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John A. Widsoe, from Joseph Smith as Scientist, pp53-55

...all human knowledge, based upon the present appearance of the earth an dthe laws that control known phenomena, agree in indicating that the age of the earth is very great, running in all probability into millions of years. It must have been hundreds of thousands of years since the first life was placed upon earth.

An examination of the original Hebrew for the use of the word translated "day" in Genesis, revealed that it refers more frequently to periods of time of indefinite duration. When this became clear, and the records of the rocks became better known, some theologians suggested, that as we are told that a thousand years are as one day to God, the day of Genesis 1 refers to periods of a thousand years each. This did not strengthen the argument. The best opinion of today, and it is well-nigh universal, is that the Mosaic record refers to indefinite periods of time corresponding to the great divisions of historical geology.