The Porterville Church The members of the new Porterville Ward were anxious to carry out the admonition of Elder Teasdale to buildaward meetinghouse. Henrietta Rich deeded a plot of land at the mouth of Hardscrabble Canyon for that purpose. On 16 October 1897, the members of the deacons quorum met at the site of the new church to "grub" sagebrush. The work of excavation began two days later at 9:00 a.m. Prayer was offered by William G. Brough, and the ground was broken by Bishop Joseph Durrant on the southeast comer. In November 1897, Charles Pentz and Brigham Robison of North Morgan began the masonry work for the rock foundation. A footing eight feet wide had previously been laid, and the foundation, thirty inches thick, was placed on it. The foundation later reached eight feet to the coping. In January 1898, Bishop Durrant and others helped Henry Florence and John Smethurst move their sawmill from Little Dutch in East Canyon. They set it up on the meetinghouse grounds so that lumber could be sawed forthe new building. A week later, William Florence brought an engine that belonged to the sawmill. During that winter, timber was cut from nearby canyons. As ward members brought the timber in, Henry Florence cut it to specification for the carpenters, Johnny Smethurst, Willard Mikesell, and L H. Durrant. In May 1898, work on the foundation resumed. Stone was hauled from the Red Hill in Hardscrabble and from the stone quarry near Devil's Slide. Joseph C. Carpenter blasted all the rock from the Red Hill for the basement. It was cut to fit by James Andrew Martin and his son, Jim, and laid by Charles Pentz and Brigham Robison. By 12 June 1898, the foundation was completed. During the summer, Henry Florence continued to saw lumber for the interior of the chapel. He piled it in front of his home until the carpenters were ready for it. On 17 September 1898, the masons began laying brick on the meetinghouse. The inner brick was kilned in Porterville, at Brough's kiln, and the outer brick facing came from Ward's brickyard on East Layton bench in Davis County. Much of the brick was hauled by William and George Florence, who drove to the Davis County kiln, stayed overnight, then returned with their load the next day. On one of these trips, a team driven by George Florence spooked going down Devil's Gate and plunged into the river. Luckily team and driver were rescued, wet but unharmed. Hyrum Phillips was in charge of mixing mortar for the bricklayers. A small stream of water had been brought from higher up on the hill, running into a trough where buckets caught the water. Young boys then carried the water to where the mortar was mixed. One day, William Dearden was mixing the mortar and one of the boys was not moving fast enough to suit him. Brother Dearden called out, "Hurry up, Adam. I need the water." When the boy got there, he said, "My name is JOB, not ADAM!" Brother Dearden replied, "Well, I knew it was one of those old prophets!"