The Financial Exhaustion of Wilford Woodruff: An Explanation of Why the Church Divested itself of Promoting Southern Nevada Gold Mining and Milling Properties in the 1890’s The 1890 Manifesto had removed the main cause of the Church’s conflict with the federal government–polygamy. But it couldn’t erase the Church’s 300,000 debt and its toll on President Woodruff. He had collapsed during the dedication of the 4,000,000 Salt Lake Temple. Many members had quit paying tithing. So paying off old loans while needing money to promote home industry such as the sugar beet and electric power projects wasn’t possible. Would Church efforts in the east to get more loans succeed? What about other money-making opportunities such as mining and milling?

Edward Leo Lyman, Scott Kenney