David L. Schirer Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Iosepa was established in Tooele County’s Skull Valley in 1889 as a community for Hawaiian members of the Mormon faith who wished to immigrate to Utah to be close to the temples and headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Iosepa lasted as a community until 1917 at which time …
A Bit of Polynesia Remains in the Salt Desert
W. Paul Reeve History Blazer, May 1995 About 75 miles southwest of Salt Lake City in the semibarren expanse of Skull Valley the bronze bust of a Polynesian warrior rises as an anomaly out of the eastern fringe of the Salt Desert. The bust and the nearby cemetery are the only reminders of an even greater anomaly from Utah’s past—a …