Jami Balls Soldier Hollow at Wasatch Mountain State Park is a scenic recreational area in Heber Valley. Prior to the 1850s the Timpanogos Utes, who lived around Utah Lake, used Heber Valley as an important summer hunting ground. The first non-American Indians to visit the area were members of the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition in 1776. About fifty years later, trappers entered …
History of the Stockade and Salt Lake’s Red Light District
Jami Balls Commonly referred to as “the oldest profession,” prostitution holds a long and intriguing position in Utah history. The general feeling at the beginning of the 20th Century considered it as a “necessary” evil that could never be eliminated, but merely controlled. Laws existed mostly to satisfy middle-class morality, but normally, it was confined to a specific part of …
History of the Delta Center
Jami Balls Around the turn of the 20th Century, Utah experienced a tremendous influx of immigrants to work in the booming mining and railroading industries. Thousands of the immigrants were Mediterranean and experienced intense discrimination. Greeks specifically were paid less, segregated in railroad gangs, assigned the more dangerous work, and prohibited from living in certain areas. Therefore, they usually concentrated …
History of Kearns (Oquirrh Park)
Jami Balls In consequence of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Air Force determined that large training bases should be located far inland so that they would not be vulnerable to coastal attack. Almost equidistant from the three major western ports of Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles and about halfway between Canada and Mexico, northern Utah sat …
The University of Utah, Utah’s First University
Jami Balls On February 28, 1850, the General Assembly of the provisional state of Deseret declared their intention to establish a university and appointed members to a Board of Regents to select a site. They chose an area of about 560 acres on the east bench of the city. With a growing demand for children’s education, the newly settled Mormons …
Fort Douglas-University of Utah Relations
Jami Balls On February 28, 1850, the General Assembly of the provisional state of Deseret declared their intention to establish a university and appointed members to a Board of Regents to select a site. They chose an area of about 560 acres on the bench east of the city, including what is now the main campus, a portion of Federal …
History of Provo
Jami Balls Provo City is situated in Utah Valley, an area just south of Salt Lake City that traditionally was home to part of the Ute Indian tribe. The Utes settled in villages close to Utah Lake both for protection from northeastern tribes and to attain fish, their primary food source. Fathers Escalante and Dominguez, the non-American Indians men to …
History of Snow Basin
Jami Balls Following the slowing of World War I and the Great Depression, the 1930s experienced a phenomenal growth in skiing interest. Small resorts sprung up throughout Utah’s snow-packed mountains with the installation of primitive tows. This encouraged Weber County to develop the area of Wheeler Basin into a ski resort. Some badly deteriorated watershed lands were restored and the …
History of Ogden (Ice Sheet)
Jami Balls In 1845 trapper Miles Goodyear established the first permanent settlement in Utah. He built the small fenced structure of Fort Buenaventura near the confluence of the Ogden and Weber Rivers and claimed the land approximating the Weber County borders. In 1847, Brigham Young sent the families of James Brown and Lorin Farr to purchase this settlement just north …
History of Deer Valley
Jami Balls In February of 1936, the Salt Lake Junior Chamber of Commerce held “Park City’s first winter carnival” on a north-facing hillside at the head of Deer Valley. The Denver and Rio Grande sent a “snow train” up to Park City with more than 500 visitors to join in the festivities of the day. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) …