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A Unique Setting
Utah presents an uncommon landscape with three major land
formations (physiographic provinces). They are the Rocky
Mountain, Colorado Plateau, and Basin and Range provinces.
The Rocky Mountain Province takes up a V-shaped section of
northeastern Utah. In this area are the Uinta and Wasatch
mountains. The Colorado Plateau Province lies in the east
central and southeastern area of Utah. It includes the area
from the Uinta Basin south to Canyonlands. The Basin and
Range Province is an area of deserts and mountain ranges.
They are separated by broad valleys.
Within these three areas, Utah varies in elevation from the
lowest point at Beaver Dam Wash, 2,350 feet above sea level
in the south, to the highest point on Kings Peak in the
Uinta Mountains, 13,528 feet above sea level. Most of Utah's
cities are located between 3,000 and 7,000 feet above sea
level.
In each of these areas there are different kinds of plants
and animals. At 3,000 feet you will find sagebrush, Joshua
trees and the horned rattlesnake. Around 4,000 feet you can
look at piñons, junipers and herds of mule deer. In the
higher mountains you will see quaking aspen, douglas fir,
the Canada lynx and North American elk. At the very top of
the mountains, past 8,000 feet, you can find alpine fir and
Engleman spruce trees.
Utah's temperatures vary widely. The mountains and high
valleys are cooler, while the lower elevations and southern
parts of the state have higher temperatures. The highest
temperature ever recorded is 117 F on July 5, 1985, at St.
George, Utah. On February 1, 1985, at Peter's Sink in Logan
the temperature sank to -69 F, the lowest recorded
temperature in Utah.
Precipitation in Utah varies greatly. The Great Salt Lake
Desert gets an average of less than 5 inches in a year. Some
places in the Wasatch Mountains get more than 60 inches in a
year. The average annual rainfall is between 10 and 15
inches per year. The greatest amount of rain to fall in one
hour in Utah was 5 inches in Morgan, Utah, on August 16,
1958. In fact the greatest amount to fall in two and three
hours also happened in Morgan, on the same day: a total of
15 inches in three hours. That is a whole years' worth of
water in one afternoon.
Prehistory
Utah's intriguing history dates back to the Messozoic Era
(230 to 65 million years ago), when many types of dinosaurs
lived in the eastern and southern parts of what is now known
as Utah. Their fossilized remnants are still being
discovered and unearthed.
Utah's prehistory is as diverse as its scenic landscape,
covering 10,000-12,000 years. Archaeological sites have been
identified in all corners of the state. This shows that the
ancient people of Utah adapt well to deserts, high
mountains, badlands, and marshes.
Archaeologists call the first people living in Utah
"Paleoindians" (pa-leo-in-de-en). The Paleoindians were
hunters and gatherers who sometimes hunted now-extinct
mammals like the mammoth. All across Utah, Paleoindian sites
are found. These sites are very old and rare. Some
Paleoindian camps identified along the shoreline of ancient
Lake Bonneville reflect Paleoindians use of marsh
environments.
Changes started in weapons and lifeways around 8,000 years
ago. This marked the beginning of the Archaic period. During
the Archaic period, people were hunters and gatherers. They
were nomadic (no-mad-ik), but sometimes they settled in
small villages and caves for short periods. During the
Archaic period, people made a variety of baskets for
collecting plants. They made many types of stone spear and
dart tips. They used these to hunt animals.
From 8,000 to 2,000 years ago the atlatl, or spear thrower,
helped the people hunt successfully. Danger Cave and Juke
Box Cave near Wendover, Utah are two famous sites used
during the Paleoindian and Archaic time periods.
Lifestyles began to slowly change around 2,500 years ago.
Corn, beans and squash were introduced into Utah, possibly
from the south. Archaeologists used the clues they found in
caves and other places to identify two groups of Native
Americans in Utah. They call them the Anasazi (ane-sa-ze)
and Fremont Indians. Farming changed the way Anasazi and
Fremont Indians made a living. Across much of northern Utah,
the Fremont adopted a farming lifestyle. They still relied
on hunting and gathering for much of their food. Further to
the south, in the Four Corners area and across the southern
portion of Utah, the Anasazi relied heavily on corn, beans
and squash. The Anasazi had domesticated (de-mesti-kat) the
turkey and used it as an important source of food and raw
material.
Around 1300 B.C.E. (Before the Common Era), the people we
call Fremont and Anasazi were no longer visible in the
archaeological record. Some areas were abandoned and new
cultures moved into the area. In many ways, people went back
to a hunter and gatherer lifestyle or the same type of
lifestyle that the people in the Arachic period lived.
Utah has five historic Indian tribes including the Ute,
Paiute, Navajo, Goshute, and Shoshone. They all had
different ways of living successfully in Utah.
Historic Indians of Utah
Native American groups living in Utah included the Ute,
Southern Paiute, Navajo, Gosiute, Northern and Eastern
Shoshone. The Ute, Paiute, Gosiute, and Shoshone speak
different but related languages from a family known as the
Numic Language Family. The Navajo speak a language that is
in the Athapaskan (ath-e-pas-ken) Language Family.
The Ute, Goisute, Southern Paiute and Shoshone lived similar
lifestyles by hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plant
foods. The pinyon nut was especially important to all of
them. These groups now live on reservations in Utah,
Colorado, Nevada and Idaho although prior to white
settlement, they ranged all across the Great Basin and
Intermountain West. Navajo culture during historic times was
based upon herding sheep, goats, and cattle.
The state of Utah is named after the Ute tribe. The Ute once
held claim to much of Utah and all of western Colorado. They
ranged well onto the Great Plains of eastern Colorado into
Nebraska and south into New Mexico. In historic times, there
were at least 11 different bands of the Ute tribe. Each band
claimed their own territory but membership in a band was
fluid. The Ute lived by hunting, fishing, gathering and
trading with other Native American groups in the area.
Housing consisted of brush structures and cone-shaped tipis
made from animal skins. During the late 1800s, the Ute lost
most of their lands and were restricted to reservations in
southern Colorado and northeastern Utah.
The Paiute are divided into two groups: the Northern Paiute
and the Southern Paiute. The Northern Paiute lived in what
is now Oregon, California and Nevada. The Southern Paiute
lived in southern Utah, southern Nevada, and northern
Arizona. Hunting and gathering with some fishing was the
main source of food. A Southern Paiute house might be made
of brush and poles stacked in a cone-shape. These are known
as wickiups (WIK-ee-up). Basketry was made by the Southern
Paiute as was pottery. There are Paiute reservations in
southern Utah and in Nevada.
The western deserts of Utah is the home of the Gosiute. They
are related to the western Shoshone groups and, through
intermarriage, to the Ute. The Gosiute lived in the Great
Basin as hunters and gatherers living. They built
cone-shaped wickiups and similar structures. Two
reservations in western Utah are now the home of the
Gosiute.
Idaho, eastern Oregon and northern Utah was the home of the
Northern Shoshone. The Eastern Shoshone lived across western
Wyoming, northeastern Utah, and northwestern Colorado.
Shoshone livelihood revolved around hunting, gathering and
fishing. Bison hunting was especially important.
Herding sheep and goats was, and still is, the mainstay of
many Navajo families. Southern Utah, northern Arizona, and
northern New Mexico is the land of the Navajo; the largest
Native American tribe in the United States. Some people
believe the Navajo migrated south into their current
homeland sometime after 1300 C.E. (Common Era) where they
lived as hunters and gatherers. At some point, the Navajo
acquired sheep from the Spanish and they learned to weave
from the Hopi. The Hogan is the traditional Navajo house.
Explorers, Trappers, and Traders
Mexicans and Spaniards were the first known Europeans to
enter what is now the state of Utah. The discovery and
translation of the journals of Juan María Antonia Rivera
show that he led at least two expeditions into the area of
present-day Utah in 1765. He and his companions were the
first non-Indians to see Rio del Tizon -- the Colorado
River. Twelve years later, in July 1776, just as the
American Revolution was beginning in the East, a 10 man
exploration team left Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was under the
leadership of two Franciscan priests, Fathers Francisco
Atanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Veléz de Escalante. This
will later be known as the Dominguez - Escalante Expedition.
They were looking for a route between Santa Fe, in present
day New Mexico and Monterey, California. They entered Utah
from the east near the present town of Jensen, around
September 11, 1776. The group crossed the Wasatch Mountains
by way of Diamond Fork and Spanish Fork canyons. They
visited with Yuta (Ute) Indians camped near Utah Lake. Early
snows forced them to give up their attempt to reach
Monterey. Traveling south, they crossed the dangerous
Colorado River on November 7, 1776. California. They
returned to Santa Fe on January 2, 1777.
The expedition had several important members but two stand
out: Don Bernardo Miera y Pacheco and a twelve-year-old Ute
indian boy named Joaquin. Don Bernardo Miera y Pacheco drew
an important map of the area. Even though it was not
accurate, it was the first of its kind. Joaquin, the only
Utah native in the group, aided the expedition during their
1,700-mile trip.
Two very important historical documents came out of the
Dominguez -Escalante expedition. One is the map made by
Miera. The other is the detailed diary kept by Father
Escalante. In it he describes plant and animal life;
geography; and the appearance, dress, and foods of the Ute
and Paiute Indians. The Rivera journals, the Escalante
diary, and Miera's map are the first documents in Utah
history.
Although there was no immediate followup to the historic
Dominguez-Escalante expedition, traders continued to be
interested in establishing new routes to California. By the
early 1800s trade between Santa Fe and the Indians in Utah
was well established. From 1807 to 1840 mountain men
explored vast areas of the American West in their hunt for
beavers. Their knowledge was passed on to future settlers.
In the 1820s trappers explored most of Utah's rivers and
valleys and some of the desert land. Jedediah Smith, one of
the great explorers, made several significant journeys
through Utah. It was his rediscovery of South Pass in
Wyoming that allowed thousands of immigrants to travel west
by wagon. Trapper Jim Bridger reported his sighting of the
Great Salt Lake in 1824. Miles Goodyear established Fort
Buenaventura on the Ogden River in 184445. The explorations
of other trappers including Peter Skene Ogden, Etienne
Provost, John H. Weber, William H. Ashley, James P.
Beckwourth, the Robidoux brothers, and Joseph R. Walker
added to the knowledge of the Utah area. So did the
experiences of groups like the Bartleson-Bidwell party whose
wagons crossed Utah in 1841.
In the 1840s the mountain men came into the area less and
less as the beaver pelt trade declined. At the same time the
United States government explorers and settlers bound for
California came into Utah. John C. Fremont was one of the
most famous explorers during this time. He added even more
data about the Utah area. He mapped trails and described the
land and plant and animal life of the Great Basin. By 1847
the Mormons arrived in the Salt Lake Valley aided by the
experiences of the many people who had come before them.
Mormon Settlement
Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders decided to abandon
Nauvoo, Illinois, when Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, was killed at
Carthage, Illinois, in June 1844. Their move to the West
began February 4, 1846.
With the outbreak of the Mexican War, President James Knox
Polk asked the Mormons for a battalion of men. Volunteers
were recruited and the Mormon Battalion formed. During their
march of 1846-1847 from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to San
Diego, California, they blazed a wagon route across the
Southwest. Their pay and their later explorations helped the
pioneer settlers.
In April 1847 the pioneer company of Mormons started from
Winter Quarters, Nebraska, to Utah. The company included 143
men, 3 women and 2 children. An advance party entered the
Salt Lake Valley July 22, 1847. The rest of the group
entered on July 24. Planting and irrigating began
immediately.
The struggle for survival was difficult in the first years
of settlement for the people in Utah. Because the Mormons
had pioneered other settlements in the Midwest, they were
better able to tame the harsh land. The church organization
served as the first government. Their faith stressed
cooperative effort. The city was laid out according to a set
plan, and building began. Natural resources, including
timber and water, were regarded as Settlement of other areas
began when possible. Bountiful, Farmington, Ogden, Tooele,
Provo, and Manti were settled by 1850. The typical family of
1850 consisted of two parents in their 20s or early 30s and
three children. More than half the population were farm
families. The church authorities would choose a leader for
each settlement. Small settlements were frequently forts
with log cabins arranged in a protective square.
The Mormon village in Utah was a planned community of
farmers and trades people. The village would include a main
living area and farms and farm buildings on the land beyond.
Life in these villages centered on the day's work and church
activities. Music, dance, and drama were favorite group
activities of the early pioneers.
Territorial Days
Utah became part of the United States after the Mexican War,
in February 1848. The Mormons responded by forming a
political government and proposing the State of Deseret
(1849-1850). Congress did not admit Deseret to the Union but
instead they created the Territory of Utah.
Utah Territory was a big area including most of present-day
Nevada and part of Wyoming and Colorado. Utah's territorial
period, 1850-896, was marked by increased conflict with
Native Americans and by the immigration and settlement of
non-Mormons. The territory was a part of the building of the
transcontinental railroad and the completion of the first
telegraph line that ran across the West.
Indian problems surfaced in the 1850s and threatened
settlements. Mormon leader and territorial governor Brigham
Young asked the settlers, on Ute land, to treat the Indians
well and avoid conflicts with them. Yet some settlers did
not follow this policy. When Indians stole horses or cattle,
some settlers believed it was all right to punish the
Indians by murdering them. Brigham Young saw that this kind
of treatment would lead to more violence between the two
peoples. He asked the settlers to defend themselves but not
to kill Indians that stole property. This did not work, and
the Walker War between the Mormons and the Utes started in
July 1853.
At first, Chief Walkara (sometimes Walker), wanted peace
with the Mormons. He had even invited them to settle in
Sanpete Valley. But after a relative of his was killed by a
settler the chief and his people began a year-long conflict
with the Mormon settlers. In the conflict many Mormons and
Utes were killed. In May 1854, Brigham Young and Chief
Walkara met and agreed to stop the fighting still, the
feelings of anger and resentment did not end. The Native
Americans and the Mormons would fight again in the Tintic
Indian War (1856) and the Black Hawk War (1865-68). After
defeat in that war the federal government removed the
Indians to the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, in eastern
Utah.
Utahns had conflicts with the federal government in the late
1850s. The government and the Mormons did not trust each
other. Reports that Utahns were in rebellion led President
James Buchanan to send troops under Albert Sidney Johnston
to Utah in 1857. President Buchanan appointed Alfred Cumming
as the new territorial governor. The Mormons said they would
welcome the new governor and he could come to Utah, but
without any troops. A peace commission came to Utah in June
1858. They met with Brigham Young and worked out a solution.
Many Salt Lake Valley residents temporarily moved to Utah
Valley in 1858 because they were afraid of the troops. The
Mormons and the troops attained peace that spring.
Johnston's troops established a military post at Camp Floyd,
west of Provo. The troops remained in Utah for about three
years. Governor Cumming tried to be fair to Mormons and
non-Mormons. He wrote, "A community is seldom seen more
marked by quiet and peaceable diligence, than that of the
Mormons."
The appointment of Cumming signaled the beginning of the
struggle for control of political power in the territorial
period. The issue of polygamy (po-LIG-uh-me) provided a
shocking topic to the rest of the United States. Federal
marshals arrested polygamists, church leaders went into
hiding, and the federal government seized church property.
Denial of statehood by Congress continued until after Mormon
church president Wilford Woodruff announced the end of
polygamy in 1890.
Crossroads of the West
Mountain men and settlers had explored much of the West, but
the scientific investigation of this land really began when
Congress authorized exploration for railroad and wagon
routes. Captain Howard Stansbury explored and mapped Great
Salt Lake Valley in 1849-50; Lieutenant Joseph C. Ives
studied part of the Colorado River in 1857-58; Lieutenant E.
G. Beckwith
completed a railroad survey. Major John Wesley Powell came
in 1869 and 1871 to explore the "last frontier"-- the Green
and Colorado rivers-- by boat. Powell made a monumental
contribution to our understanding of the arid Colorado
Plateau, water resources, and the lifeways of the area's
Indians.
Communication between East and West became increasingly
important between 1850 and 1870. The overland freight
brought needed goods to Utah settlers. The Pony Express
brought both mail and news in its short nineteen months of
operation.
Completed in Salt Lake City, on October 24, 1861, were
overland telegraph lines connecting Omaha and Sacramento. He
planned the Deseret Telegraph to connect Salt Lake City with
the outlying Mormon settlements.
Next came the railroad. In 1868 Brigham Young contracted
with Union Pacific to build part of the transcontinental
railroad through Echo and Weber canyons. Mormons earned more
than two million dollars working on this project. Meanwhile,
hundreds of Chinese worked on the Central Pacific line east
from Sacramento. Finally, on May 10, 1869, workers joined
the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific railroad lines at
Promontory Summit, Utah.
Mines and Minorities
The immigration and settlement of many non-Mormons began
with the building of the transcontinental railroad and the
development of mining. Jews were among the first non-Mormons
to move into permanent homes in Utah. Catholics,
Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, and others
came in the 1860s and 1870s to establish schools, hospitals,
and churches. They came to minister to the large number of
non-Mormons who had found employment with the railroad or in
the mines. These ethnic and religious groups made great
contributions to Utah society.
The early settlers had explored Utah's mineral potential.
Yet Brigham Young discouraged exploitation of precious
metals, favoring agriculture and light industry instead. The
Mormons did quarry stone for building. Utah's precious metal
mining era dates from 1863. Colonel Patrick Edward Connor,
founder of Camp (later Fort) Douglas, encouraged his men to
prospect. Many men staked claims, and by the 1870s ore was
being processed. Mines at Stockton, Ophir, Mercur, Park
City, Frisco, Tintic, and Silver Reef were opened quickly
after 1870. Mining brought new wealth to Utah, and those
connected with the mines were primarily non-Mormons. These
men and women became influential in the territory's
business, politics, and social life.
Transition
In the thirty years from 1860 to 1890, Utah's population
jumped from some 40,000 to more than 200,000. Most cities
were along the 75 miles of the Wasatch Front area. Brigham
Young and others continued to direct the settlement of
remote areas of Cache, Sevier, and Sanpete valleys; the back
valleys of the Wasatch Mountains; and southern Utah.
As many as 90 percent of the total population were Mormon in
the late 1800s, and their way of life dominated politics,
economics, and social life. Brigham Young was an important
figure in the territory's life until his death in 1877.
Several significant economic developments marked the 1860s
to the 1890s. One was the Mormon cooperative store with the
founding of Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution
(ZCMI). Founded in 1868, it is one of American's oldest
department stores. The next was the mastery of irrigation
agriculture and the development of mills, mines, and other
industry. Then came the building of more schools, churches,
tabernacles, theaters, and business offices. In addition
there was the flowering of dance, music, and drama. All
these developments marked Utah's move toward statehood.
Statehood
Utahns began petitioning Congress for admission to the Union
in 1849, but they did not achieve statehood until 1896.
During most of Utah's territorial years federally appointed
men, mostly non-Mormons, served as governors. They
repeatedly clashed with the Mormon-dominated legislature.
While the number of non-Mormons living in Utah was less than
10 percent, they were mostly living in the cities or in
mining and railroad towns. There were several reasons the
non-Mormon minority (my-NOR-it-tee) felt fearful of Mormon
control: polygamy, church and state issues, and lack of free
public schools.
Polygamy still held the country's attention. Congress passed
the Anti-bigamy Act (1862), but it was generally not
enforced. Finally, in 1887 the Edmunds-Tucker Act brought an
end to the church corporation and threatened the survival of
all Mormon institutions. Additionally, women, who had the
vote under territorial law, did not have the right to vote
by this act. Clearly something dramatic had to be done to
reverse this trend. In September 1890 Mormon church
president Wilford Woodruff issued the Manifesto. It stated
that Mormons no longer accepted polygamy.
Next the Mormon church sold some businesses it owned, so
they no longer had a business monopoly (muh-NAH-po-lee). In
1891, the Democratic and Republican political parties were
organized in Utah. With each of these steps, Utah moved
closer to becoming a state.
Careful teamwork by Mormons and non-Mormons in Washington,
D.C., and positive statements by the Utah Commission led to
the passage of the Enabling Act. Signed by President Grover
Cleveland, this bill allowed Utahns to hold a constitutional
convention and apply for admission to the Union. That
convention came in 1895. On January 4, 1896, Utah became the
45th state. Utah women campaigned successfully for the
return of their right to vote. They received a full equal
rights provision in the new state constitution.
Adjustment
The old ways of life died hard. In the period between 1896
and 1917, Utah adjusted its economic, social, and political
life to that of the rest of America. State government and
the codification of Utah law began, and the state capitol
was built. The federal government set aside lands for
national parks, monuments, and forests.
The percentage of Mormons in the total population declined
to 68 percent as the state grew. Mining and heavy industry
drew many ethnic groups to Utah. The Greeks, Japanese,
Hispanics, African Americans, and others changed the social
and cultural life of the state. This was especially true of
Carbon, Salt Lake, and Weber counties.
Less than a third of the people worked on farms, although
the total area farmed increased. Utah continued to pioneer
in dry farming techniques, while irrigation allowed more
land to be farmed. Sheep and cattle competed for range
lands, and the railroad centers at Ogden and Salt Lake City
helped the livestock processing industry.
In the early twentieth century the big story was the
development of copper mining. Daniel C. Jackling is the
person who made open-pit mining profitable. The expansion of
the railroad made coal mining profitable. Mine owners built
several company towns in Carbon County for the coal workers.
Many of these workers were recent immigrants (IM-uh-grunt)
to America. All too often conflicts occurred between the
workers and management in the mines. At Scofield in 1900,
200 men were killed by an explosion in the Winter Quarters
Mine. This major catastrophe signaled the end of an era.
Never again would miners be as willing to endure dangerous
working conditions for so little pay. The state passed
important laws to benefit the workers and their families.
Many workers joined unions to help them deal with management
problems.
Modern cities emerged quickly as electricity, telephones,
and automobiles became more common. The building of business
blocks, power plants, highways and housing for average
citizens contributed to city development. Population
continued to grow and to concentrate along the Wasatch Front
in Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, and Utah counties.
In 1905 the opening of large portions of the Uintah Indian
Reservation to white settlement led to the founding of more
than a dozen towns in the Uinta Basin. Resentful Utes
reacted to this betrayal by attempting an alliance with
Sioux Indians. Their trek to South Dakota in 1906-1908 ended
in failure and a deep sense of loss. In San Juan County,
Indian and white conflicts were centered on grazing rights
to public lands. This led to the socalled Posey War of 1923.
San Juan County made concessions to Indian grazing rights,
and after that the "Indian problem" lay quietly buried on
the reservation until mid-century. Utah's Indian peoples
have successfully fought for greater control of tribal lands
by political awareness and the ability to exercise their
legal rights.
War and Depression
Beginning with World War I, events in Utah were much like
the rest of the nation. Utah made her contribution to the
war effort, and her businesses enjoyed temporary prosperity.
Union activity increased, particularly in the coal and
copper industries. In 1933 the United Mine Workers of
America became very important in the Carbon County coal
mines.
The Great Depression of the 1930s hit Utah especially hard.
Unemployment was already widespread in mining and
agriculture, and conditions worsened for a number of
reasons. Severe droughts hit farmers hard in 1931 and 1934,
and transportation cost limited the expansion of
manufacturing. The New Deal of 1933-39 helped Utah out of
the depression. Programs like Works Progress Administration
(WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) came to Utah
with a variety of projects to help ease unemployment.
Recovery slowly followed in Utah, as it did the rest of the
nation.
World War II started for America on December 7, 1941, with
the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Because of the war
there came an increase demand for food production that
helped Utah's economy. Important military installations, the
Geneva steel plant, and other war-related industries brought
new prosperity to the state. Utah had several prisoner of
war camps. Topaz, a relocation camp for Americans of
Japanese ancestry was located 10 miles northwest of Delta.
During its operation over 8,000 American citizens and
resident aliens lived at this camp.
Utah Today
In the decades following World War II, Utah has continued to
grow. Cultural institutions like the Utah Symphony, Mormon
Tabernacle Choir, Utah Opera Company, Ballet West, and Utah
Festival Opera (Logan), to name a few, have a solid
reputation both locally and nationally. Utah's research
centers continue to lead in a variety of scientific and
medical innovations.
Utah is a leader in information technology. It is home to
numerous high tech companies including Iomega, and Novell.
Even after WordPerfect moved to Canada and Novell laid off
several hundred workers, programmers, engineers and
executives reinvested their severance money in new companies
that have hastened the growth of Utah's high tech industry.
The announcement in 1996 that Salt Lake City would host the
2002 Winter Olympics spurred the construction of new sports
venues and facilities. In 1998 Scarborough Research Corp.
stated that Salt Lake City had more personal computers per
household than any other city in the United States.
Tourism has become a major economic factor year round with
the development of Utah's ski industry, national parks, and
recreation areas such as Lake Powell and the Grand
StaircaseEscalante National Monument created in 1996.
Southwestern Utah is booming, due to its warm climate which
is attractive to older people.
Another growing multimillion dollar industry in Utah is that
film and television production. Popular television shows
produced in Utah include "Promised Land" and "Touched by an
Angel." Motion pictures filmed in Utah include: 2001: A
Space Odyssey (1968), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
(1969), Footloose (1984), Thelma and Louise (1991), Forrest
Gump (1994), Independence Day (1996) and The Wild Wild West
(1999).
A major issue in Utah is that of transportation. An
evergrowing population along the Wasatch front has spurred
the reconstruction of freeway system (I-15 mainly), and
construction of light rail (Provo-Salt Lake City) and TRAX .
Nevertheless, as a modern state, Utah faces the same kinds
of problems that face other states: adequate funding for all
levels education and other public needs, environmental
protection, increased opportunities for women and
minorities, preservation of the historic and cultural
heritage, continuing economic development of rural areas,
conservation of natural resources and areas of natural
beauty, and urban renewal. How these and future challenges
are met will fill tomorrow's history books.
Sources: Utah State Historical Society
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