Veil-Lifting

Veil-Lifting. Scripture Rocks Heritage Park. , Stahlman’s rock plan was not a single flash of inspiration, but rather a series of revelations over time. Central to his plan was the dedication of individual rocks in a manner similar to how religious communities dedicated a new church. Inspiration for the dedication was gained through prayer and meditation., The work of inscribing the rocks began in March of 1912 and by February 1913, Stahlman reported he had dedicated 540 rocks. Of these more than 160 had been lettered with each rock representing a specific biblical truth or spiritual insight. Each central concept became the title of that individual rock, which is often engraved into the rock with supporting biblical verses or commentary. Dedicated rocks are identified by outlined letters 12, 24, or 30 inches tall. Dedicated Rocks became a place for prayer and meditation on these individual themes., ”On December 31, 1912, I rose from bed and was at the spring getting water when the town clock struck two in the morning. I went to work uncovering the Veil-Lifting rock by the light of the lantern, and was busy almost continually at the work. It took about six days of hard work with clay pick, shovel, sledge, and dynamite to remove the covering of earth, growing saplings, rocks, etc., from the top of the Veil-Lifting.” , -D.M. Stahlman, Engraving , Close examination of the engravings show that they were cut with a series of ripples formed by a repeated pattern of elongated indentations arranged perpendicular to the direction of the line, indicating that the chisel was sharpened to a narrow edge more similar to a cape chisel. Stahlman noted that in a day’s work, he would cut as many as 40 twelve-inch letters and once outlined and cut 334 three-inch letters in addition to walking six or seven miles., [Photo captions read] , Top: Stahlman’s engraving tools recovered near Altar Rock., On the Left: Photo showing the indentation pattern of cut marks that form the letter W within text found on the Veil-Lifting Rock.