Things to do / Travel Guide
The Ute and Goshute Indian tribes reigned in the northern Utah region from about the year 1300 until the mid-1820s. While many Europeans missionaries and adventure-seekers had heard rumor of the Great Salt Lake, most missed it by a long shot. Thus, it was the rough-and-tough, mountain men who were the first non-Native Americans to set foot in the region. In the 1830s, avid adventure-seekers looking for beaver pelts and furs blazed the trails that were eventually used by miners as well as telegraph and railroad companies. The histories of Logan, Ogden, Provo, and Brigham City are extensions of the history of Salt Lake City. Settlers set up trading posts or communities in these areas, but their histories were very defined by and mirror that of Salt Lake City.
Among the famous first explorers were Jim Bridger, Peter Ogden, of the British Hudson's Bay Company (for whom Ogden was named), Etienne Provot, a Frenchman who traveled in from Santa Fe, New Mexico (for whom Provo is named), and John H. Weber (for whom the Weber River and Weber Canyon were named). As word of the salty, land-locked sea traveled eastward, curiosity about the phenomenon grew. In 1843, John C. Fremont, known for his surveying expeditions of the West, his forays into what is now Las Vegas, and for being the first white man to see Lake Tahoe, also led a government-sponsored scientific sojourn through the region. His goal was to determine the salinity of the Great Salt Lake, and map out the Great Salt Lake Desert and the valleys near the Wasatch Mountain Range.
Thanks to Fremont's detailed maps, Mormon leaders, seeking freedom from persecution in Nauvoo, Illinois developed their travel route and formulated their plans to create a religious enclave; a Mormon Zion. On July 24, 1847, 148 Mormon pioneers (143 men, three women, and two children), led by a bold and charismatic Brigham Young, ascended the Wasatch Mountain Range; Young gazed out at the desolate, stark valley and suprisingly declared, “This is the place.”
Without wasting time (and disregarding the fact that the land still officially belonged to Mexico), the Mormon pioneers set up shop. Several months later, 2,000 more immigrants arrived. They pooled their resources, shared the land, and immediately began learning agricultural strategies; constructing shelters, and creating what would later become Salt Lake City. During one of the community's first harvests, the region suffered a devestating drought and crickets infested the crops. In what has since been touted as a miracle, a colony of (California) sea gulls swooped down, gulped down the crickets, and saved the crop. In later years, after Utah became a state, the sea gull was named the state bird.
In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo granted ownership of the the now-Mormon-settled Salt Lake Valley to the United States. Two years later, Utah became an official U.S. territory, and by 1856 Salt Lake City became its capital. The first 20 years of northern Utah's history were marked by Mormon-directed politics, economy, and family life. Polygamy prevailed, causing much controversy amidst federal officials on the east coast, and the admission of the Salt Lake Valley as a formal state was delayed; the federal government wanted polygamy outlawed before the statehood would be granted.
The federal government also made several obvious attempts to destroy this Mormon outpost. In 1857, President James Buchanan (acting upon rumors of a brewing Mormon rebellion) sent approximately 2,500 soldiers, the then-largest peacetime army ever convened, to the area. But before his troops arrived, the Mormon pioneers evacuated Salt Lake City and the soldiers found the streets empty. And during Utah's bloody Black Hawk War (1865-1872), the federal government manipulated the Ute tribe, operating under the direction of Chief Black Hawk, to attack the Mormon settlement. Understanding that their own land would consequently be under the control of the federal government, and themselves wishing to limit Mormon growth, the Ute were not complicit partners in the plot, and a three-way war broke out during which the Ute fought both the Mormons and the federal soldiers. After a decade of stiff Ute resistance, Chief Black Hawk and his men were eventually defeated by both the Mormons and the federal government.
In the midst of the war, 1869 marked a momentous occasion for the United States: East Coast met West Coast when more than 1,770 miles of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad companies were finally linked during the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Point. With this turning point in the region's and country's history, Utah became known as the “Crossroads of the West.”
During the 1870s, the railroad brought “gentiles” (as Mormons call non-Mormons) to the Mormon oasis; businessmen, miners, and prospectors came seeking fortune, and two cities emerged within the larger Salt Lake City: the Mormons formed their political party, and the gentiles formed theirs; the Mormons had their own newspapers, and the gentiles maintained theirs. Whereas in the late 1860s the Mormons held a 93% population majority, by 1891 Mormons represented just 50%.
A natural result of the demographic changes in the city, the Mormon Church officially banned polygamy in the 1890s. In 1896, Utah was admitted to the Union, and by that time Salt Lake City had transformed from an idyllic Mormon village into a burgeoning U.S. metropolis. The early-20th century was marked by a booming mining industry (thanks largely to Bingham Canyon, the world's largest open-pit mine). Tall buildings began to sprout in what became known as downtown, and Salt Lake City began to form its own, non-Mormon financial center. The agricultural infrastructure the Mormons had put in place also blossomed and dairy, cattle, sheep, chicken, and turkey farms thrived.
Though hard hit during the Great Depression, the creation of the Alta Ski Area, in 1939, put northern Utah back on the map, as did the industrial boom during World War II. By the 1950s the region had become one of the nation's largest missile producers, and, as one of just seven states that allow for the establishment of commercially-owned industrial banks, Salt Lake City is considered the “industrial banking” hub of the United States.
Tourism blossomed during the latter part of the 20th century. Ski resorts popped up throughout the region and the powdery, perfect snow of the Wasatch Mountain Range became known worldwide. The recognition of northern Utah as one of the world's best ski centers culminated in Salt Lake City's selection to host the 2002 Winter Olympics. As a result, the city further bloomed into the tourism mecca that it is today: world-class chefs came to the region, restaurants improved, the public transportation system was revamped, ski resorts, museums, parks, and city streets enjoyed a proper makeover, and the splendor of northern Utah was officially unfurled to spectators and tourists from around the globe.