts I used and elaborated on, such as a pair of silver sugar tongs known to have been donated to the fund, which I attributed to Abigail Sullivan. Any errors are entirely my responsibility.

Read more about the Logan Temple history.

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My Grandparents' Home

My grandparents' home stood at 870 North Main in Logan. Although their home was built decades after the story is set, I used the old Luthy home, which I spent many happy hours in as a child, as my model for the home the Sullivans bought from Sister Mills. Central Park fast food now stands in its place.

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Solar Eclipses

According to the NASA Goddard Flight Safety Center, eye damage will not occur during the few seconds or minutes of a total solar eclipse, which is why Joshua and the other men were able to look directly at it. Partial eclipses of any kind, however, will result in permanent eye damage.

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Writing on the Wall

On October 1, 1976, the Logan temple closed for renovations. The inside was completely gutted, leaving a stone shell. A new, modern interior was then constructed. During the demolition, handwriting was discovered on the plaster of one wall, written by several different people.

Recorded were names, dates, and current events, some of which are included in the novel. Topping the other writings, in elaborate foot-high letters, were the initials AMF.

Who or what AMF was remains a mystery.

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