Cowboys and the Cattle Industry

Allan Kent Powell Cowboys and cattlemen are a fundamental part of Utah’s economic and social heritage. They were in Utah before the first Mormon pioneers arrived and endure today as part of a western legacy that strongly influences contemporary attitudes and lifestyles of many Utahns. Cowboys and cattle influenced Mormon settlements and culture, rode side by side with the state’s …

Copper Mining, the King of the Oquirrh Mountains

Philip F. Notarianni Beehive History 16 Copper mining has played a significant role in the industrial, economic, and social life of Utah. It has also affected the state’s geography. Copper has many uses. It is very important in the electrical field as it is a good conductor of electricity. Water pipes, architectural trim, weather stripping, and wiring are but a …

Jenny Baker Stanford Bridged the Mormon-Gentile Gap

Becky Bartholomew History Blazer, December 1995 Much has been written about Mormon-Gentile conflict in early Utah. But at least one non-Mormon came, saw, and conquered the hearts of her pioneer Mormon friends. Jenny Baker was born in London in 1850. Her law-clerk father, after release from debtor’s prison, abandoned the family, causing it to break up. Jenny, the youngest, was …

Fremont’s Exploration

Thomas G. Alexander Utah, The Right Place By the early 1840s, as immigrants struck out for Oregon and California, Americans contemplated adding both of these regions as United States possessions. Enthusiasts such as Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton, his daughter Jessie, and her husband, John C. Fremont, considered an empire on the Pacific as America’s “Manifest Destiny.” Judging themselves agents …

Fort Davy Crockett

John D. Barton Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 In 1836 William Craig, Philip Thompson, and Previtt Sinclair built a fort at Brown’s Hole, where Vermillion Creek merges with the Green River. Brown’s Hole was a favorite wintering place for mountain men and Indians because of the mild winters and abundant forage and game animals. After news of the fall of the …

Bonneville Salt Flats

Kevin B. Hallaran Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 The Bonneville Salt Flats of the western Great Salt Lake Desert were formed through the evaporation of the Pleistocene-era Lake Bonneville. The salt flats are actually the bed of that once massive lake which rivaled in size present Lake Michigan. The flats are composed mainly of potash salts ranging in thickness from less …

Great Basin

Gary B. Peterson Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 The Great Basin is defined by hydrology and physiography. It is a region of interior drainage bounded prominently on the west by the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Range and on the east by the middle Rocky Mountains and the Colorado Plateau. Less distinct are its northern boundary with the Columbia Plateau and …

A History of Utah’s American Indians, Chapter 4

A History of Utah’s American Indians, © 2000 “The Paiute Tribe of Utah,” pp. 123–66 Gary Tom and Ronald Holt Tabuts [elder brother/wolf] carved people out of sticks and was going to scatter them evenly around the earth so that everyone would have a good place to live. But Shinangwav [younger brother/coyote] cut open the sack and people fell out …

A History of Utah’s American Indians, Chapter 6

A History of Utah’s American Indians, © 2000 “The White Mesa Utes,” pp. 225–63 Robert S. McPherson and Mary Jane Yazzie Billy Mike, the oldest living resident of the White Mesa Ute community, sat comfortably and slowly ran his fingers through his silver hair. The thick glasses perched upon his nose served more as a token of past vision than …

A History of Utah’s American Indians, Chapter 3

  A History of Utah’s American Indians, © 2000 “The Goshute Indians of Utah,” pp. 73–122 Dennis R. Defa A group of Goshute Indians, date unknown The Goshute Indians live in a little known and sparsely populated portion of the state of Utah. There actually are two Goshute reservations, the largest of which is the Deep Creek Reservation located on …