The statement recognizes and honors the fact that the university is located on the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute and Ute tribes; the state of Utah is home to eight distinct tribal nations. What native land is Utah on? The U operates on the traditional and […]
The territory was named after the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania. Thomas Campbell wrote his 1809 poem “Gertrude of Wyoming”, inspired by the Battle of Wyoming in the American Revolutionary War. The name ultimately derives from the Lenape Munsee word xwé:wamənk (“at the big river flat”). What does Wyoming name mean? […]
Today’s Utah has five major tribes with strong cultural legacies which continue to flourish: Ute, Dine’ (Navajo), Paiute, Goshute, and Shoshone. What Native American tribes first lived in Utah? The western or Utah Utes inhabited the central and eastern two-thirds of the state. Utah Ute bands included the Cumumba or […]
PROVO, Utah — Among the most improbable events in the history of the United States of America, perhaps the most shocking occurred Thursday with the seemingly benign release of a list detailing the Top 50 Party Schools in the country. Is there any partying at BYU? Here are some different […]
Deseret was the name given to the region for which the Mormon pioneers sought territorial status in 1849 and to the quasi government that they carried on for the next two year. What did the Mormons want to name Utah? Seeking formal recognition from the federal government in 1849, they […]
State of Deseret. Seeking formal recognition from the federal government in 1849, they proposed calling themselves the “State of Deseret,” a word borrowed from the Book of Mormon meaning “honeybee.” The honeybee remains an important symbol to both the LDS Church and the state of Utah. What did the Mormons […]
Water can leave the lake only by evaporation, which amounts to about 2.9 million acre-feet annually. The lake is saline because evaporation concentrates the dissolved salts in the remaining water. About 4.5 billion tons of salt are in the lake, and commercial removal of salt equals about 2.3 million tons […]
Russell M. Nelson. Russell M. Nelson is the current president and prophet of the Church. Russell M. Nelson, 17th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Who is next in line to be the next LDS prophet? The man who has served as an Apostle the longest, […]
The Mormons, as they were commonly known, had moved west to escape religious discrimination. After the murder of founder and prophet Joseph Smith, they knew they had to leave their old settlement in Illinois. Many Mormons died in the cold, harsh winter months as they made their way over the […]
Residents resented the Mormons’ growing power, feared the poverty of some recent arrivals would lead to “pauperism,” and even worried that local Mormon converts would deed their property to the church rather than relatives. What is the problem with Mormonism? Academic critics have questioned the legitimacy of Smith as a […]
Brigham Young. In 1846, Mormons left Nauvoo, Illinois because of religious persecution and traveled across Iowa, ending in Winter Quarters, Nebraska. On April 5, 1847, an advance company led by Brigham Young set off from Winter Quarters on their trek across the country, (1,040 miles) to a new home in […]
1,900 deaths. Bashore and Tolley analyzed 56,000 records of pioneers who traveled to Salt Lake City between 1847 and 1868. The researchers found 1,900 deaths during the journey or within the calendar year of arrival in Salt Lake, making the overall mortality rate 3.5 percent. What percentage of Mormon pioneers […]
The Territory of Oregon originally encompassed all of the present-day states of Idaho, Oregon and Washington, as well as those parts of present-day Montana and Wyoming west of the Continental Divide. What states were in the Oregon Territory? border, the Oregon Territory was created in 1848. It included the present […]
Utah 125th Anniversary of Statehood (1896): January 4, 2021 “The United States acquired the area of Utah from Mexico in 1848. Utah Territory was organized on September 9, 1850, from the acquired area plus a small portion of territory sold to the United States by Texas. How did the US […]
Slavery was legal in Utah due to the Compromise of 1850, which created the Utah Territory and declared that its people could decide the slavery issue for themselves. Were there slaves in Utah? Under Spanish and Mexican rule, Utah was a major source of illegal slave raids by Mexican, Ute […]