History of Utah - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The history of Utah is an examination of the human history and social activity within the state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

of Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

located in the western

Western United States

.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...

United States.

Early people

Archeological evidence dates the earliest habitation of Native Americans

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

in Utah

Utah

to about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Paleolithic people lived near the Great Basin

Great Basin

The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America and is noted for its arid conditions and Basin and Range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than away at the...

's swamps and marshes, which had an abundance of fish, birds, and small game animals. Big game, including bison

American Bison

The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...

, mammoth

Mammoth

A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...

s and ground sloth

Ground sloth

Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths, in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. Their most recent survivors lived in the Antilles, where it has been proposed they may have survived until 1550 CE; however, the youngest AMS radiocarbon date reported is 4190 BP, calibrated to c. 4700 BP...

s, also were attracted to these water sources. Over the centuries, the mega-fauna disappeared, while bison, mule deer

Mule Deer

The mule deer is a deer indigenous to western North America. The Mule Deer gets its name from its large mule-like ears. There are believed to be several subspecies, including the black-tailed deer...

and antelope

Antelope

Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...

became more predominant.

Around 8000 BCE, this population was replaced by the Desert Archaic people, who sheltered in caves near the Great Salt Lake

Great Salt Lake

The Great Salt Lake, located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah, is the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere, the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world. In an average year the lake covers an area of around , but the lake's size fluctuates substantially due to its...

. Relying more on gathering than the previous Utah residents, their diet was mainly composed of cattails and other salt tolerant plants such as pickleweed

Batis

Batis is a genus of two species of flowering plants, the only genus in the family Bataceae. They are halophytic plants, native to the coastal salt marshes of warm temperate and tropical America and tropical Australasia Batis (Turtleweed, Saltwort, Beachwort, or Pickleweed) is a genus of two...

, burro weed

Ambrosia dumosa

Ambrosia dumosa, the burro-weed or white bursage, is a common constituent of the creosote-bush scrub community throughout the Mojave desert of California, Nevada, and Utah and the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and northwestern Mexico....

and sedge

Cyperaceae

Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...

. Red meat appears to have been more of a luxury, although these people used nets and the atlatl

Atlatl

An atlatl or spear-thrower is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in dart-throwing.It consists of a shaft with a cup or a spur at the end that supports and propels the butt of the dart. The atlatl is held in one hand, gripped near the end farthest from the cup...

to hunt water fowl, ducks, small animals and antelope. Artifacts include nets woven with plant fibers and rabbit skin, woven sandals, gaming sticks, and animal figures made from split-twigs. About 3,500 years ago, lake levels rose and the population of Desert Archaic people appears to have dramatically decreased. The Great Basin may have been almost unoccupied for 1,000 years.

The Fremont culture, named from sites near the Fremont River

Fremont River (Utah)

The Fremont River in Utah flows from the Johnson Valley Reservoir, which is located on the Wasatch Plateau near Fish Lake, southwest through Capitol Reef National Park to the Muddy Creek near Hanksville where the two rivers combine to form the Dirty Devil River, a tributary of the Colorado River...

in Utah

Utah

, lived in what is now north and western Utah and parts of Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

, Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

and Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

from approximately 600 to 1300 CE. These people lived in areas close to water sources that had been previously occupied by the Desert Archaic people, and may have had some relationship with them. However, their use of new technologies define them as a distinct people. Fremont technologies include:

use of the bow and arrow while hunting,
building pithouse shelters,
growing maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

and probably beans and squash,
building above ground granaries of adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...

or stone,
creating and decorating low-fired pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...

ware,
producing art, including jewelry and rock art such as petroglyph
Petroglyph
Petroglyphs are pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images...

s and pictographs.

The ancient Puebloan culture

Ancient Pueblo Peoples

Ancient Pueblo People or Ancestral Pueblo peoples were an ancient Native American culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the United States, comprising southern Utah, northern Arizona, northwest New Mexico, and southern Colorado...

, also known as the Anasazi, occupied territory adjacent to the Fremont. The ancestral Puebloan culture centered around the present-day Four Corners area of the Southwest United States, including the San Juan River region of Utah. Archaeologists

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

debate when this distinct culture

Culture

Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

emerged, but cultural development seems to date from about the common era, about 500 years before the Fremont appeared. It is generally accepted that the cultural peak of these people was around the 1200 CE

12th century BC

-Overview:The 12th century BC is the period from 1200 to 1101 BC. Although many human societies were literate in this period, most individual persons mentioned in this article ought to be considered legendary rather than historical...

. Ancient Puebloan culture is known for well constructed pithouses and more elaborate adobe and masonry dwellings. They were excellent craftsmen, producing turquoise

Turquoise

Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula CuAl648·4. It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gem and ornamental stone for thousands of years owing to its unique hue...

jewelry and fine pottery. The Puebloan culture was based on agriculture, and the people created and cultivated fields of maize, beans, and squash and domesticated turkeys. They designed and produced elaborate field terracing and irrigation systems. They also built structures, some known as kiva

Kiva

A kiva is a room used by modern Puebloans for religious rituals, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, kivas are square-walled and underground, and are used for spiritual ceremonies....

s, apparently designed solely for cultural and religious rituals.

These two later cultures were roughly contemporaneous, and appear to have established trading relationships. They also shared enough cultural traits that archaeologists believe the cultures may have common roots in the early American Southwest. However, each remained culturally distinct throughout most of their history. These two well established cultures appear to have been severely impacted by climatic change and perhaps by the incursion of new people in about 1200 CE. Over the next two centuries, the Fremont and ancient Pueblo people may have moved into the American southwest, finding new homes and farmlands in the river drainages of Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico.

In about 1200 CE, Shoshonean speaking peoples entered Utah territory from the west. They may have originated in southern California and shifted into a desert environment due to population pressure along the coast. They were an upland people with a hunting and gathering lifestyle utilizing roots and seeds, including the pinyon nut

Pine nut

Pine nuts are the edible seeds of pines . About 20 species of pine produce seeds large enough to be worth harvesting; in other pines the seeds are also edible, but are too small to be of great value as a human food....

. They were also skillful fishermen, created pottery and raised some crops. When they first arrived in Utah, they lived as small family groups with little tribal organization. Four main Shoshonean peoples inhabited Utah country. The Shoshone

Shoshone

The Shoshone or Shoshoni are a Native American tribe in the United States with three large divisions: the Northern, the Western and the Eastern....

in the north and northeast, the Gosiutes

Goshute

The Goshutes are a band of Western Shoshone Native American. There are two federally recognized Goshute tribes today: the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation and Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians of Utah of the Skull Valley Indian Reservation.-Name:The name Goshute derived either from...

in the northwest, the Utes

Ute Tribe

The Ute are an American Indian people now living primarily in Utah and Colorado. There are three Ute tribal reservations: Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah ; Southern Ute in Colorado ; and Ute Mountain which primarily lies in Colorado, but extends to Utah and New Mexico . The name of the state of...

in the central and eastern parts of the region and the Southern Paiutes in the southwest. Initially, there seems to have been very little conflict between these groups.

In the early 16th century, the San Juan River basin in Utah's southeast also saw a new people, the Díne or Navajo

Navajo people

The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...

, part of a greater group of plains Athabaskan speakers moved into the Southwest from the Great Plains. In addition to the Navajo, this language group contained people that were later known as Apaches, including the Lipan, Jicarilla, and Mescalero Apaches.

Athabaskans were a hunting people who initially followed the bison, and were identified in 16th-century Spanish accounts as "dog nomads". The Athabaskans expanded their range throughout the 17th century, occupying areas the Pueblo peoples had abandoned during prior centuries. The Spanish first specifically mention the "Apachu de Nabajo" (Navaho) in the 1620s, referring to the people in the Chama valley region east of the San Juan River, and north west of Santa Fe. By the 1640s, the term Navaho was applied to these same people. Although the Navajo newcomers established a generally peaceful trading and cultural exchange with the some modern Pueblo peoples to the south, they experienced intermittent warfare with the Shoshonean peoples, particularly the Utes in eastern Utah and western Colorado.

At the time of European expansion, beginning with Spanish explorers traveling from Mexico, five distinct native peoples occupied territory within the Utah area: the Northern Shoshone

Shoshone

The Shoshone or Shoshoni are a Native American tribe in the United States with three large divisions: the Northern, the Western and the Eastern....

, the Goshute

Goshute

, the Ute

Ute Tribe

, the Piute and the Diné

Dine

-People named Dine:* Jim Dine , an American pop artist* S. S. Van Dine, an art critic and author* Tom Dine, an American government worker-Other meanings:* Beit ed-Dine, a town in Lebanon* Diné, name for the Navajo Nation in the Navajo language...

(Navajo).

European exploration

The Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado

Francisco Vásquez de Coronado

Francisco Vásquez de Coronado y Luján was a Spanish conquistador, who visited New Mexico and other parts of what are now the southwestern United States between 1540 and 1542...

may have crossed into what is now southern Utah in 1540, when he was seeking the legendary Cíbola

Quivira and Cíbola

Quivira is a place first mentioned by Francisco Vazquez de Coronado in 1541, who visited it during his searches for the mythical "Seven Cities of Gold". The location and identity of the "Quivirans" has been much debated over a wide area, including Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri...

.

A group led by two Spanish Catholic

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

priests—sometimes called the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition

Dominguez-Escalante Expedition

The Dominguez-Escalante Expedition was conducted in 1776 to find an overland route from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Spanish missions in California...

—left Santa Fe

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...

in 1776, hoping to find a route to the California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

coast. The expedition traveled as far north as Utah Lake

Utah Lake

Utah Lake is a freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Utah. On the western side of Utah Valley, the lake is overlooked by Mount Timpanogos and Mount Nebo. The lake's only river outlet, the Jordan River, is a tributary of the Great Salt Lake and is highly regulated with pumps. Evaporation accounts...

and encountered the native residents.

Fur trappers—including Jim Bridger

Jim Bridger

James Felix "Jim" Bridger was among the foremost mountain men, trappers, scouts and guides who explored and trapped the Western United States during the decades of 1820-1850, as well as mediating between native tribes and encroaching whites...

—explored some regions of Utah in the early 19th century. The city of Provo

Provo, Utah

Provo is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Utah, located about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the county seat of Utah County and lies between the cities of Orem to the north and Springville to the south...

was named for one such man, Étienne Provost

Étienne Provost

Étienne Provost was a French Canadian fur trader whose trapping and trading activities in the American southwest preceded Mexican independence...

, who visited the area in 1825. The city of Ogden, Utah

Ogden, Utah

Ogden is a city in Weber County, Utah, United States. Ogden serves as the county seat of Weber County. The population was 82,825 according to the 2010 Census. The city served as a major railway hub through much of its history, and still handles a great deal of freight rail traffic which makes it a...

is named for a brigade leader of the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

, Peter Skene Ogden

Peter Skene Ogden

Peter Skene Ogden , was a fur trader and a Canadian explorer of what is now British Columbia and the American West...

who trapped in the Weber Valley. in 1846, a year before the arrival of the Mormons, the ill-fated Donner party

Donner Party

The Donner Party was a group of American pioneers who set out for California in a wagon train. Delayed by a series of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–47 snowbound in the Sierra Nevada...

crossed through the Salt Lake valley late in the season, deciding not to winter there but to continue forward to California.

Mormon settlement

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as Mormon pioneers, first came to the Salt Lake Valley

Salt Lake Valley

Salt Lake Valley is a valley in Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably West Valley City, Murray, Sandy, and West Jordan; its total population is 1,029,655 as of 2010...

on July 24, 1847. At the time, the U.S. had already captured the Mexican territories of Alta California

Alta California

Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...

and New Mexico

Santa Fe de Nuevo México

Santa Fe de Nuevo México was a province of New Spain and later Mexico that existed from the late 16th century up through the mid-19th century. It was centered on the upper valley of the Rio Grande , in an area that included most of the present-day U.S. state of New Mexico...

in the Mexican-American War and planned to keep them, but those territories, including the future state of Utah, officially became United States territory upon the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States to the interim government of a militarily occupied Mexico City, that ended the Mexican-American War on February 2, 1848...

, February 2, 1848. The treaty was ratified by the United States Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

on March 10, 1848.

Upon arrival in the Salt Lake Valley the Mormon pioneers found no permanent settlement of Indians. Other areas along the Wasatch Range

Wasatch Range

The Wasatch Range is a mountain range that stretches approximately from the Utah-Idaho border, south through central Utah in the western United States. It is generally considered the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Great Basin region...

were occupied at the time of settlement by the Northwestern Shoshone and adjacent areas by other bands of Shoshone such as the Gosiute. The Northwestern Shoshone lived in the valleys on the eastern shore of Great Salt Lake and in adjacent mountain valleys. Some years after arriving in the Salt lake Valley Mormons, who went on to colonize many other areas of what is now Utah, were petitioned by Indians for recompense for land taken. The response of Heber C. Kimball

Heber C. Kimball

Heber Chase Kimball was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement. He served as one of the original twelve apostles in the early Latter Day Saint church, and as first counselor to Brigham Young in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his...

, first counselor to Brigham Young

Brigham Young

Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...

, was that the land belonged to "our Father in Heaven and we expect to plow and plant it." The land was treated by the United States as public domain; no aboriginal title by the Northwestern Shoshone was ever recognized by the United States or extinguished by treaty with the United States.

Colonizing the desert

Upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormons literally had to make a place to live. They created irrigation systems, laid out farms, built houses, churches and schools. Access to water was crucially important. Almost immediately, Brigham Young

Brigham Young

set out to identify and claim additional community sites. While it was difficult to find large areas in the Great Basin

Great Basin

where water sources were dependable and growing seasons long enough to raise vitally important subsistence crops, satellite communities began to be formed.

Shortly after the first company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the community of Bountiful

Bountiful, Utah

Bountiful is a city in Davis County, Utah, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 42,552, a three percent increase over the 2000 figure of 41,301...

was settled to the north. In 1848, settlers moved into lands purchased from trapper Miles Goodyear

Miles Goodyear

Miles Morris Goodyear was an American fur trader and mountain man who built and occupied Fort Buenaventura in what is now the city of Ogden, Utah. The fort was located approximately two miles south of the confluence of the Weber and Ogden rivers and about one-quarter mile west of the end of...

in present day Ogden

Ogden, Utah

. In 1849, Tooele

Tooele, Utah

Tooele is a city in Tooele County in the U.S. state of Utah. It is part of the Salt Lake City, Utah, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 22,502 at the 2000 census, and 30,708 as of the 2009 estimates. It is the county seat of Tooele County...

and Provo

Provo, Utah

were founded. Also that year, at the invitation of Ute

Ute Tribe

chief Wakara

Wakara

Chief Walkara was a Native American leader of the Timpanogos Tribe, with a reputation as a diplomat, horseman and warrior, and a military leader in the Walker War.- Timpanogos leader :...

, settlers moved into the Sanpete

Sanpete County, Utah

Sanpete County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. The population according to the 2010 U.S. Census was 27,822. It was possibly named for a Ute Indian chief named Sanpitch, which was corrupted to Sanpete. Its county seat is Manti and its largest city is Ephraim.-Geography:According to...

Valley in central Utah to establish the community of Manti

Manti, Utah

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 3,040 people, 930 households, and 742 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,560.2 people per square mile . There were 1,010 housing units at an average density of 518.3 per square mile...

. Fillmore, Utah

Fillmore, Utah

Fillmore is a city in Millard County, Utah, United States. The population was 2,253 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Millard County. It is named for the thirteenth US President Millard Fillmore....

, intended to be the capital of the new territory, was established in 1851. In 1855, missionary efforts aimed at western native cultures led to outposts in Fort Lemhi

Fort Lemhi

Fort Lemhi was a mission approximately two miles north of present-day Tendoy, Idaho, occupied by Mormon missionaries from 1855 to 1857....

, Idaho, Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

and Elk Mountain

Elk Mountain, Utah

Elk Mountain, Utah refers to several things. Most recently, a ski resort near Beaver, Utah.However, Elk Meadows Ski Area closed. It is now under new ownership, scheduled to open in December 2010...

in east central Utah.

The experiences of returning members of the Mormon Battalion

Mormon Battalion

The Mormon Battalion was the only religiously based unit in United States military history, and it served from July 1846 to July 1847 during the Mexican-American War. The battalion was a volunteer unit of between 534 and 559 Latter-day Saints men led by Mormon company officers, commanded by regular...

were also important in establishing new communities. On their journey west, the Mormon soldiers had identified dependable rivers and fertile river valleys in Colorado, Arizona and southern California. In addition, as the men traveled to rejoin their families in the Salt Lake Valley, they moved through southern Nevada and the eastern segments of southern Utah. Jefferson Hunt, senior Mormon officer of the Battalion, actively searched for settlement sites, minerals and other resources. His report encouraged 1851 settlement efforts in Iron County

Iron County, Utah

As of the census of 2000, there were 33,779 people, 10,627 households, and 8,076 families residing in the county. The population density was 10 people per square mile . There were 13,618 housing units at an average density of 4 per square mile...

, near present day Cedar City

Cedar City, Utah

As of the census of 2000, there were 20,527 people, 6,486 households, and 4,682 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,021.8 people per square mile . There were 7,109 housing units at an average density of 353.9 per square mile...

. These southern explorations eventually led to Mormon settlements in St. George, Utah

St. George, Utah

St. George is a city located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Utah, and the county seat of Washington County, Utah. It is the principal city of and is included in the St. George, Utah, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is 119 miles northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and 303 miles ...

, Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

and San Bernardino, California

San Bernardino, California

San Bernardino is a city located in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area , and serves as the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States...

, as well as communities in southern Arizona.

Displacement of Native Americans

Prior to establishment of the Oregon and California trails and Mormon settlement, Indians native to the Salt Lake Valley and adjacent areas lived by hunting buffalo

American Bison

The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...

and other game, but also gathered grass seed from the bountiful grass of the area as well as roots such as those of the Indian Camas

Camassia

Camassia is a genus of six species native to western North America, from southern British Columbia to northern California, and east to Utah, Wyoming and Montana...

. By the time of settlement, indeed before 1840, the buffalo were gone from the valley, but hunting by settlers and grazing of cattle severely impacted the Indians in the area, and as settlement expanded into nearby river valleys and oases, indigenous tribes experienced increasing difficulty in gathering sufficient food. Brigham Young's counsel was to feed the hungry tribes, and that was done, but it was often not enough. These tensions formed the background to the Bear River massacre

Bear River Massacre

The Bear River Massacre, or the Battle of Bear River and the Massacre at Boa Ogoi, took place in present-day Idaho on January 29, 1863. The United States Army attacked Shoshone gathered at the confluence of the Bear River and Beaver Creek in what was then southeastern Washington Territory. The...

committed by California Militia stationed in Salt Lake City during the Civil War.

State of Deseret (proposed)

Statehood was petitioned for in 1849-50 using the name Deseret. The proposed State of Deseret

State of Deseret

The State of Deseret was a proposed state of the United States, propositioned in 1849 by Latter-day Saint settlers in Salt Lake City. The provisional state existed for slightly over two years and was never recognized by the United States government...

would have been quite large, encompassing all of what is now Utah, and portions of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico and California. The name of Deseret was favored by the LDS leader Brigham Young as a symbol of industry and was derived from a reference in the Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...

. The petition was rejected by Congress. One reason for the rejection was the reluctance of Congress to grant such a large piece of territory to a state controlled and populated by Mormons. Another reason may have been the low population levels—less than the 60,000 usually required for statehood. However, other states, like Nevada and Oregon without the stigma of being connected to Mormons, achieved statehood with small populations. It is unclear how much Congress knew about the Mormon practice of polygamy in 1849 and 1850. Utah would not become a state until 1896.

Utah Territory

In 1850, the Utah Territory

Utah Territory

The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah....

was created with the Compromise of 1850

Compromise of 1850

The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five bills, passed in September 1850, which defused a four-year confrontation between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War...

, and Fillmore

Fillmore, Utah

(named after President Fillmore) was designated the capital. In 1856, Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the territorial capital.

Utah War

Disputes between the Mormon

Mormon

The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

inhabitants and the federal government intensified after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practice of polygamy became known. The polygamous practices of the Mormons, which were made public in 1854, would be one of the major reasons Utah was denied statehood until almost 50 years after the Mormons had entered the area.

After news of their polygamous practices spread, the members of the LDS Church were quickly viewed by some as un-American and "rebellious". In 1857, after news of a false rebellion spread, President James Buchanan

James Buchanan

James Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States . He is the only president from Pennsylvania, the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor and the last to be born in the 18th century....

sent troops on the "Utah expedition" to quell the supposed rebellion and to replace Brigham Young

Brigham Young

as territorial governor with Alfred Cumming

Alfred Cumming (governor)

Alfred Cumming was appointed governor of the Utah territory in 1858 replacing Brigham Young following the Utah War...

. Brigham Young was never told he was being replaced or why President Buchanan thought he needed the U.S. Army to enforce a simple office change. The resulting non-conflict is known as the Utah War

Utah War

The Utah War, also known as the Utah Expedition, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between LDS settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the United States government. The confrontation lasted from May 1857 until July 1858...

or Buchanan's Blunder.

As troops approached Salt Lake in northern Utah, jumpy Mormon settlers and Paiutes attacked and killed 120 immigrants from Arkansas in southern Utah. The attack became known as the Mountain Meadows massacre

Mountain Meadows massacre

The Mountain Meadows massacre was a series of attacks on the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train, at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. The attacks culminated on September 11, 1857 in the mass slaughter of the emigrant party by the Iron County district of the Utah Territorial Militia and some local...

. The massacre became a point of contention between LDS leaders and the federal government for decades. Only one man, John D. Lee

John D. Lee

John Doyle Lee was a prominent early Latter-day Saint who was executed for his role in the Mountain Meadows massacre.-Early Mormon leader:...

, was ever convicted of the murders, and he was executed at the massacre site.

Express riders had brought the news 1000 miles from the Missouri River settlements to Salt Lake City within about two weeks of the army's start to march west. Fearing the worst as 2,500 troops (roughly 1/3 the army then) led by General Albert Sidney Johnston

Albert Sidney Johnston

Albert Sidney Johnston served as a general in three different armies: the Texas Army, the United States Army, and the Confederate States Army...

started west, Brigham Young ordered all residents of Salt Lake City and neighboring communities to prepare their homes for burning and evacuate southward to Utah Valley

Utah Valley

Utah Valley is a valley in North Central Utah located in Utah County, and is considered part of the Wasatch Front. It contains Provo, Orem, and their suburbs, including Highland, Eagle Mountain, Saratoga Springs, Mapleton, Spanish Fork, Lindon, Pleasant Grove, Springville, Lehi, Payson, and...

and southern Utah. Young also sent out a few units of the Nauvoo Legion

Nauvoo Legion

The Nauvoo Legion was a militia originally organized by the Latter Day Saints to defend the city of Nauvoo, Illinois, . To curry political favor with the ambiguously-political Saints, the Illinois state legislature granted Nauvoo a liberal city charter that gave the Nauvoo Legion extraordinary...

(the Utah militia consisted roughly of all men between 16 and 60, roughly 8-10,000 men), to delay the army's advance. The majority he sent into the mountains to prepare defenses or south to prepare for a scorched earth retreat. Although some army wagon supply trains were captured and burned and herds or army horses and cattle run off no serious fighting occurred. Starting late and short on supplies the United States Army camped during the bitter winter of 1857-8 near a burned out Fort Bridger

Fort Bridger

Fort Bridger was originally a 19th century fur trading outpost established in 1842 on Blacks Fork of the Green River and later a vital resupply point for wagon trains on the Oregon Trail, California Trail and Mormon Trail. The Army established a military post here in 1858 during the Utah War until...

in Wyoming. Through the negotiations between emissary Thomas L. Kane

Thomas L. Kane

Thomas Leiper Kane was an American attorney, abolitionist, and military officer who was influential in the western migration of the Latter-day Saint movement and served as a Union Army colonel and general of volunteers in the American Civil War...

, Young, Cummings and Johnston control of Utah territory was peacefully transferred to Cummings who entered a eerily vacant Salt Lake City in the spring of 1858. By agreement with Young, Johnston established the army at Fort Floyd 40 miles away from Salt Lake City, to the southwest.

The vast majority of the claims of mis-government under Young were soon found to be incorrect. Most Mormons bitterly resented being forced out of their homes and losing nearly one years worth of crops and work on their homes due to false rumors in Washington. Many subsequent commentators claim (probably correctly) that Young retained true power in the 95% Mormon communities. Not surprisingly, a steady stream of territorial governors appointed by various presidents quit their position, often citing the unresponsiveness of their territorial government.

Transcontinental telegraph

Salt Lake City was the last link of the First Transcontinental Telegraph

First Transcontinental Telegraph

The First Transcontinental Telegraph was a milestone in electrical engineering and in the formation of the United States of America. It served as the only method of near-instantaneous communication between the east and west coasts during the 1860s....

, between Carson City, Nevada

Carson City, Nevada

The Consolidated Municipality of Carson City is the capital of the state of Nevada. The words Consolidated Municipality refer to a series of changes in 1969 which abolished Ormsby County and merged all the settlements contained within its borders into Carson City. Since that time Carson City has...

and Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...

completed in October 1861. Brigham Young, who had helped expedite construction, was among the first to send a message, along with Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

and other officials.

Civil War

Because of the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, federal troops were pulled out of Utah Territory (and their fort auctioned off), leaving the territorial government in federal hands without army backing until General Patrick E. Connor

Patrick Edward Connor

Patrick Edward Connor was a Union General during the American Civil War. He was most famous for his campaigns against Native Americans in the American Old West.-Early life and career:...

arrived with the 3rd Regiment of California Volunteers in 1862. While in Utah, Connor and his men soon became discontent with this assignment wanting to head to Virginia where the "real" fighting and glory was occurring. Connor established Fort Douglas just three miles (5 km) east of Salt Lake City and encouraged his bored and often idle men to go out and explore for mineral deposits to bring more non-Mormons into the state. Minerals were discovered in Tooele County

Tooele County, Utah

Tooele County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of 2000, the population was 40,735 and by 2005 was estimated at 51,311. Its county seat and largest city is Tooele....

, and some miners began to come to the territory. Conner also "solved" the Shoshone Indian "problem" in Cache Valley

Cache Valley

The Cache Valley is an agricultural valley of northern Utah and southeast Idaho that includes the Logan metropolitan area. The valley was used by 19th century mountain men and was the site of the 1863 Bear River Massacre.-History:...

Utah by luring the Shoshone into a midwinter confrontation on January 29, 1863. The armed conflict quickly turned into a rout, discipline among the soldiers broke down, and the Battle of Bear River is today usually referred to by historians as the Bear River Massacre

Bear River Massacre

. Between 200 and 400 Shoshone men, women and children were killed, as were 27 soldiers, with over 50 more soldiers wounded or suffering from frost bite.

Beginning in 1865, Utah's Black Hawk War developed into the deadliest conflict in the territory's history. Chief Antonga Black Hawk

Antonga Black Hawk

Antonga, or Black Hawk , was a nineteenth-century war chief of the Ute Tribe in what is the present-day state of Utah. He led the Utes against Mormon settlers and gained alliances with Paiute and Navajo bands in the territory against them during what became known as the Black Hawk War in Utah...

died in 1870, but fights continued to break out until additional federal troops were sent in to suppress the Ghost Dance

Ghost Dance

The Ghost Dance was a new religious movement which was incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. The traditional ritual used in the Ghost Dance, the circle dance, has been used by many Native Americans since prehistoric times...

of 1872. The war is unique among Indian Wars

Indian Wars

American Indian Wars is the name used in the United States to describe a series of conflicts between American settlers or the federal government and the native peoples of North America before and after the American Revolutionary War. The wars resulted from the arrival of European colonizers who...

because it was a three-way conflict, with mounted Timpanogos Utes

Ute Tribe

led by Antonga Black Hawk fighting federal and Utah local militia.

On May 10, 1869, the First Transcontinental Railroad

First Transcontinental Railroad

The First Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska The First...

was completed at Promontory Summit, north of the Great Salt Lake

Great Salt Lake

. The railroad brought increasing numbers of people into the state, and several influential businessmen made fortunes in the territory.

Polygamy

During the 1870s and 1880s, federal laws were passed and federal marshals assigned to punish and harass polygamists, confiscate church property, jail polygamists and deny jury trials or voting rights to all polygamists. In the 1890 Manifesto

1890 Manifesto

The "1890 Manifesto", sometimes simply called "The Manifesto", is a statement which officially disavowed the continuing practice of plural marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...

, the LDS Church finally agreed to drop its approval of polygamy. When Utah applied for statehood again in 1895, it was accepted. One of the conditions for granting Utah statehood was that a ban on polygamy be written into the state constitution. This was a condition required of other western states that were admitted into the Union later. Statehood was officially granted on January 4, 1896, over 30 years after the 60,000 population requirement for statehood had been met.

Woman suffrage

The Mormon issue made the situation for women the topic of nationwide controversy. In 1870 the Utah Territory

Utah Territory

, controlled by Mormons, gave women the right to vote. However, in 1887, Congress disenfranchised Utah women with the Edmunds–Tucker Act, which was designed to weaken the Mormons politically and punish them for polygamy. In 1867-96, eastern activists promoted woman suffrage in Utah as an experiment, and as a way to eliminate polygamy. They were Presbyterians and other Protestants convinced that Mormonism was a non-Christian cult that grossly mistreated women. The Mormons promoted woman suffrage to counter the negative image of downtrodden Mormon women. With the 1890 Manifesto clearing the way for statehood, in 1895 Utah adopted a constitution restoring the right of woman suffrage. Congress admitted Utah as a state with that constitution in 1896.

20th and 21st century

Beginning in the early 20th century, with the establishment of such national parks as Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park is a national park located in southwestern Utah in the United States. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon which, despite its name, is not a canyon but a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau...

and Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park is located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale, Utah. A prominent feature of the park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles long and up to half a mile deep, cut through the reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River...

, Utah began to become known for its natural beauty. Southern Utah became a popular filming spot for arid, rugged scenes, and such natural landmarks as Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch is a tall freestanding natural arch located in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah.It is the most widely-recognized landmark in Arches National Park and is depicted on Utah license plates and on a postage stamp commemorating Utah's centennial anniversary of statehood in 1996...

and "the Mittens" of Monument Valley

Monument Valley

Monument Valley is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of vast sandstone buttes, the largest reaching above the valley floor. It is located on the northern border of Arizona with southern Utah , near the Four Corners area...

are instantly recognizable to most national residents. During the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, with the construction of the Interstate highway system, accessibility to the southern scenic areas was made easier.

Beginning in 1939, with the establishment of Alta Ski Area

Alta Ski Area

Alta is a ski area located in the Wasatch Mountains, just east of Salt Lake City, Utah. With a skiable area of 2200 acres , beginning at a base elevation of 8530 ft and rising to 10,550 ft for a vertical gain of 2020 ft . Alta is one of the oldest ski resorts in the country,...

, Utah has become world-renowned for its skiing. The dry, powdery snow of the Wasatch Range

Wasatch Range

is considered some of the best skiing in the world. Salt Lake City won the bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics

2002 Winter Olympics

The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event that was celebrated in February 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Approximately 2,400 athletes from 77 nations participated in 78 events in fifteen disciplines, held throughout...

in 1995, and this has served as a great boost to the economy. The ski resorts have increased in popularity, and many of the Olympic venues scattered across the Wasatch Front

Wasatch Front

The Wasatch Front is a metropolitan region in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Utah. It consists of a chain of cities and towns stretched along the Wasatch Range from approximately Santaquin in the south to Brigham City in the north...

continue to be used for sporting events. This also spurred the development of the light-rail system in the Salt Lake Valley

Salt Lake Valley

, known as TRAX

UTA TRAX

TRAX is a three-line light rail system in Utah's Salt Lake Valley, serving Salt Lake City and several of its suburbs throughout Salt Lake County. The system is operated by the Utah Transit Authority ....

, and the re-construction of the freeway system around the city.

During the late 20th century, the state grew quickly. In the 1970s, growth was phenomenal in the suburbs. Sandy

Sandy, Utah

Sandy is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. It is a suburb of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,461 at the 2010 census, making it the sixth-largest city in Utah....

was one of the fastest-growing cities in the country at that time, and West Valley City is the states 2nd most populous city. Today, many areas of Utah are seeing phenomenal growth. Northern Davis

Davis County, Utah

Davis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of 2010 the population was 306,479, a 28.2% increase over the 2000 figure of 238,994. It was named for Daniel C. Davis, captain in the Mormon Battalion. The county is part of the Ogden–Clearfield Metropolitan Statistical Area as...

, southern and western Salt Lake

Salt Lake County, Utah

Salt Lake County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. It had a population of 1,029,655 at the 2010 census. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. It occupies Salt Lake Valley, as well as parts of the surrounding mountains, the Oquirrh Mountains to the west...

, Summit

Summit, Utah

Summit is a census-designated place in Iron County, Utah, United States. The population was 160 at the 2010 census.-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 160 people residing in the CDP. There were 79 housing units. The racial makeup of the town was 92.5% White, 3.1% American Indian and...

, eastern Tooele

Tooele County, Utah

Tooele County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of 2000, the population was 40,735 and by 2005 was estimated at 51,311. Its county seat and largest city is Tooele....

, Utah

Utah County, Utah

Utah County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of 2000, the population was 368,536 and by 2008 was estimated at 530,837. It was named for the Spanish name for the Ute Indians. The county seat and largest city is Provo...

, Wasatch

Wasatch County, Utah

Wasatch County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. It was named for a Ute Indian word meaning mountain pass or low place in the high mountains. Its county seat and largest city is Heber City.The county is governed by a county council with an appointed county manager.Wasatch County is...

, and Washington

Washington County, Utah

As of the census of 2000, there were 90,354 people, 29,939 households, and 23,442 families residing in the county. The population density was 37 people per square mile . There were 36,478 housing units at an average density of 15 per square mile...

counties are all growing very quickly. Transportation and urbanization

Urbanization

Urbanization, urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008....

are major issues in politics as development consumes agricultural land and wilderness areas.

External links

Utah History Encyclopedia The University of Utah

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