![This Is The Place Heritage Park](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/This_Is_The_Place_Heritage_Park.jpg)
The History of Utah is an examination of the human history and social activity within the
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
located in the
western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
United States.
Prehistory
Archaeological evidence dates the earliest habitation of
Native Americans in
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
to about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Paleolithic people lived near the
Great Basin's swamps and marshes, which had an abundance of fish, birds, and small game animals. Big game, including
bison,
mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks an ...
s and
ground sloths, also were attracted to these water sources. Over the centuries, the mega-fauna died, this population was replaced by the Desert Archaic people, who sheltered in caves near the
Great Salt Lake. Relying more on gathering than the previous Utah residents, their diet was mainly composed of
cattails
''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in ...
and other salt tolerant plants such as
pickleweed,
burro weed and
sedge
The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...
. Red meat appears to have been more of a luxury, although these people used nets and the
atlatl
A spear-thrower, spear-throwing lever or ''atlatl'' (pronounced or ; Nahuatl ''ahtlatl'' ) is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in dart or javelin-throwing, and includes a bearing surface which allows the user to store ene ...
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.
![Petroglyph jqjacobs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Petroglyph_jqjacobs.jpg)
The
Fremont culture, named from sites near the
Fremont River
The Fremont River is a long river in southeastern Utah, United States that flows from the Johnson Valley Reservoir, which is located on the Wasatch Plateau near Fish Lake, southeast through Capitol Reef National Park to the Muddy Creek near Ha ...
in
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, lived in what is now north and western Utah and parts of
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
,
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...
and
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
from approximately 600 to 1300 AD. 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
A pit-house (or ''pit house'', ''pithouse'') is a house built in the ground and used for shelter. Besides providing shelter from the most extreme of weather conditions, these structures may also be used to store food (just like a pantry, a larder ...
shelters,
* growing
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...
and probably beans and squash,
* building above ground granaries of
adobe or stone,
* creating and decorating low-fired
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...
ware,
* producing art, including jewelry and rock art such as
petroglyphs and
pictographs
A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and g ...
.
![Hovenweep](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Hovenweep.jpg)
The
ancient Puebloan culture, also known as the Anasazi, occupied territory adjacent to the Fremont. The ancestral Puebloan culture centered on the present-day
Four Corners area of the
Southwest United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorad ...
, including the
San Juan River region of Utah.
Archaeologists debate when this distinct
culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...
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. Ancient Puebloan culture is known for well constructed pithouses and more elaborate adobe and masonry dwellings. They were excellent craftsmen, producing
turquoise
Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone and ornamental stone for thousands of year ...
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
A kiva is a space used by Puebloans for rites and political meetings, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, "kiva" means a large room that is circular and underground ...
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.
![Monument Valley 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Monument_Valley_2.jpg)
In about 1200,
Shoshonean speaking peoples entered Utah territory from the west. They may have originated in southern California and moved into the 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. 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 in the north and northeast, the
Gosiutes in the northwest, the
Utes 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, 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
The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...
, 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, the
Goshute
The Goshutes are a tribe of Western Shoshone Native Americans. There are two federally recognized Goshute tribes today:
* Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, located in Nevada and Utah
* Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians of Utah o ...
, the
Ute
Ute or UTE may refer to:
* Ute (band), an Australian jazz group
* Ute (given name)
* ''Ute'' (sponge), a sponge genus
* Ute (vehicle), an Australian and New Zealand term for certain utility vehicles
* Ute, Iowa, a city in Monona County along ...
, the
Paiute
Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Paiu ...
and the
Navajo.
European exploration
![California1838](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/California1838.jpg)
The
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
explorer
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado may have crossed into what is now southern Utah in 1540, when he was seeking the legendary
Cíbola.
A group led by two Spanish
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
priests—sometimes called the
Domínguez–Escalante expedition—left
Santa Fe in 1776, hoping to find a route to the
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
coast. The expedition traveled as far north as
Utah Lake
Utah Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in the center of Utah County, Utah, United States. It lies in Utah Valley, surrounded by the Provo- Orem metropolitan area. The lake's only river outlet, the Jordan River, is a tributary of the Great Salt ...
and encountered the native residents.
Fur trappers (also known as mountain men) including
Jim Bridger
James Felix "Jim" Bridger (March 17, 1804 – July 17, 1881) was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was known as Old ...
, explored some regions of Utah in the early 19th century. The city of
Provo was named for one such man,
Étienne Provost
Étienne Provost (1785 – 3 July 1850) was a Canadian fur trader whose trapping and trading activities in the American southwest preceded Mexican independence. He was also known as Proveau and Provot (and the pronunciation was "Pra-vo"). Leadi ...
, who visited the area in 1825. The city of
Ogden, Utah is named for a brigade leader of the
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...
,
Peter Skene Ogden who trapped in the Weber Valley. In 1846, a year before the arrival of members from the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, the ill-fated
Donner Party
The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in th ...
crossed through the Salt Lake valley late in the season, deciding not to stay the winter there but to continue forward to California, and beyond.
Settlement by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
![Saltph26](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Saltph26.jpg)
Members of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
, commonly known as
Mormon pioneers, first came to the
Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. At the time, the U.S. had already captured the Mexican territories of
Alta California and
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
in the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
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
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ( es, Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo), officially the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, is the peace treaty that was signed on 2 ...
, February 2, 1848. The treaty was ratified by the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
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
The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the G ...
were occupied at the time of settlement by the
Northwestern Shoshone
The Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation ( shh, So-so-goi) is a federally recognized tribe of Shoshone people, located in Box Elder County, Utah. They are also known as the Northwestern Band of Shoshoni Indians.Pritzker 239
Current land hol ...
and adjacent areas by other bands of Shoshone such as the
Gosiute
The Goshutes are a tribe of Western Shoshone Native Americans. There are two federally recognized Goshute tribes today:
* Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, located in Nevada and Utah
* Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians of Utah ...
. 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 Chase Kimball (June 14, 1801 – June 22, 1868) was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement. He served as one of the original twelve apostles in the early Church of the Latter Day Saints, and as first counselor to Brigham Young ...
, first counselor to
Brigham Young
Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...
, 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 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 (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...
set out to identify and claim additional community sites. While it was difficult to find large areas in the
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 was settled to the north. In 1848, settlers moved into lands purchased from trapper
Miles Goodyear in present-day
Ogden. In 1849,
Tooele
Tooele ( ) is a city in Tooele County in the U.S. state of Utah. The population was 35,742 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Tooele County. Located approximately 30 minutes southwest of Salt Lake City, Tooele is known for Tooele Army ...
and
Provo were founded. Also that year, at the invitation of
Ute
Ute or UTE may refer to:
* Ute (band), an Australian jazz group
* Ute (given name)
* ''Ute'' (sponge), a sponge genus
* Ute (vehicle), an Australian and New Zealand term for certain utility vehicles
* Ute, Iowa, a city in Monona County along ...
chief
Wakara, settlers moved into the
Sanpete Valley in central Utah to establish the community of
Manti.
Fillmore, Utah
Fillmore is a city and the county seat of Millard County, Utah, United States. The population was 2,435 at the 2010 United States Census. It is named for the thirteenth US President Millard Fillmore, who was in office when Millard County was cre ...
, 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 was a mission approximately two miles (3 km) north of present-day Tendoy, Idaho, occupied by Mormon missionaries from 1855 to 1858.
Approximately twenty-seven Mormon men left the Salt Lake Valley on May 18, 1855, as instructed by ...
, Idaho,
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...
and
Elk Mountain in east-central Utah.
![Zion angels landing view](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Zion_angels_landing_view.jpg)
The experiences of returning members of the
Mormon Battalion
The Mormon Battalion was the only religious unit in United States military history in federal service, recruited solely from one religious body and having a religious title as the unit designation. The volunteers served from July 1846 to July ...
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, a senior Mormon officer of the Battalion, actively searched for settlement sites, minerals, and other resources. His report encouraged 1851 settlement efforts in
Iron County, near present-day
Cedar City
Cedar City is the largest city in Iron County, Utah, United States. It is located south of Salt Lake City, and north of Las Vegas on Interstate 15. It is the home of Southern Utah University, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Utah Summer Gam ...
. These southern explorations eventually led to Mormon settlements in
St. George, Utah
St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northe ...
,
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
and
San Bernardino, California
San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 ce ...
, 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 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. 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
The Bear River Massacre, or the Engagement on the Bear River, or the Battle of Bear River, or Massacre at Boa Ogoi, took place in present-day Franklin County, Idaho, on January 29, 1863. After years of skirmishes and food raids on farms and ranc ...
committed by California Militia stationed in Salt Lake City during the Civil War. The site of the massacre is just inside Preston, Idaho, but was generally thought to be within Utah at the time.
State of Deseret (proposed)
Statehood was petitioned for in 1849-50 using the name
Deseret. The proposed
State of Deseret
The State of Deseret (modern pronunciation , contemporaneously ) was a proposed state of the United States, proposed in 1849 by settlers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Salt Lake City. The provisional stat ...
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
The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude d ...
. The petition was rejected by Congress and Utah did not become a state until 1896.
Utah Territory
In 1850, the
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, the 45th state ...
was created with the
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850 that defused a political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired in the Mexican–Am ...
, and
Fillmore (named after President Fillmore) was designated the capital. In 1856, Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the territorial capital.
Slavery
The first group of pioneers brought African slaves with them, making Utah the only place in the western United States to have African slavery. Three slaves, Green Flake, Hark Lay, and Oscar Crosby, came west with this first group in 1847. The settlers also began to purchase Indian slaves in the well-established Indian slave trade,
as well as enslaving Indian prisoners of war.
In 1850, 26 slaves were counted in Salt Lake County. Slavery didn't become officially recognized until 1852, when the
Act in Relation to Service
The Act in Relation to Service, which was passed on Feb 4, 1852 in the Utah Territory, made slavery legal in the territory. A similar law, Act for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners was passed on March 7, 1852, and specifically dealt ...
and the
Act for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners were passed. Slavery was repealed on June 19, 1862 when Congress prohibited slavery in all US territories.
Utah War
Disputes between the
Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into severa ...
inhabitants and the federal government intensified after
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
' 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 possible rebellion spread, President
James Buchanan sent troops on the Utah expedition to quell the growing unrest and to replace
Brigham Young
Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...
as territorial governor with
Alfred Cumming. The expedition was also known as the
Utah War
The Utah War (1857–1858), also known as the Utah Expedition, Utah Campaign, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between Mormon settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the US go ...
.
As fear of invasion grew, Mormon settlers had convinced some
Paiute Indians to aid in a Mormon-led attack on 120 immigrants from Arkansas under the guise of Indian aggression. The murder of these settlers became known as the
Mountain Meadows massacre
The Mountain Meadows Massacre (September 7–11, 1857) was a series of attacks during the Utah War that resulted in the mass murder of at least 120 members of the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train. The massacre occurred in the southern U ...
. The Mormon leadership had adopted a defensive posture that led to a ban on the selling of grain to outsiders in preparation for an impending war. This chafed pioneers traveling through the region, who were unable to purchase badly needed supplies. A disagreement between some of the Arkansas pioneers and the Mormons in Cedar City led to the secret planning of the massacre by a few Mormon leaders in the area. Some scholars debate the involvement of Brigham Young. Only one man,
John D. Lee
John Doyle Lee (September 6, 1812 – March 23, 1877) was an American pioneer and prominent early member of the Latter Day Saint Movement in Utah. Lee was later convicted as a mass murderer for his complicity in the Mountain Meadows massacre, s ...
, was ever convicted of the murders, and he was executed at the massacre site.
Express riders had brought the news 1,000 miles from the Missouri River settlements to Salt Lake City within about two weeks of the army's beginning 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 (February 2, 1803 – April 6, 1862) served as a general in three different armies: the Texian Army, the United States Army, and the Confederate States Army. He saw extensive combat during his 34-year military career, figh ...
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 ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
and southern Utah. Young also sent out a few units of the
Nauvoo Legion
The Nauvoo Legion was a state-authorized militia of the city of Nauvoo, Illinois, United States. With growing antagonism from surrounding settlements it came to have as its main function the defense of Nauvoo, and surrounding Latter Day Saint ...
(numbering roughly 8,000–10,000), 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 of 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 1857–58 near a burned out
Fort Bridger
Fort Bridger was originally a 19th-century fur trading outpost established in 1842, on Blacks Fork of the Green River, in what is now Uinta County, Wyoming, United States. It became a vital resupply point for wagon trains on the Oregon Trail, C ...
in Wyoming. Through the negotiations between emissary
Thomas L. Kane, Young, Cumming and Johnston, control of Utah territory was peacefully transferred to Cumming, who entered an 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.
Transcontinental telegraph
Salt Lake City was the last link of the
First Transcontinental Telegraph
The first transcontinental telegraph (completed October 24, 1861) was a line that connected the existing telegraph network in the eastern United States to a small network in California, by means of a link between Omaha, Nebraska and Carson City, ...
, between
Carson City, Nevada and
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
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 ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
and other officials. Soon after the telegraph line was completed, the
Deseret Telegraph Company built the Deseret line connecting the settlements in the territory with Salt Lake City and, by extension, the rest of the United States.
Civil War
Because of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, 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 (March 17, 1820Rodgers, 1938, p. 1 – December 17, 1891) was an American soldier who served as a Union general during the American Civil War. He is most notorious for his massacres against Native Americans during the ...
arrived with the 3rd Regiment of California Volunteers in 1862. While in Utah, Connor and his troops 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 soldiers to go out and explore for mineral deposits to bring more non-Mormons into the state. Minerals were discovered in
Tooele County
Tooele County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 58,218. Its county seat and largest city is Tooele. The county was created in 1850 and organized the following year.
Tooele County ...
, and some miners began to come to the territory. Conner also solved the Shoshone Indian problem in
Cache Valley 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
The Bear River Massacre, or the Engagement on the Bear River, or the Battle of Bear River, or Massacre at Boa Ogoi, took place in present-day Franklin County, Idaho, on January 29, 1863. After years of skirmishes and food raids on farms and ranc ...
. Between 200 and 400 Shoshone men, women and children were killed, as were 27 soldiers, with over 50 more soldiers wounded or suffering from frostbite.
Beginning in 1865,
Utah's Black Hawk War developed into the deadliest conflict in the territory's history. Chief
Antonga Black Hawk
Antonga, or Black Hawk (born c. 1830; died September 26, 1870), was a nineteenth-century war chief of the Timpanogos Tribe in what is the present-day state of Utah. He led the Timpanogos against Mormon settlers and gained alliances with Paiute ...
died in 1870, but fights continued to break out until additional federal troops were sent in to suppress the
Ghost Dance of 1872. The war is unique among
Indian Wars
The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...
because it was a three-way conflict, with mounted Timpanogos
Utes led by Antonga Black Hawk fighting federal and Utah local militia.
On May 10, 1869, the
First transcontinental railroad was completed at
Promontory Summit
Promontory is an area of high ground in Box Elder County, Utah, United States, 32 mi (51 km) west of Brigham City and 66 mi (106 km) northwest of Salt Lake City. Rising to an elevation of 4,902 feet (1,494 m) above sea ...
, north of the
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 enforce the laws against polygamy. In the
1890 Manifesto, the LDS Church leadership dropped its approval of polygamy citing divine revelation. When Utah applied for statehood again in 1895, it was accepted. Statehood was officially granted on January 4, 1896.
Women's suffrage
The Mormon issue made the situation for women the topic of nationwide controversy. In 1870 the
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, the 45th state ...
, controlled by Mormons, gave women the right to vote. However, in 1887, Congress disenfranchised Utah women with the
Edmunds–Tucker Act
The Edmunds–Tucker Act of 1887 was an Act of Congress that focused on restricting some practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). An amendment to the earlier Edmunds Act, it was passed in response to the dispute ...
. In 1867–96, eastern activists promoted women's 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 women's suffrage. Congress admitted Utah as a state with that constitution in 1896.
20th and 21st century
![Salt lake city main street c1900 pc](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Salt_lake_city_main_street_c1900_pc.jpg)
Beginning in the early 20th century, with the establishment of such national parks as
Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park () is an American national park located in southwestern Utah. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along the eastern ...
and
Zion National Park
Zion National Park is an American national park located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a variety of ...
, 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 and "the Mittens" of
Monument Valley are instantly recognizable to most national residents. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, 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 is a ski area in the western United States, located in the town of Alta in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, in Salt Lake County. With a skiable area of , Alta's base elevation is and rises to for a vertical gain of . One of the oldest ski ...
, Utah has become world-renowned for its skiing. The dry, powdery snow of the
Wasatch Range
The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the G ...
is considered some of the best skiing in the world. Salt Lake City won the bid for the
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...
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
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 contiguous cities and towns stretched along the Wasatch Range from approximately Provo in the south to Logan in the nort ...
continue to be used for sporting events. This also spurred the development of the light-rail system in the
Salt Lake Valley, known as
TRAX, 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 was one of the fastest-growing cities in the country at that time, and
West Valley City
West Valley City is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt Lake County and a suburb of Salt Lake City in the U.S. state of Utah. The population was 140,230 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census,
making it the List of cities and towns in ...
is the state's 2nd most populous city. Today, many areas of Utah are seeing phenomenal growth. Northern
Davis
Davis may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Mount Davis (Antarctica)
* Davis Island (Palmer Archipelago)
* Davis Valley, Queen Elizabeth Land
Canada
* Davis, Saskatchewan, an unincorporated community
* Davis Strait, between Nunavut and Gre ...
, southern and western
Salt Lake,
Summit, eastern
Tooele
Tooele ( ) is a city in Tooele County in the U.S. state of Utah. The population was 35,742 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Tooele County. Located approximately 30 minutes southwest of Salt Lake City, Tooele is known for Tooele Army ...
,
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
,
Wasatch, and
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
counties are all growing very quickly.
Transportation
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...
and
urbanization
Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...
are major issues in politics as development consumes agricultural land and wilderness areas.
In 2012, the State of Utah passed the
Utah Transfer of Public Lands Act The State of Utah passed legislation in 2012—the Utah Transfer of Public Lands Act—to require the Federal government to grant the majority of federal land in the state to the state of Utah after 2014. According to Donald J. Kochan, the federal ...
in an attempt to gain control over a substantial portion of
federal land
Federal lands are lands in the United States owned by the federal government. Pursuant to the Property Clause of the United States Constitution ( Article 4, section 3, clause 2), Congress has the power to retain, buy, sell, and regulate federal l ...
in the state from the
federal government, based on language in the
Utah Enabling Act of 1894. The State does not intend to use force or assert control by limiting access in an attempt to control the disputed lands, but does intend to use a multi-step process of
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
,
negotiation
Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties to reach the desired outcome regarding one or more issues of conflict. It is an interaction between entities who aspire to agree on matters of mutual interest. The agreement c ...
,
legislation
Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...
, and if necessary,
litigation as part of its multi-year effort to gain state or private control over the lands after 2014.
[
][
]
World War II
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
families, like most Americans everywhere, did their utmost to assist in the war effort. Tires, meat, butter, sugar, fats, oils, coffee, shoes, boots, gasoline, canned fruits, vegetables, and soups were rationed on a national basis. The school day was shortened and bus routes were reduced to limit the number of resources used stateside and increase what could be sent to our soldiers.
Geneva Steel
Geneva Steel was a steel mill located in Vineyard, Utah, United States, founded during World War II to enhance national steel output. It operated from December 1944 to November 2001. Its unique name came from a resort that once operated nearby on ...
was built to increase the steel production for America during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
had proposed opening a steel mill in
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
in 1936, but the idea was shelved after a couple of months. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war and the steel plant was put into progress. In April 1944, Geneva shipped its first order, which consisted of over 600 tons of steel plate. Geneva Steel also brought thousands of job opportunities to Utah. The positions were hard to fill as many of Utah's men were overseas fighting. Women began working, filling 25 percent of the jobs.
As a result of Utah's and Geneva Steels contribution during the war, several
Liberty Ships
Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass ...
were named in honor of Utah including the USS Joseph Smith, USS Brigham Young,
USS Provo, and the USS Peter Skene Ogden.
One of the sectors of the beachhead of
Normandy Landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...
was codenamed
Utah Beach
Utah, commonly known as Utah Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), during World War II. The westernmost of the five code-named la ...
, and the amphibious landings at the beach were undertaken by
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
troops.
It is estimated that 1,450 soldiers from Utah were killed in the war.
See also
*
History of African Americans in Utah
The first African Americans to arrive in Utah were fur trappers in the early 19th century. The second influx consisted of both freedmen who were converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and slaves belonging ...
*
History of the Colorado Plateau
The Colorado Plateau, also known as the Colorado Plateau Province, is a United States physiographic region, physiographic and desert, desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern Uni ...
*
History of the Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
*
History of the Western United States
*
Territorial evolution of Utah
The following timeline traces the territorial evolution of the U.S. State of Utah.
Timeline
*Historical territorial claims of Spain in the present State of Utah:
**Nueva Vizcaya, 1562–1821
**Santa Fé de Nuevo Méjico, 1598–1821
* ...
Notes
References
*May, Dean L. ''Utah: A People's History''. Bonneville Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1987. .
Further reading
* Alford, Kenneth L. ed. ''Utah and the American Civil War: The Written Record'' (2017)
* Allen, James B. ''Still the Right Place: Utahs Second Half-Century of Statehood, 1945–1995'' (Provo: Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, 2017). 661 pp.
*
Arrington, Leonard J., ''
Brigham Young: American Moses'';
University of Illinois Press
The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic proje ...
; , (1985; Paperback, 1986).
* Baldridge, Kenneth W. ''The Civilian Conservation Corps in Utah, 1933-1942: Remembering Nine Years of Achievement'' (2019
online review* Bancroft, Hubert Howe. ''History of Utah'' (1890
online
* Campbell, David E., John C. Green, and J. Quin Monson. ''Seeking the promised land: Mormons and American politics'' (Cambridge UP, 2014).
* Ching, Jacqueline. ''Utah: Past and Present'' (Rosen, 2010).
*
* Flores, Dan L. "Zion in Eden: Phases of the environmental history of Utah." ''Environmental Review: ER'' 7.4 (1983): 325-344
online
* Iber, Jorge. "El Diablo Nos Esta Llevando': Utah Hispanics and the Great Depression." ''Utah Historical Quarterly'' 66 (1998): 159-177.
* May, Dean L. ''Utah: A people's history'' (U of Utah Press, 1987).
* Peterson, Charles S. and Brian Q. Cannon. ''The Awkward State of Utah: Coming of Age in the Nation, 1896–1945''. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2015. , scholarly survey
* Peterson, Charles S. ''Utah: A history'' (WW Norton & Company, 1984), popular survey.
* Poll, Richard D., and William P. MacKinnon. "Causes of the Utah War Reconsidered." ''Journal of Mormon History'' 20.2 (1994): 16-44
online*
* Rogers, Brent M. ''Unpopular Sovereignty: Mormons and the Federal Management of Early Utah Territory'' (U of Nebraska Press, 2017).
* Saunders, Richard L. "Placing Juanita Brooks among the Heroes (or Villains) of Mormon and Utah History." ''Utah Historical Quarterly'' 87.3 (2019): 218-237
online* Scott, Patricia Lyn, and Linda Thatcher. ''Women in Utah history: Paradigm or paradox'' (University Press of Colorado, 2005)
online* Tetrault, Lisa. "When Women Won the Right to Vote: A History Unfinished" ''Utah Historical Quarterly'' 89.3 (2021): 180-197
online* Turner, John G. ''Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet'' (Belknap, 2012).
* Woodbury, Angus M. "A history of southern Utah and its National Parks." ''Utah Historical Quarterly'' 12.3/4 (1944): 111-222
online
Historiography
* Topping, Gary. ''Utah historians and the reconstruction of Western history'' (U of Oklahoma Press, 2003).
* Topping, Gary. ''Leonard J. Arrington: A Historian's Life'' (Arthur H Clark, 2008) on Mormons.
{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Utah
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
History of the Rocky Mountains